Mitzpe Ramon

Mitzpe Ramon (also Mitzpe Ramon, Hebrew מצפה רמון ) is an Israeli town in the central Negev desert, about 80 kilometers south of Beersheba.

History and present-day town

Mitzpe Ramon was like many other Israeli development towns after the Israeli state was founded. First, a camp for the builders of the road to Eilat was established in 1953, later it went out of the city. It was planned as an urban center in the central Negev and should serve among other things the aim of reducing the wealth of the environment. Before the construction of the highway through the Arava Valley in 1966, initially led by the only road to Eilat Mitzpe Ramon and contributed to the growth of the settlement at; now, however, this road has only a minor role. Because of its remoteness, the place could never develop into a real central place; he only reached a size of just under 5,000 residents. In recent years, the population had even declined somewhat against the general Israeli trend: According to figures from the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, the population at the end of 2006 was 4300; a year earlier the place had 200 inhabitants more.

Due to its location in the desert Mitzpe Ramon has a dry, by the altitude of just 900 meters but also relatively cool climate. Rain falls only rarely, the natural vegetation is therefore so low that they do not even sufficient for extensive grazing of the site by nomads.

Economy

An important economic factor is ( in addition to the industry), the Israeli army, which operates a number of military installations in Mitzpe Ramon. A certain meaning Tourism also: The city is located on the edge of Makhtesh Ramon, the largest erosion crater in the Negev. In Mitzpe Ramon there is an information center on the crater and viewpoints, as well as the town is the starting point for excursions into the crater. Just north of the city also include the Nabatean Avdat city ruins and the Kibbutz Sede Boker, where Israel's founding father David Ben -Gurion had a house.