Herzliya to Tel Arad, Negev—Seen from the Air

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Jerusalem seen from the air. Photo © and courtesy Cookie West

Keeping in mind Israel is about the size of New Jersey, you might consider a scouting foray to the Negev by helicopter. Take off from the heliport north of Tel Aviv, in Herzliya—imagine climbing into a bright yellow copter with sound-muffling earphones—the loud throbbing of the engine filling the air as you hunker down in your bucket seat.

“You’ll see the green hills around Jerusalem, with its pink-hued stone walls surrounding the Old City, the Dome of the Rock glinting in the sun.”

The helicopter rises into the sky as you peer downward to see the world receding from view, the towns speeding by underneath you as you head south. There is Tel Aviv off on the right—its skyscrapers reminding you a little of the spires of New York City. In a short while you’ll see the green hills around Jerusalem, with its pink-hued stone walls surrounding the Old City, the Dome of the Rock glinting in the sun.

The country lays itself out for you; the perspective from the helicopter revealing gorgeous larger patterns of cityscape, agricultural dots and stripes, and moonlike arid lands. The terrain turns yellow as you careen over the Judean Desert. There in the distance, to the right, is Be’er Sheva. Once a sleepy little camel junction, it is now a metropolis, with buildings climbing high out of the winding old streets. To your left—that is, to the East—the salt-dense Dead Sea lolled mysteriously. In less than an hour, your pilot lands in a whirlwind of sand churned up by the gusts of the helicopter’s propellers. Here you are at Tel Arad, in the northeastern Negev, right in front of the Yatir Winery. 

Carmel Winery: Founded in 1882 and Still Going Strong

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Wine barrels. Photo courtesy Carmel Winery

Carmel Winery, based in Zichron Ya’acov and Rishon Le Zion, offers a perfect metaphor for how Israel is establishing itself on the cultural world stage. 

Founded in 1882 by Edmond de Rothschild, Carmel is Israel’s largest winery, and the oldest still in operation. For many years, it produced wine chiefly for ceremonial purposes—fine vintages were out of the question. But starting in the late 1980s, Israeli demand for superior wines was clearly intensifying, and Carmel played an important part in that sea change. 

“Carmel Winery has won many international prizes, including the prestigious Decanter World Wine Award.”

The vintners at Carmel realized some time ago that trying to copy the techniques of Old World winemakers would not work here. Israel is a hot country, so they brought in wine experts from warm climates: California, Argentina, Chile, South Africa, and Australia. Their chief winemaker today is Lior Lacser, who has worked in France (both Burgundy and Bordeaux) as well as in Australia. 
Carmel now also has two small, state-of-the-art wineries producing small quantities of handcrafted wines: Kayoumi Winery in the Upper Galilee, and Yatir Winery in the northeastern Negev. Carmel Winery has won many international prizes, including the prestigious Decanter World Wine Award for its 2008 Kayoumi Single Vineyard Shiraz. It continues to wow wine experts with its old-vine Petite Syrah and Carignan, Mediterranean-style prestige blends, and more. 

Carmel Winery and Kayoumi Winery >

Yatir Winery >

Carmel Winery operations. Photos courtesy Carmel Winery

Lior Lacser of Carmel

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Chief winemaker Lior Lacser. Photo courtesy Carmel Winery

As you stroll from building to building at Carmel Winery you might be treated to the site of Lior Lacser, Carmel’s chief winemaker, hurrying by. Stall him with a question, and Lior may demur: “I’ve got to go . . . I’ve got to go!”—as pressed for time as the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. Lior is young and intensely focused—refreshingly impatient with visitors—he obviously has big things on his mind.

“Laxer oversees wines made from Carmel Winery’s nearly 3,500 acres of vineyards, from the Upper Galilee in the North to the Negev in the South.”

Rehabilitating the behemoth of Carmel took great expertise and concerted drive. Originally from Tel Aviv, Lior studied in Burgundy, and has worked at wineries in Bordeaux and Australia. He oversees wines made from Carmel’s nearly 3,500 acres of vineyards, from the Upper Galilee in the North to the Negev in the South. His inner sanctum is by the small tanks for experimentation at Carmel’s microwinery. This is where Lior can let his brilliant fantasies run loose, blending new grapes being grown high in the hills to create the wines for Carmel. 

Carmel Winery >

Climate and Environment Studies at Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research

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Trees planted in a depression to hold rainwater in the Negev.  Photo by and © 2016 Vision Studio 

The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research is one of several campuses of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Here, the curriculum focuses on how to live and work in this expanse of sand and in climatic extremes that range from scorching hot to bitter cold. Ben-Gurion himself put it concisely: “In the Negev will the people of Israel be tested.”

“Nearly 60 percent of Israel is desert. How can food be raised in a barren wasteland? Scientists at the Blaustein Institutes have been working since the 1970s to make parts of the Negev green and hospitable.”

Nearly 60 percent of Israel is desert. How can food be raised in a barren wasteland? Where does the water come from to sustain life in such arid, dusty conditions? Scientists at the Blaustein Institutes have been working since the 1970s to make parts of the Negev green and hospitable—researching everything from climatology and meteorology to water resources, desert ecology, animal husbandry, biotechnology, and much more.

The institute’s Solar and Environmental Physics center is designed for super energy efficiency. Much thought has gone into how to construct in this environment, where electricity and water are so very valuable. It’s a given that buildings here must be designed to work with the realities of the desert context, and not in confrontation with them. While the days are hot, the nights can be very chilly; a well-insulated structure, with thick, dense walls, can retain that refreshing coolness. Cold air has a tendency to stay low—so in this building, most of the offices are located on the first floor, and in the summertime a cooling tower sprinkles water into the atmosphere, serving as a form of air conditioning. Conversely, hot air rises, so the light from the blazing sun is blocked with shades, and high vents and windows allow the warm air that has accumulated to escape. In the winter, the campus—which is more than 1,300 feet above sea level—can get cold, so solar panels soak in the sun’s heat and distribute it to the building, warming workspaces and the circulating water system.

The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research >

Project Wadi Attir: Progress for a Bedouin Community

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A Bedouin family in a still from the Sustainability Laboratory's short film Project Wadi Attir.  Photo courtesy Project Wadi Attir

Project Wadi Attir is located in the northern Negev near the Bedouin town of Hura. It was founded by Michael Ben-Eli, who heads a global initiative called the Sustainability Laboratory. The project’s aim is to find a way to combine Bedouin culture and experience with progressive notions of sustainability and “green” technologies—looking at renewable-energy production, recycling, land stewardship, and much more.

“Project Wadi Attir serves as a model for Jewish-Bedouin collaboration. “It is good for the people. It makes them feel good as citizens. It makes them proud to be part of Israel.
”

— Muhammad al-Nabari, Mayor of Hura

The concept for the project was born in 2007 when Ben-Eli and his colleague Josh Arnow paid a visit to Ben-Gurion University and the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research—centers outfitted with astonishing technologies and facilities, where much of Israel’s world-class research into desert living is being conducted. But during that visit, Ben-Eli and Arnow also saw the harsh living conditions of the growing Bedouin community, trying to make its way in a land of increasing Westernization and urban sprawl. “It did not seem right,” Ben-Eli has observed, “that full citizens in a country like Israel would live in desperate circumstances, when there were such incredible technologies being developed nearby.”

Ben-Eli met with Muhammad al-Nabari, the forward-thinking mayor of Hura, and they teamed up to bring Project Wadi Attir to light. A joint effort between Ben-Eli’s Sustainability Laboratory and the Hura Municipal Council, the project is decidedly holistic in its approach: dealing with social, economic, environmental, as well as tech considerations. Collaborators include Bedouin community members, university scientists and researchers, local nonprofit organizations, a nearby kibbutz, government agencies, and private-sector companies. The hope is that this new vision of environmentally sound development—beneficial to all parties—may impact the entire Middle East region as well as other parts of the world.

At the Project Wadi Attir farm, Bedouins tend goats and sheep organically for the production of dairy products. They grow medicinal plants and herbs (based on traditional Bedouin healing methods), and have developed a line of health products for sale on the mainstream market. Indigenous vegetables were once an important part of the Bedouin diet, but many were nearly eradicated; these have been reintroduced and are cultivated organically, and a seed bank has been established for these precious plants. Hundreds of olive trees have been planted by local Bedouin high-school students, into soil enhanced and irrigated with the help of scientists from the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.

Women are working and taking part in the project’s planning—this is a real breakthrough among the Bedouins.  Today Project Wadi Attir—the first-ever Bedouin agricultural cooperative in Israel—serves as a hub for eco-tourism, and as a model for Jewish-Bedouin collaboration. As Mayor al-Nabari puts it: “It is good for the people. It makes them feel good as citizens. It makes them proud to be part of Israel.”

Project Wadi Attir >

Learn more about New Israeli tech, old Bedouin ways at Wadi Attir at Israel21c.org.

Beautiful Vintages Grown in the Desert

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Rota Winery, Negev Desert. Photo by Katherine Martinelli courtesy Creative Commons.

Carmey Avdat—which grows Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes—is part of the “Negev Wine Route”; other wineries on that itinerary are the Ramat Negev Winery, Rota, Ashba, Rujum, Derech Eretz, and Sde Boker. What a surprise that the desert can be so fruitful, so generous—and that the wine from this region can be so fabulous!

Eyal Izrael of Carmey Avdat farm and winery explains how he and Hannah have successfully adapted themselves to this land: “Our exploration of the desert served as the foundation for our vision and dream,” he told me. “We learned to listen to the voices of the desert and to respect it—but not to attempt to tame it.” 

Ashba Winery >

Carmey Avdat >

Derech Eretz Winery >

Ramat Negev Winery >

Rota Winery >

Rujum Desert Winery >

Sde Boker Winery >

Yatir Winery >

Teaching the World How to Make the Desert Bloom at the Ramat Negev Agro-Research Center

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Ramat Negev Agro-Research Center

At the Ramat Negev Agro-Research Center, acacia trees bloom, casting long shadows by the greenhouses, and fat pumpkins ripen on the ground. Everywhere you look, jewel-like cherry tomatoes dangle above the sand, on vines strung to wires, carefully irrigated and nourished. While tiny tomatoes have been around for centuries, certain varieties of cherry tomatoes—including the popular tomaccio—were developed in Israel back in the 1970s. Here they grow in abundance, as do sweet peppers of all colors—yellow, green, red, chocolaty-brown, and purple.

“People come here from all over the world to study how we grow things in the desert and how to fight against the desert’s continuing conquest of their land. ”

— Gadi Grinblat, Ramat Negev Agro-Research Center

The Ramat Negev Regional Council oversees this center, and agricultural experiments are conducted by onsite researchers as well as by scientists from Ben-Gurion University, the agriculture faculty of the Hebrew University, the Volcani Center, and elsewhere, in consultation with the Israeli Extension Service. It is a hotbed of innovation and discovery.

“People come here from all over the world,” Gadi Grinblat explains, “to study how we grow things in the desert and how to fight against the desert’s continuing conquest of their land.” It was here that scientists determined the importance, when irrigating with brackish water, of directing the water underneath the plant, so that it goes directly to the roots and doesn’t touch the upper parts. Otherwise, the salt in the water will harm the plants’ sensitive green leaves. Like most Israeli agricultural endeavors, the Agro-Research Center makes use of the drip-irrigation system, which was developed by the country’s Netafim company—the headquarters of which are also located in the Negev, at Kibbutz Hatzerim (for more on drip irrigation and Netafim, see Innovations).

Like the Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research , the Ramat Negev Agro-Research Center is happy to spread the word about its findings with the rest of the world. Israel’s MASHAV (Agency for International Development Cooperation) helps to make that happen through its agricultural/outreach arm, CINADCO (Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation), and with the scientific research capabilities of the Volcani Center. Israeli agro-scientists are regularly sent out to demonstrate their findings, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Central Europe, and the Middle East—and farmers and scientists from abroad are brought into Israel to study and share their knowledge as well. Not surprisingly, the focus is on Israel’s areas of expertise: growing food in semi-arid and arid zones, combating “desertification,” irrigation and water management, dairy farming, and strategies for the small farmer. The goals are vast and vital: to ensure food security and economic self-sufficiency.

Ramat Negev Agro-Research Center > 

The Bedouins of the Negev: A Population Transforming

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Young Bedouin Shepherd photo by Ed Brambley, courtesy Creative Commons.

The Bedouins of Israel are traditionally pastoral, nomadic, desert-dwelling Muslim Arabs; they make up about 2 percent of the Israeli population. While there are small Bedouin communities in the Galilee and the center of the country, the vast majority of Bedouins live in the Negev Desert.

“Bedouins make up about 2 percent of the Israeli population”

Their nomadic lifestyle is rapidly giving way to settled living, an inevitable process of modernization that is complicated by intractable issues of land rights, which successive Israeli governments have yet to resolve. While the Negev Bedouins are Israel’s most socioeconomically disadvantaged community, the number of Bedouin academics, businessmen, and activities is growing remarkably, with Bedouin women featured at the forefront of this important societal development. 

The Inspiring Landscapes of the Negev Desert

Negev Desert, Makhtesh Ramon, Sunrise, 2012. Photo by Neil Folberg

The desert, like the sea and the mountains, is a planetary fact that is never fully understandable: it is too enormous, too varied, too ominous, and too beautiful. Each acre of the Negev Desert is unique, and as a landscape the whole is in a constant state of change. Photographer Neil Folberg captures the stunning incongruity of the desert with images like lush grapes, dangling heavy with sugar, against the backdrop of sand at the Negev’s Rota Winery.   

For the people of Israel, the desert is both a home and a crucial challenge. In order to survive here, this magnificent but unyielding terrain must be engaged and made into a living and fertile land.

The five photos below are accompanied by twenty more with the purchase of The Desert and the Cities Sing: Discovering Today’s Israel.

Nahal Pratzim and Dead Sea, Full Moon, 2012

Photograph by Neil Folberg

Beit She'an Valley, 2012

Photograph by Neil Folberg

Nahal Dragot and Dead Sea, 2012

Photograph by Neil Folberg

Monolith, Sartaba, 2014

Photograph by Neil Folberg

Lake Kinneret, 2012

Photograph by Neil Folberg

PHOTOGRAPHS BY NEIL FOLBERG CAPTURING ISRAEL'S LANDSCAPE

Carmey Avdat Farm and Winery

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Negev, Nahal Grar, Wildflowers, 2012.  Photo by Neil Folberg

The white sands of the Negev sparkle on both sides of the road as you approach the Carmey Avdat farm and winery.  

“Our exploration of the desert served as the foundation for our vision and dream. We learned to listen to the voices of the desert and to respect it—but not to attempt to tame it.”

— Eyal Izrael

At Carmey Avdat, the quiet is palpable as you breathe in the cool air, past the guest cabins that Eyal Izrael and his wife, Hannah, began building in 2000. Eyal and Hannah left their home in the North in 1998, to follow in David Ben-Gurion’s footsteps and set up a new life in the desert, not far from the kibbutz of Sde Boker, Ben-Gurion’s last home. Here at Carmey Avdat—which has the distinction of being Israel’s first solar-powered winery—no television, no wifi interrupts the desert experience (but an espresso machine, a refrigerator, and a full breakfast are delivered every morning, bringing joy to the spirit). Guests who stay here can swim in white rock pools inspired by those in the mountain orchards of the Sinai. The surrounding hillsides are planted with native trees—carob, olive, fig, and pomegranate—among which visitors can wander and from which they can sample.

Eyal and Hannah studied the ancient Nabataean and Byzantine irrigation systems: their vineyards are planted in a wadi, or dry riverbed, on Nabataean remains, following the ancient terraces and water routes, making use of the annual floodwaters to help wash the salt from the desert soil. Carmey Avdat—which grows Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes—is part of the “Negev Wine Route”; other wineries on that itinerary are the Ramat Negev Winery, Rota, Ashba, Rujum, Derech Eretz, and Sde Boker.

What a surprise that the desert can be so fruitful, so generous—and that the wine from this region can be so fabulous! Eyal explains how he and Hannah have successfully adapted themselves to this land: “Our exploration of the desert served as the foundation for our vision and dream. We learned to listen to the voices of the desert and to respect it—but not to attempt to tame it.”

Carmey Avdat  >