Negev Bedouin women Negev Bedouin women The Bedouin are a primarily desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group. As a pastoral, nomadic society, they live in numerous nation-states in the Middle East. The Negev Bedouin live in the Negev region of Israel. After Israel's independence in 1948, many of the Bedouin who remained in the area were relocated to towns. Israel has built seven official Bedouin townships, and approximately half of all Negev Bedouin live in these towns. The remainder live in unrecognized, unplanned townships which are officially illegal. The Israeli government does not provide infrastructure assistance or other services to those Bedouin who live in
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