Auja al-Hafir

Auja al-Hafir, also Auja, was an ancient road junction close to water wells in the western Negev and eastern Sinai. It was the traditional grazing land of the 'Azazme tribe. The border crossing between Egypt and Ottoman/British Palestine, about 60 km (37 mi) south of Gaza, was situated there. Today it is the site of Nitzana and the Ktzi'ot military base in the Southern District of Israel.

Etymology

Other sources name the locality el-Audja, 'Uja al-Hafeer, El Auja el Hafir and variations thereof. A‘waj means "bent" in Arabic, and "Al-Auja" is a common name for meandering streams (the Yarkon River in Israel and a smaller stream near Jericho on the West Bank both are called Al-Auja in Arabic). "Hafir" means a water reservoir built to catch runoff water at the base of a slope; in Sudan it can also mean a drainage ditch.

Ancient history

Pottery remains found in the area date back to the 2nd century BC. and are associated with the traces of massive foundations of an unknown building probably of Nabatean construction. The area appears to have remained under the Nabatean sphere of influence, outwith the Hasmonaean and Herodian Kingdoms, until AD 105 when Trajan annexed the Nabataean Kingdom. A large rectangular hill-top fort probably dates from the 4th century AD. A church and associated buildings have been dated as having been built before AD 464. Auja al-Hafir was struck by the great plague which swept the Eastern Mediterranean around AD 541. During the 1930s a large number of papyri, dating from the 6th and 7th century, were found. One of which is from the local Arab governor granting Christian inhabitants freedom of worship on payment of the appropriate tax. After 700 AD the town appears to have lost its settled population, possibly due to changing rainfall patterns.