Sdot Negev Regional Council Sdot Negev Regional Council Sdot Negev Regional Council (, "Mo'atza Azorit Sdot Negev", "lit." Negev Fields Regional Council), formerly Azata Regional Council (, "Mo'atza Azorit Azata") is a regional council in the northwestern Negev desert in the Southern District of Israel. The Sdot Negev region council was established in 1951 by the Religious Zionist HaPoel HaMizrahi settlement movement. The council encompasses 16 communities: two kibbutzim, 12 moshavim and two community settlements. Despite frequent rocket attacks from the nearby Gaza Strip, the population of the Sdot Negev region has increased 55 percent in 2006–2012. Residents have cited the educational system, atmosphere
Negev of the Negev are Jews, while 160,000 or 25% are Bedouin. Of the Bedouin population (a demographic with a semi-nomadic tradition), half live in unrecognized villages, and half live in towns built for them by the Israeli government between the 1960s and 1980s; the largest of these is Rahat. The population of the Negev is expected to reach 1.2 million by 2025. It has been projected that the Beersheba metropolitan area will reach a population of 1 million by 2020, and Arad, Yeruham, and Dimona will triple in size by 2025. Blueprint Negev is a Jewish National Fund project introduced