Beit Zayit

A village named Beit Zayit is mentioned in the Books of the Maccabees, but it is believed to have been further north, possibly at the site of the Palestinian Christian town of Bir Zeit, north of Ramallah.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Beit Zayit was established in 1949, after the 1947-49 Arab-Israeli war on land that had belonged to the depopulated Palestinian village of 'Ayn Karim.{{cite book|title=All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_By7AAAAIAAJ |first=W.|last=Khalidi|author-link=Walid Khalidi|year=1992|page=273|location=Washington D.C.|publisher=Institute for Palestine Studies|isbn=0-88728-224-5}} It was established in 1949 by Jewish immigrants from Egypt, Romania and Yugoslavia. The economy was based on fruit orchards, vegetables, poultry, and other farm products.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

With the expansion of the moshav in the late 1990s, including the purchase of land by newcomers and renovation of old homes, Beit Zayit became a trendy alternative to living in Jerusalem.{{cite news |last=Steinberg |first=Jessica |title=Posh Israeli suburb grows out of a farming co-op |date=2 January 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/realestate/02iht-rebeit.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=May 2, 2019}}

Nearby is a dam, built to collect winter flood waters and create the {{ill|Beit Zayit Reservoir|he|מאגר בית זית}}, meant to slow down the flow of the Soreq Stream and allow water to seep into the Western {{ill|Mountain Aquifer|he|אקוויפר ההר}}, a task it seems has not been doing properly, due to insufficient geotechnical and hydrological studies in preparation to the project.[https://archive.today/20141224102634/http://www.tevahadvarim.co.il/?p=14504 סכר בית זית – החלום ושברו – ה"וַיְקַו לעשות ענבים], Teva Hadvarim (:he:טבע הדברים, "The Nature of Things") magazine

In 1962, dinosaur footprints were discovered in the garden of one of Beit Zayit's residents, and are on display at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.{{cite book |last= Sofer |first= Barbara |year= 1995 |publisher= Kar-Ben Publishing |isbn= 9780929371894 |title= Kids Love Israel, Israel Loves Kids: A Travel Guide for Families |page= 103 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fxgZfheWUrIC&pg=PA103 }} This is the only place in Israel where evidence of dinosaurswas discovered, and one of few such sites in the Middle East.{{cite news |last= Feinberg Vamosh |first= Miriam |title= Way Before the Flood: Dinosaur Tracks by Jerusalem |date=16 September 2013 |url =https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/travel/.premium-dinosaur-tracks-by-j-lem-1.5335274 |newspaper=Haaretz |access-date=2 May 2019}}

In the Israeli TV show Fauda, the village is visited by the main characters since one of the characters, Yaara, lives there.{{Cite web |title=Fauda: Season 3, Episode 12 script |url=https://subslikescript.com/series/Fauda-4565380/season-3/episode-12-Episode_312 |access-date=18 April 2023 |website=Subs Like Script}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.beit-zait.org/ Village website] {{in lang|he}}

{{Mateh Yehuda Regional Council}}

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Category:Moshavim

Category:Populated places established in 1949

Category:Populated places in Jerusalem District

Category:1949 establishments in Israel

Category:Egyptian-Jewish culture in Israel

Category:Hungarian-Jewish culture in Israel

Category:Romanian-Jewish culture in Israel

Category:Yugoslav-Jewish culture in Israel

Category:Paleontology in Israel