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Beit Shemesh
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Beit Shemesh
31°44′44″N 34°59′12″E / 31.74556°N 34.98667°E
Beit Shemesh (Hebrew: בית שמש, lit. 'House of the Sun') is a city located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 167,318 as of 2023.
The city is named after and located near the remains of ancient Beth Shemesh, a biblical city of the territory of Judah.
The small archaeological tell northwest of the modern city was identified in the late 1830s as Biblical Beth Shemesh – it was known as Ain Shams – by Edward Robinson. The mound hosts the ruins of an ancient city that belonged to the tribe of Judah. Excavations were carried out in various phases during the 20th century.
There are also other ancient ruins and findings within the boundaries of the modern municipality. In the area of the neighborhood called Ramat Beit Shemesh, a series of Hebrew-language ostraca were found, dating from the period of the First Temple, which shed light on the Kingdom of Judah in the 7th century BCE.
The area that comprises Beit Shemesh today was under Ottoman rule and later the British Mandate of Palestine. The Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood area was the site belonging to the Arab village Bayt Nattif, which was built on remnants of an ancient Judean town, with various remnants of Jewish settlement from the time, such as a mosaic floor, wineries and other remains, especially from the period of the Hasmonean kings and earlier. This area is currently under dispute about preservation, having been the subject of a grassroots campaign.[citation needed] Under the proposed United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, the town was slated to be part of an internationalized Jerusalem. The Palestinian Arab population of Bayt Nattif fled the village following an Israeli Air Force bombing campaign in October 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Israeli forces later completely destroyed Bayt Nattif along with other Arab villages. Afterwards, the Harel Brigade drove out all Palestinian refugees they found in the area south of Bayt Nattif.
On 6 December 1950, the Hartuv displaced persons camp "Ma'abarat Har-Tuv" was established on the site of the current-day Moshav Naham. The first inhabitants were Jewish Bulgarian immigrants. They were joined by more Jewish immigrants from Bulgaria, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Morocco, and Kurdistan.
In 1952, the first permanent houses were built in Beit Shemesh. In its early years, Beit Shemesh came to typify the "Development Town" with a largely Maghrebi immigrant population. In 1977, following a writeup in Haaretz newspaper, Beit Shemesh was perceived as the main outpost for Menachem Begin's Likud party. He promised to rehabilitate neighborhoods and when the Likud party came to power that year, investment in the city increased.[citation needed]
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Beit Shemesh AI simulator
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Beit Shemesh
31°44′44″N 34°59′12″E / 31.74556°N 34.98667°E
Beit Shemesh (Hebrew: בית שמש, lit. 'House of the Sun') is a city located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District. A center of Haredi Judaism and Modern Orthodoxy, Beit Shemesh has a population of 167,318 as of 2023.
The city is named after and located near the remains of ancient Beth Shemesh, a biblical city of the territory of Judah.
The small archaeological tell northwest of the modern city was identified in the late 1830s as Biblical Beth Shemesh – it was known as Ain Shams – by Edward Robinson. The mound hosts the ruins of an ancient city that belonged to the tribe of Judah. Excavations were carried out in various phases during the 20th century.
There are also other ancient ruins and findings within the boundaries of the modern municipality. In the area of the neighborhood called Ramat Beit Shemesh, a series of Hebrew-language ostraca were found, dating from the period of the First Temple, which shed light on the Kingdom of Judah in the 7th century BCE.
The area that comprises Beit Shemesh today was under Ottoman rule and later the British Mandate of Palestine. The Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood area was the site belonging to the Arab village Bayt Nattif, which was built on remnants of an ancient Judean town, with various remnants of Jewish settlement from the time, such as a mosaic floor, wineries and other remains, especially from the period of the Hasmonean kings and earlier. This area is currently under dispute about preservation, having been the subject of a grassroots campaign.[citation needed] Under the proposed United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine, the town was slated to be part of an internationalized Jerusalem. The Palestinian Arab population of Bayt Nattif fled the village following an Israeli Air Force bombing campaign in October 1948, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Israeli forces later completely destroyed Bayt Nattif along with other Arab villages. Afterwards, the Harel Brigade drove out all Palestinian refugees they found in the area south of Bayt Nattif.
On 6 December 1950, the Hartuv displaced persons camp "Ma'abarat Har-Tuv" was established on the site of the current-day Moshav Naham. The first inhabitants were Jewish Bulgarian immigrants. They were joined by more Jewish immigrants from Bulgaria, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Morocco, and Kurdistan.
In 1952, the first permanent houses were built in Beit Shemesh. In its early years, Beit Shemesh came to typify the "Development Town" with a largely Maghrebi immigrant population. In 1977, following a writeup in Haaretz newspaper, Beit Shemesh was perceived as the main outpost for Menachem Begin's Likud party. He promised to rehabilitate neighborhoods and when the Likud party came to power that year, investment in the city increased.[citation needed]
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