Eshtaol Forest is a

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, located north of

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...

and near

Ta'oz Ta'oz ( he, תָּעוֹז, , Stronghold) is a moshav in central Israel. Located to the northwest of Beit Shemesh with an area of 1,500 dunams, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of . History ...

and

Neve Shalom Neve Shalom ( he, נְוֵה שָׁלוֹם, ''lit.'' Oasis of Peace), also known as Wāħat as-Salām ( ar, واحة السلام) is a cooperative village in Israel, jointly founded by Israeli Jews and Arabs in an attempt to show that the two p ...

, south of the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem Highway. The

Forest of the Martyrs Forest of the Martyrs ( he, יער הקדושים) (Ya'ar HaKdoshim) is a forest on the outskirts of West Jerusalem, Israel. It is on the western edge of the Jerusalem Forest near Beit Meir. It was planted as a memorial to those who died in the ...

lies to the east. The forest is a popular recreation area and is one of the largest forests in Israel.

History

Eshtaol Forest features an 8-kilometer hiking trail and numerous scenic views. The forest (like most other forests in Israel) was planted in by 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 ...

, which continues to expand it. The forest covers an area of approximately . A 2015 forest fire decimated of the forest In addition to numerous recreational and picnic areas, the forest has internal roads that allow for scenic drives through the forest. The Eshtaol hiking trail also contains part of the much larger

Israel National Trail The Israel National Trail ( he, שביל ישראל, ''Shvil Yisra'el'') is a hiking path that was inaugurated in 1995. The trail crosses the entire country of Israel. Its northern end is at Dan, near the Lebanese border in the far north of the co ...

. The forest has a recreation area named for

Bernardo O'Higgins Bernardo O'Higgins Riquelme (; August 20, 1778 – October 24, 1842) was a Chilean independence leader who freed Chile from Spanish rule in the Chilean War of Independence. He was a wealthy landowner of Basque-Spanish and Irish ancestry. Althou ...

, the first leader of independent

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. His image is engraved on the face of a giant coin embedded in a rock at the site.Chilean hero hides in Israeli forest
''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper w ...

References

External links

Jewish National Fund website
{{Coord, 31, 48, N, 34, 59, E, display=title Forests of Israel Jewish National Fund forests and parks Protected areas of Jerusalem District

History

See also

References

External links