Ramat Negev Regional Council Ramat Negev Regional Council Ramat Negev Regional Council (, "Mo'atza Azorit Ramat Negev", "lit." Negev Heights Regional Council) is a regional council in the Negev desert in Israel. The largest regional council in the country, its headquarters are located on Highway 40 between Mashabei Sadeh and Tlalim. Ramat Negev communities are all kibbutzim, moshavim and community settlements. Revivim and Sde Boker are notable as former residences of Prime Ministers Golda Meir and David Ben-Gurion respectively. Some 6,000 Jews live within the jurisdiction of the Ramat Negev Regional Council. In 2012, the council approved the establishment of a new community, Ramat
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