The 'Azazme 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.