The challenge and opportunity presented to Israel by the Negev was stressed today in a leading editorial in the London Times which outlined the problems of development of the Israeli desert region.
Many of the economic difficulties of the new state, including the pressure of population on areas of high fertility, would be relieved if the Negev could be restored to the prosperity it enjoyed while King Solomon was mining copper and iron, quarrying stone and building up a foreign trade from the Negev port of Ezion Gabor some 3,00 years ago, the newspaper said.
The Times presented in great detail the development projects undertaken by the Israel Government, noting that these projects had given great impetus to archaeological research, particularly the work of Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
“One of the interesting aspects of Israel’s new effort is its basic reliance not on transit trade but on the development of local resources, ” the editorial commented. “Its foundations are agricultural. Many parts of the Negev will grow excellent crops as soon as water can be piped to them and his part of the work is being pushed on as fast as possible.
“But” the Times continued, “as in the days of the Jewish iron age, full advantage is being taken of local mining resources, some of which probably still remain to be discovered. This is something that has not been done since King Solomon’s time.”
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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.
