“If the State will not conquer the desert, the desert may conquer the State.” This was a frequent warning by the late Premier David Ben Gurion, who had always urged Israelis to settle the Negev. Yesterday, 20 families inaugurated a moshav southwest of Beersheba, the first new settlement in the Negev since Ben Gurion’s awn kibbutz, Sae Boker, was established 27 years ago.
The moshav, which is under the auspices of the Labor Party’s settlement movement is called Ashelim (Tamarisk), the tree that grows in the desert. It is the same tree that Abraham planted when he arrived in Beersheba.
The moshav is called Ashelim because “it ### tree under which one feels coolest in the desert, explained President Yitzhak Navon at the inauguration ceremony. He expressed the hope that Ashelim would be covered with new crops and the desert would bloom again. Two new kibbutzim are also scheduled to be established in the Negev before the end of the year, Telalim (dew) and Retamim (broom bushes).
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
