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
Negev Bedouin to Baghdad during the subsequent Abbasid reign. Most of the Negev Bedouin tribes migrated to the Negev from the Arabian Desert, Transjordan, Egypt, and the Sinai from the 18th century onwards. Traditional Bedouin lifestyle began to change after the French invasion of Egypt in 1798. The rise of the puritanical Wahhabi sect forced them to reduce their raiding of caravans. Instead, the Bedouin acquired a monopoly on guiding pilgrim caravans to Mecca, as well as selling them provisions. The opening of the Suez canal reduced the dependence on desert caravans and attracted the Bedouin to newly formed settlements that sprung