Bauhaus in Tel Aviv in the 1930s. Pre-Holocaust. Who knew?

Not to be flip or ignorant -- though surely I am both -- but I thought Israel (this takes a little while to download but very very cool) was a desert of sand and no water, supporting little more civilization than traveling Bedouins and the ancient city of Jerusalem before its emancipation through the benign and ardent encouragement of the believers of Zionism.