Azazima

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The Azazima/Azazimeh or Azazme/ 'Azazmeh/al-Azazmeh (Arabic: العزازمة) are a Bedouin tribe whose grazing territory used to be the desert around the wells at El Auja and Bir Ain on the border between Israel and Egypt. During the 19th century the 'Azazme fought as allies with the Tarabin in their war against the Tiyaha. Subsequently they were in a land dispute with the Tarabin, the War of Zari, which lasted for several years until the founding of modern Beersheba and the extension of Ottoman authority. In April 1875 Lieut. Claude R. Conder, who was surveying Gaza District for the Palestine Exploration Fund, reported a "fierce contest" going on around Beersheba between the 'Azazme and the Tiyaha. An early twentieth century explorer reported that one of the favorite grazing grounds belonging to the 'Azazme was a strip of hilly country eight miles in width between Wady Jeraafy and Wady Ubaira, 115 km south of Beersheba. He describes the land as "well grown with bush and grass." In the early 20th century the 'Azazme established a village at al-Khalasa, which was the site of an ancient Nabatean settlement on the route between Gaza and Petra. In 1930 they were reported to number 10,000, divided into ten sub-sections. Hillelson, writing for the Palestine Exploration Quarterly (PEQ) in 1937, states that "they are of dark complexion, and conspicuous for honesty and patient bearing in adversity, and they will do their utmost for the guest ... Their women herd the flocks. Men respect women because they have good Arab manners. Scarcity of grazing compels them to a wandering life more than other tribes. The area over which they wander is spacious, but affords little opportunity for cultivation: yet they grow a little wheat and barley, and a few of them cultivate millet and water melons." In...