Sdot Negev Regional Council and rural lifestyle as incentives for moving to this part of the Negev. 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
Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev 300 BC to 200 AD, four towns which prospered in the Negev Desert were Avdat, Haluza, Mamshit, and Shivta. These were linked directly with the Mediterranean terminus of both the Incense Road and spice trade routes. During the peak period of prosperity the route included cities, Qanat irrigation systems, fortresses, and caravanserai The east–west "incense route", which operated from 400 BC to 200 AD, brought economic progress to the Nabataeans; the trade diminished when Romans occupied Petra which was then Jordan's capital of the Nabataean Empire. The Nabataeans had occupied this territory in the 6th century BC following the Edomites