Beit Eshel ( he, בֵּית אֵשֶׁל) was a Jewish settlement established in the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...

desert in

Mandate Palestine Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...

in 1943 as one of the

three lookouts The three lookouts ( he, שלושת המצפים, ''Shloshet HaMitzpim'', also ''Mitzpot'') were three Jewish settlements built in the Negev desert in 1943 on land owned by the Jewish National Fund. The goal was securing the land and assessing i ...

, alongside

Revivim Revivim ( he, רְבִיבִים, , (rain) showers) is a kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. Located around half an hour south of Beersheba, it falls under the jurisdiction of Ramat HaNegev Regional Council. In it had a population of ...

and

Gvulot Gvulot ( he, גְּבוּלוֹת, ''lit.'' "Borders") is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located in the north-western Negev desert, it falls under the jurisdiction of Eshkol Regional Council. In it had a population of . Gvulot is located about 12 ...

. It was located two kilometres southeast of

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

. According to the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

, the name means ''"House of the Tamarisk"'' and refers to the tamarisks planted by the patriarch

Abraham Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

. The pioneers of Beit Eshel were

Holocaust survivors Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Axis powers, its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no unive ...

from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. As one of three outposts, the residents of Beit Eshel were tasked with checking the viability of

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

in the area based on climate analysis, availability of water, etc. In 1947 the village had a population of over 100. In May 1948, when

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

invaded Israel in the early stages of the

1948 Arab–Israeli War The 1948 (or First) Arab–Israeli War was the second and final stage of the 1948 Palestine war. It formally began following the end of the British Mandate for Palestine at midnight on 14 May 1948; the Israeli Declaration of Independence had ...

, Beit Eshel was cut off from Jewish territory and was shelled heavily by the Egyptians. According to the

Haganah Haganah ( he, הַהֲגָנָה, lit. ''The Defence'') was the main Zionist paramilitary organization of the Jewish population ("Yishuv") in Mandatory Palestine between 1920 and its disestablishment in 1948, when it became the core of the ...

, this attack was repulsed. After 8 men and women were killed, many buildings destroyed or harmed and with the Egyptians continuing to fire at the village. The Egyptian army continued to shell Beit Eshel sporadically. In October 1948, with the conquest of the city of Beersheba, Beit Eshel was liberated. However, the settlers of Beit Eshel couldn't cope with the large scale destruction, decided to abandon the settlement and to establish a new

moshav A moshav ( he, מוֹשָׁב, plural ', lit. ''settlement, village'') is a type of Israeli town or settlement, in particular a type of cooperative agricultural community of individual farms pioneered by the Labour Zionists between 1904 an ...

named

HaYogev HaYogev ( he, הַיּוֹגֵב, ''lit.'' The Farmer) is a moshav in northern Israel. Located around seven kilometres west of Afula, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In it had a population of . Etymology The n ...

in the

Jezreel Valley The Jezreel Valley (from the he, עמק יזרעאל, translit. ''ʿĒmeq Yīzrəʿēʿl''), or Marj Ibn Amir ( ar, مرج ابن عامر), also known as the Valley of Megiddo, is a large fertile plain and inland valley in the Northern Distr ...

. In 1960, a group of Beersheva residents established a volunteer society to preserve Beit Eshel as a national heritage site.

Archaeology

Excavations at Beit Eshel in 2003 by a joint team of the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, he, רשות העתיקות ; ar, داﺌرة الآثار, before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of ...

and the Archaeological Division of

Ben Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

unearthed

Ghassulian Ghassulian refers to a culture and an archaeological stage dating to the Middle and Late Chalcolithic Period in the Southern Levant (c. 4400 – c. 3500 BC). Its type-site, Teleilat Ghassul (Teleilat el-Ghassul, Tulaylat al-Ghassul), is loca ...

flint sickle blades from the fifth millennium BC, suggesting that the site was a Chalcolithic flint workshop. The Ghassulian sickle blades workshop ofBeit Eshel, Beer Sheva, Israel
/ref> File:מראה בבית-אשל בנגב-JNF012095.jpeg, Beit Eshel 1945 File:Beit Eshel ii.jpg, Beit Eshel after recapture by the Israeli army. 1948

References

{{Jewish villages depopulated during the Israeli War of Independence Populated places established in 1943 Geography of Southern District (Israel) Jewish villages in Mandatory Palestine Jewish villages depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Former kibbutzim 1943 establishments in Mandatory Palestine 1948 disestablishments in Mandatory Palestine