The UNESCO calls it The Khalil/Besor basin, which has been classified as an Evolving HELP basin, whatever that means. Accidentally, it happens that I have a project in the Nature Reserve.
I spent the whole day travelling to the Deep South in the Negev Desert. Taking a wrong turn, I found myself at the Egyptian border, passed through a large bridge destroyed by a flash flood, visited my old army camp of Ketziot, and at last arrived to the farm I am advising.
When saw the place, suddenly it was all clear. It is in the confluence of the Besor ("cheerful") and the Revivim ("showers" or "rains") rivers, on a bare sand hill, covered by unique desert winter lilies, in a Nature Reserve recognized by the UNESCO. A large caterpillar was levelling the sand hill - it was no more. The farmer had been "invited" to be interrogated by some policing organism for the Ministry of Environment had submitted a complaint against him. He was anxious, frenetic, contradicting himself, yet the earthmoving machinery was working - the historical dune had been levelled. No more habitat for the lilies and the desert rat. He had asked for support from the Local Authority, but they had turned against him because they were pushing the Derech HaBesamim (The Perfume Route) tourism project, consisting in the restauration of the 3000 years old caravan route from Arabia Felix (Hadramauth) to the port of Gaza.
3 comments:
They say that the first rule of holes is "stop digging". This man does not even know the 1st rule, so I say he is a hopeless case and you will not be able to help him. Also, it's one thing for him to lie to the authorities, but lying to you is like lying to your own doctor - how can he help you unless he knows your true condition?
K
If that desert had a few more cactuses then it would look like the desert near Florence, AZ.
It has a similar climate.
Post a Comment