Is there any place on Earth that is permanently a desert? I am interested to know if there is any place on Earth that is permanently a desert (except Antarctica). By permanent I do not mean to be the physical meaning of forever. It means the place has to be at least staying million of years as a desert and had survived at least one major climate change period. Precipitation is probably the most important factor to determine if a place would be a desert. 

So, the question could be focused on a particular location which receive little precipitation despite how the overall global climate has changed (of course I still welcome discussion outside of the precipitation pattern).
UserLTK, above, has mentioned the Dry Valleys of Antarctica and the Atacama desert as two notable examples of "permanent" deserts. It's likely that these two locations have been deserts for at lease several millions of years despite changes in global weather patterns from multiple glacial events. The Atacama is well shielded by a very old mountain range to the west, and the Dry Valleys are also well protected by both an inland location and by global ocean currents that isolate the continent from much of the world's weather.