Negev Foundation Negev Foundation The Negev Foundation is a Cleveland based non-profit, tax-exempt organization that promotes the agricultural development and economic sustainability of the Negev Desert in Israel. The Negev Foundation promotes agricultural innovations that allow farmers to utilize the desert’s arid lands and brackish water as tools to successfully cultivate a wide range of crops. In 2008, the organization was recognized by Charity Navigator for its fourth consecutive year of having a four star C.N. efficiency rating. Since 2002, The Negev Foundation has overseen the Ohio-Israel Agriculture Initiative. This initiative has coordinated and developed projects engaging both the Ohio and Israel
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