Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev Incense Route – Desert Cities in the Negev is a World Heritage-designated area near the end of the Incense Route in the Negev, southern Israel, which connected Arabia to the Mediterranean in the Hellenistic-Roman period, proclaimed as being of outstanding universal value by UNESCO in 2005. The trade led to the development of ancient towns, forts and caravanserai en route, apart from agricultural development. Four towns in the Negev Desert, which flourished during the period from 300 BC to 200 AD, are linked directly with the Mediterranean terminus of both the Incense
Negev Bedouin Israeli government in the 1950s and 1960s to a restricted zone in the northeast corner of the Negev, called the "Siyagh" ( , an Arabic word that can be translated as the "permitted area") made up of in 10% of the Negev desert in the northeast. In 1951, the United Nations reported the deportation of about 7,000 Negev Bedouin to Jordan, the Gaza Strip and Sinai, but many returned undetected. The new government failed to issue the Bedouin identity cards until 1952 and deported thousands of Bedouin who remained within the new borders. Deportation continued into the late 1950s, as