Besor Stream

File:Yeruham Lake 2.JPG

Nahal Besor has shown evidence of epipaleolithic sites above paleolithic sediments.{{cite book |author=Thomas E. Levy |title=The archaeology of society in the Holy Land |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-etsKv-4V2oC&pg=PA46 |access-date=2 May 2011 |date=1 November 1998 |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-8264-6996-0 |pages=46–}} Finds of pottery and flints were studied by Ann Roshwalb who found evidence of both Egyptian and late Neolithic occupations.{{cite book |author1=Thomas Evan Levy |author2=David Alon |title=Shiqmim I: Text |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fkZmAAAAMAAJ |access-date=2011-05-02 |year=1987 |publisher=B.A.R. |isbn=978-0-86054-460-9}} In the Old Testament, Besor was a ravine or brook in the extreme south-west of Judah, where 200 of David's men stayed behind because they were faint, while the other 400 pursued the Amalekites ({{bibleverse|1|Samuel|30:9-10}}, {{bibleverse-nb|1|Samuel|30:21}}).

Around the year 390, a group of monks from Scetis around Silvanus settled in several hermit cells along the watercourse. The community would only gather on Saturdays and Sundays for communal prayer and meals, doing various manual works and prayer during the week.{{cite book |last1=Bitton-Ashkelony |first1=Brouria |last2=Kofsky |first2=Aryeh |title=The Monastic School of Gaza |date=February 2006 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789047408444 |pages=17–18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hOx5DwAAQBAJ |access-date=12 November 2023}} In 520, the so-called monastery of Seridus was founded a bit further south where the famous hermits Barsanuphius and John the Prophet lived.{{cite book |last1=Kofsky |first1=Arieh |last2=Bitton-Ashkelony |first2=Bruria |title=Christian Gaza in Late Antiquity |date=2004 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004138681 |pages=76–77 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lA9VwVwoyiAC |access-date=12 November 2023}}

During the Ottoman period, the area was inhabited by the Bedouin tribe of 'Arab al-Jubarat (عرب الجبارات).{{Cite journal |last=Marom |first=Roy |author-link=Roy Marom |date=2025-01-01 |title=Vines Among the dunes: sand/dune agriculture in Rimāl Isdūd/Ashdod-Yam during the Late Ottoman and British Mandate periods |url=https://www.academia.edu/128219356/Vines_Among_the_dunes_sand_dune_agriculture_in_Rim%C4%81l_Isd%C5%ABd_Ashdod_Yam_during_the_Late_Ottoman_and_British_Mandate_periods |journal=Contemporary Levant |pages=7}}

Between 1951 and 1954, the Yeruham Dam was built on one of the tributaries of the HaBesor Stream.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} In 2012, Palestine added Wadi Gaza to the tentative list of World Heritage Sites.{{Cite web |title=Wadi Gaza Coastal Wetlands |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5722/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=UNESCO}}

In October 2023, as part of the Gaza war, Israel ordered 1.1 million people then living north of the Wadi Gaza bridge to move south.{{Cite news|url=https://news.sky.com/story/gaza-evacuation-why-getting-people-out-in-less-than-24-hours-is-impossible-12983748:|title=Gaza evacuation: Why getting people out in less than 24 hours is 'impossible'|date=15 October 2023|website=Sky News |access-date=19 October 2023}}

File:Wadi Gaza in the PEF Survey of Western Palestine composite (cropped).jpg|1888

File:Wadi Gaza in the 1933 Motor map of Palestine, Survey of Palestine (cropped).jpg|1933

File:09-09-WadiGhazza-1942.jpg|1942

{{main|Wadi Gaza Nature Reserve}}

The Wadi Gaza Nature Reserve was declared a nature reserve by the Environmental Quality Authority of Palestinian Authority in June 2000. It is confined to the course of the Wadi and its floodplain and banks within the Palestinian jurisdiction.{{cite web |url=https://www.mahmiyat.ps/uploads/WadiGazaMP.pdf |title=MANAGEMENT PLAN- WADI GAZA |author=MedWetCoast project}}

The Gaza section of the Coastal Aquifer is the only significant source of water in the Gaza Strip.[https://books.google.com/books?id=7rgHmpppZ-wC&pg=PA109 Integrated Water Resources Management and Security in the Middle East], p. 109. Clive Lipchin; Springer, 2007 The Wadi Gaza runs through a wetland, the Gaza Valley, and as of 2012 it is used as a wastewater dump.{{cite web |url=http://www.arij.net/node/5905siege |title=Gaza's Valley of Slow Death | إعلاميون من أجل صحافة استقصائية عربية (أريج) |language=ar |publisher=Arij.net |access-date=2014-07-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714195502/http://arij.net/node/5905siege |archive-date=2014-07-14}}

In 2022 rehabilitation began to turn Wadi Gaza back into a Nature Reserve.{{cite news |title=From sewage dump to nature reserve, UN hopes to save Gaza Valley | url=https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20220207-from-sewage-dump-to-nature-reserve-un-hopes-to-save-gaza-valley/ | work = Middle East Monitor | access-date=4 April 2024}}{{Cite news |last=Al-Mughrabi |first=Nidal |last2=Al-Mughrabi |first2=Nidal |date=2022-02-07 |title=From sewage dump to nature reserve, UN hopes to save Gaza Valley |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/sewage-dump-nature-reserve-un-hopes-save-gaza-valley-2022-02-07/ |access-date=2025-06-03 |work=Reuters |language=en}}

File:Nahal-besor-suspension-bridge-b.jpg

The stream begins at Mount Boker (near Sde Boker), and spills into the Mediterranean Sea near Al-Zahra in the Gaza Strip. Further upstream it was marked as Wadi esh-Shallaleh on the 1878 Survey of Western Palestine map. The area has several important archaeological sites.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The stream is the largest in the northern Negev, and together with its largest tributaries, the Nahal Gerar, and the Beersheba stream, reaches as far east into the desert as Sde Boker, Yeruham, Dimona, and Arad/Tel Arad.

The source of Besor River lies at Mount Boker, near Sde Boker and the educational center Midreshet Ben-Gurion. From there it flows northwest towards the town of Ashalim, where it meets Nahal Be'er Hayil.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

From there it flows north towards the ancient town of Haluza (Al-Khalasa). Then it continues northwest until it meets Beersheba River a little to the east of the town of Tze'elim.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Near the village of Re'im, Nahal Besor meets the Nahal Gerar river, which is its biggest tributary.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

One of the tributaries of the Besor River reaches kibbutz Urim. Tributaries from south to north: HaRo'e Stream, Boker Stream, Mesora Stream, Zalzal Stream, Revivim Stream, Atadim Stream, Beersheba Stream, Assaf Stream, Amar Stream, Sahaf Stream, and Wadi Abu Katrun.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

Finally, Bezor Stream flows across the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip, and into the Mediterranean sea.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

File:Red Anemone coronaria at Nahal Habsor Park, Northwestern Negev, Israel.jpg flower near the Besor. Typical for the region, Loess badlands can be seen in the background.]]

The Gaza–Israel barrier presents a physical barrier which effects the makeup of wildlife in the portion of the wadi in the Gaza Strip by limiting movement. Between 2002 and 2004 a survey of wildlife around the wadi as it passes through the Gaza Strip found that it was devoid of large mammals, though small mammals such as bats, hedgehogs, and rodents were common. Wildlife hunting for food is more common in this area than in Israel.{{Cite journal |last=Abd Rabou |first=Abdel Fattah N. |last2=Yassin |first2=Maged M. |last3=Al Agha |first3=Mohammed R. |last4=Hamad |first4=Dawi M. |last5=Ali |first5=Abdel Karim S. |date=2007 |title=Wild mammals in the Gaza Strip, with particular reference to Wadi Gaza |url=https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Abdel-Fattah-Abd-Rabou/publication/248703503_The_Avifauna_of_Wadi_Gaza_Nature_Reserve_Gaza_Strip_-Palestine/data/6183b0d9a767a03c14efd21f/Mammals-of-Wadi-Gaza.pdf |journal=The Islamic University Journal (Series of Natural Studies and Engineering) |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=88, 102-103}}

A study conducted in 2001 and 2002 found that the section of the wadi flowing through the Gaza Strip had higher levels of pollutants in summer than winter, when greater rainfall diluted the concentration. There were high levels of mercury, cadmium, iron and zinc.{{Cite journal |last=Shomar |first=B. H. |last2=Müller |first2=G. |last3=Yahya |first3=A. |date=2005 |title=Seasonal Variations of Chemical Composition of Water and Bottom Sediments in the Wetland of Wadi Gaza, Gaza Strip |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11273-004-0412-3 |journal=Wetlands Ecology and Management |language=en |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=422, 429 |doi=10.1007/s11273-004-0412-3 |issn=0923-4861}}

Several archaeological sites were excavated by Eann Macdonald in 1929 to 1930 along the Wadi Ghazzeh in lower Nahal Besor that show signs of specialist flint production. Some of these sites were re-excavated in 1969 by Jean Perrot.*{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-first=Peter Neal |editor1-last=Peregrine |editor1-link=Peter N. Peregrine |editor2-first=Melvin |editor2-last=Ember |editor2-link=Melvin Ember |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Prehistory |volume=8 : South and Southwest Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C-TQpUtI-dgC&pg=PA61 |access-date=2 May 2011 |year=2002 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-306-46262-7 |page=61 |title=Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Volume 8: South and Southwest Asia}}{{cite book |author1=British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem |author2=British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History |title=Levant |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sZwsAQAAIAAJ |access-date=2 May 2011 |year=1990 |publisher=British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem [and] British Institute at Amman for Archaeology and History.}}

Several important Bronze Age archaeological sites are in this area. Among them are Tel Gamma, and Tell el-Far'ah (South). A smaller site of Qubur al-Walaydah is located between them.{{cite web |first1=Gunnar |last1=Lehmann |first2=Steven A. |last2=Rosen |first3=Angelika |last3=Berlejung |first4=Bat-Ami |last4=Neumeier |first5=Hermann M. |last5=Niemann |url=https://www.academia.edu/4485617 |title=Excavations at Qubur al-Walaydah, 2007–2009 |work=academia.edu}}

{{main|Taur Ikhbeineh}}

Taur Ikhbeineh is an Early Bronze Age settlement {{convert|3|km}} inland from Gaza's Mediterranean coast. It was occupied in the 4th millennium BC and pottery from the site indicates interactions between Canaanite and Egyptian people. It was located along a probable paleo-estuary of the wadi.{{cite book |last1=Oren |first1=Eliezer D. |last2=Yekutieli |first2=Yuval |chapter=Taur Ikhbeineh: Earliest Evidence for Egyptian Interconnections |title=The Nile Delta in Transition: 4th–3rd Millennium B.C. |year=1992 |editor-first=Edwin C. M. |editor-last=van den Brink |location=Tel Aviv |publisher=Israel Exploration Society |pages=363, 373–375 |url=https://www.academia.edu/43433973}}{{cite journal |last1=Morhange |first1=Christophe |last2=Hamdan Taha |first2=Mohamed |last3=Humbert |first3=Jean-Baptiste |last4=Marriner |first4=Nick |title=Human settlement and coastal change in Gaza since the Bronze Age |journal=Méditerranée: Revue géographique des pays méditerranéens |year=2005 |volume=104 |page=77 |doi=10.4000/mediterranee.2252 |doi-access=free}}

File:The frontier of Egypt in the Early Bronze Age - preliminary soundings at Tell es-Sakan (Gaza Strip), fig 19.4.png led excavations at Tell es-Sakan in 2000.]]

{{Main|Tell es-Sakan}}

Tell es-Sakan is an Early Bronze Age settlement on the northern bank of the Wadi Gaza, close to Gaza City.{{cite encyclopedia |last1=de Miroschedji |first1=Pierre |last2=Sadeq |first2=Moain |title=Sakan, Tell es- |encyclopedia=The New Encyclopedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land |date=2008 |publisher=Israel Exploration Society/Biblical Archaeology Society (BAS) |volume=5: Supplementary Volume |via=BAS Library |url=https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/book/the-new-encyclopedia-of-archaeological-excavations-in-the-holy-land/sakan-tell-es/ |access-date=23 June 2024 |archive-date=23 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240623172348/https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/book/the-new-encyclopedia-of-archaeological-excavations-in-the-holy-land/sakan-tell-es/ |url-status=live }} It covers an area of {{Convert|8-9|ha}} and was inhabited between 3300 and 2300 BC. It began as an Egyptian settlement before it was abandoned around 3000 BC and later inhabited by Canaanites in 2600 BC.{{citation |last1=de Miroschedji |first1=Pierre |title=Les fouilles de Tell es-Sakan (Gaza): nouvelles données sur les contacts égypto-cananéens aux IVe-IIIe millénaires |journal=Paléorient |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=77–78 |year=2001 |language=French |doi=10.3406/paleo.2001.4732 |last2=Sadeq |first2=Moain |last3=Faltings |first3=Dina |last4=Boulez |first4=Virginie |last5=Naggiar-Moliner |first5=Laurence |last6=Sykes |first6=Naomi |last7=Tengberg |first7=Margareta |author-link6=Naomi Sykes |doi-access=free}}

{{Main|Tell es-Sakan}}

Tell el-Ajjul was established in the Bronze Age and was likely a successor settlement to Tell es-Sakan.{{citation |last1=de Miroschedji |first1=Pierre |title=Archaeological Perspectives on the Transmission and Transformation of Culture in the Eastern Mediterranean |page=155 |year=2005 |editor-last=Clarke |editor-first=Joanne |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv310vqks.24 |chapter=The frontier of Egypt in the Early Bronze Age: preliminary soundings at Tell es-Sakan (Gaza Strip) |publisher=Council for British Research in the Levant |isbn=978-1-84217-168-4 |jstor=j.ctv310vqks.24 |last2=Sadeq |first2=Moain |jstor-access=free}} It is on the northern bank of the wadi.{{Cite journal |last=Winter |first=Holly A. |date=2018 |title=Tell el-‘Ajjul palaces I and II: Context and function |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00310328.2017.1386498 |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |language=en |volume=150 |issue=1 |pages=6 |doi=10.1080/00310328.2017.1386498 |issn=0031-0328}}

{{Main|Tell Jemmeh}}

File:Tel-Gamma-16.jpg

Tell Jemmeh (Arabic) or Tel Gamma (תל גמה; Hebrew) is located on the west side of Nahal Besor, near Re'im and is close to {{convert|50000|m2|ha acre}} in size. {{Citation needed|date=January 2025}} The site was continuously settled only between the Middle Bronze IIB (c. 1700–1550 BCE) and the Persian period (c. 530–330 BC). During the Iron I (c. 1200–1000 BE) the site was part of the Philistine territory.

The first archaeological excavations mistakenly identified Tel Gamma as biblical Gerar,{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} and it has since been identified by researchers as the Canaanite city of Yurzah (ירזה), that was cited on the lists of Pharaoh Thutmose III (15th century BCE), as well as in Amarna letters.

{{Main|Tell el-Far'ah (South)}}

Tell el-Farah (South), sometimes referred to as Tell Fara,{{cite book |author1=William Matthew Flinders Petrie |author2=Olga Tufnell |title=Beth-Pelet 1: Tell Fara |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xu8rQwAACAAJ |year=1930 |publisher=British School of Archaeology in Egypt}} is on the west side of Nahal Besor, near Ein HaBesor. The tell is {{convert|37|ha}} in size and {{convert|15|m}} high and was an important fortified site in the Middle Bronze Age. The earliest major settlement that has been uncovered to date is from the Middle Bronze Age II, lasting from ca. 1650 to 1550 BCE.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} It was controlled by Egypt in the Late Bronze Age and inhabited by Philistines into the Iron Age. A hematite seal in the shape of the head of a bull was found and identified by Flinders Petrie to originate from Syria, it showed a bull attacking a lion beneath a scorpion.{{cite book |author1=Othmar Keel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NjYAWXO-jdAC&pg=PA144 |title=Gods, goddesses, and images of God in ancient Israel |author2=Christoph Uehlinger |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-567-08591-7 |pages=144– |access-date=2 May 2011}}

Flinders Petrie first identified the site as Beth-Pelet ({{bibleverse||Joshua|15:27|HE}}) and published the excavation reports under the names Beth-Pelet I - II. It has been linked by William Foxwell Albright to the ancient settlement of Sharuhen, although Tell el-Ajjul near the estuary of Nahal Besor, and Tel Haror to the north, are also being suggested.{{cite book |title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qRtUqxkB7wkC&pg=PA1197 |access-date=2 May 2011 |date=31 December 2000 |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |isbn=978-90-5356-503-2 |pages=1197}} Nahal Besor has been suggested to be the Brook of Egypt.Nadav Na'aman, [https://www.academia.edu/12932443 The Brook of Egypt and Assyrian Policy on the Egyptian Border.] Tel Aviv 6 (1979), pp. 68-90

Besor Stream is subject to annual flooding following heavy rains. Some Palestinians have claimed that Israel is at fault for the flooding, due to the opening of one or more dams opened upstream, and in 2015, AFP posted a video showing flooding, entitled "Gaza village floods after Israel opens dam gates." Several days later, AFP published a story acknowledging that "no such dam exists in Israel that could control the flow of water into Gaza, according to a team of AFP reporters on the ground as well as interviews with Israeli and international experts."

• Ein HaBesor
• Nahal Hevron
• Tourism in Israel

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite news |last=Ward |first=Hazel |date=2015-02-27 |title=Gaza floods: dispelling the myth about Israeli 'dams' |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/gaza-floods-dispelling-myth-israeli-dams-153701865.html |newspaper=Yahoo! News |agency=AFP |access-date=2016-08-09 |archive-date=2016-09-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160913181212/https://www.yahoo.com/news/gaza-floods-dispelling-myth-israeli-dams-153701865.html |url-status=dead}}

{{cite encyclopedia |author=Vilnai, Ze'ev |author-link=Zev Vilnay |title=Besor (Stream) |encyclopedia=Ariel Encyclopedia |volume=1 |pages=1065–1066 |publisher=Am Oved |location=Tel Aviv, Israel |year=1976 |language=he}}

{{Cite journal |doi=10.1179/0075891413Z.00000000031 |title=Tell Jemmeh, Philistia and the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the Late Iron Age |journal=Levant |volume=46 |pages=58–88 |year=2014 |last1=Ben-Shlomo |first1=David}}

{{cite book |author=Mario Liverani |title=Neo-Assyrian geography, p. 111 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IaoMAQAAMAAJ |access-date=2 May 2011 |year=1995 |publisher=Università di Roma, Dipartimento di scienze storiche, archeologiche e antropologiche dell'Antichità}}

{{cite news |last=Berman |first=Lazar |date=2015-02-25 |title=False 'Israel drowns Gaza' claims sweep internet |url=http://www.timesofisrael.com/false-israel-drowns-gaza-claims-sweep-internet/ |newspaper=Times of Israel |access-date=2016-08-09}}

}}

• {{Cite journal |last=Abd Rabou |first=Abdel Fattah N. |last2=Yassin |first2=Maged M. |last3=Al Agha |first3=Mohammed R. |last4=Hamad |first4=Dawi M. |last5=Ali |first5=Abdel Karim S. |date=2007 |title=The Herpetofauna of the Gaza Strip with Particular Emphasis on the Vicinity of Wadi Gaza |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228661897_The_herpetofauna_of_the_Gaza_Strip_with_particular_emphasis_on_the_vicinity_of_Wadi_Gaza |journal=The Islamic University Journal (Series of Natural Studies and Engineering) |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=111-135}}
• {{cite journal |last1=El-Khoudary |first1=R. H. |last2=Anan |first2=H. S. |title=Preliminary study on the geology and geomorphology of Wadi Gaza, Gaza Strip |journal=Proceedings of the 2nd Jordanian Geological Conference |year=1985 |pages=531-539}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Besor Stream}}
• [http://farahsouth.cgu.edu/index.htm Official website of the Tell el-Farah excavations, Nahal Besor. Claremont Graduate University.]

{{National parks of Israel}}

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Category:Rivers of Israel

Category:Landforms of Southern District (Israel)

Category:Rivers of the Gaza Strip

Category:Hebrew Bible rivers

Category:Negev

Category:Hebrew Bible valleys