Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel has made  the transfer of its military to the southern desert a priority.

Officials said the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was overseeing the transfer of military bases to the Negev desert.

The officials said the Defense Ministry was preparing for tenders that would invite foreign companies.

“International companies realize that there is an international opportunity here,” Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said. “They’re lining up on our doorstep already.”

In an address to a seminar on Oct. 1, Ya’alon said the military transfer would accelerate development of the Negev. He said the effort involved every government ministry in the construction of infrastructure for Air Force and Army bases.

“We want to see our soldiers building their lives in the south,” Ya’alon said. “It is very important to us.”

At the seminar, hosted by Ben-Gurion University, speakers addressed requirements for the military, expected to send thousands of soldiers and officers to the Negev. They said the Negev as well as the military needed advanced technology, particularly in the area of communications.

“The Israel Defense Forces is an army with outstanding achievements in the field of communications, but it is not fulfilling its potential,” Maj. Gen. Uzi Moskovitch, head of the Army’s C4I division, said.

“We are doing better than we expected but not as well as we might. Today, we are looking at network-based combat, organizational and procedural efficiency, functional continuity, technological innovation — fusion and information extraction, cloud and mobile technologies and we must connect all the criteria.”

  Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel moving its military south in a development boon for the Negev desert, Maj. Gen. Uzi Moskovitch, Moshe Ya’alon