Israeli military moves major operations to south

HANEGEV JUNCTION, Israel (AP) -- The Israeli military has begun construction of its largest training base ever, moving operations from some of the country's priciest real estate to the barren sands of southern Israel in a new attempt to realize the longtime dream of making the desert bloom.

The $650 million construction project is the military's biggest in three decades: Beginning in late 2014, 10,000 soldiers will be moved into the new base 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the city of Beersheba from their current quarters in the country's Tel Aviv-area heartland.

The program is designed to streamline combat support training, now carried out at multiple facilities, by funneling it into a single site.

But critics question whether it will jumpstart the economy of the Negev region as officials promise. They also note the project doesn't even discuss benefits for Arab Bedouin who account for a third of the 500,000 Israelis living in the area.

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