The phrase "colonize the Negev Desert" is incorrect in this context. Generally when people use the word "colonize" to refer to Israeli activities they are refer

The phrase "colonize the Negev Desert" is incorrect in this context. Generally when people use the word "colonize" to refer to Israeli activities they are referring to building in the West Bank, which Israel has been occupying since the 1967 Six Day War. Many see Israeli efforts to build in the West Bank as illegitimate attempts to create "facts on the ground" that would perpetuate Israeli sovereignty over territory that it has no legal claim to. The Negev Desert, by contrast, has been Israeli territory since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and was part of the Jewish state in the 1947 Partition Plan. As far as international law is concerned, Israel developing the Negev is no different than, say, Poland building in Gdansk or the United States building in Hawaii.