Editing Beit Shemesh (section)

==History==
===Tel Beit Shemesh===
{{main|Tel Beit Shemesh}}
[[File:The area of modern Beit Shemesh shortly prior to its founding.png|thumb|The area of modern Beit Shemesh in the 1940s, shortly prior to its founding in 1952.]]
The small archaeological [[Tell (archaeology)|tell]] northwest of the modern city was identified in the late 1830s as Biblical [[Tel Beit Shemesh|Beth Shemesh]] – it was known as Ain Shams – by [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]].<ref name="Issa 2021 pp. 309–327">{{cite book | last=Issa | first=Rana | title=Tracing the Jerusalem Code | chapter=Chapter 16 Missionary Philology and the Invention of Bibleland | publisher=De Gruyter | date=2021-04-19 | doi=10.1515/9783110639476-017 | pages=309–327| isbn=978-3-11-063947-6 | s2cid=233588992 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350569035|quote=For Robinson and Smith, the natives unwittingly carry the "divine dialect" of the land. Based on information from their lips, Robinson turns Ain Shams into the Bible's Beit Shemesh, Ain and Beit being so seemingly common as to be interchangeable.}}</ref> The mound hosts the ruins of an ancient city that belonged to the tribe of [[Tribe of Judah|Judah]].<ref name=":02" /> 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 [[Ostracon|ostraca]] were found, dating from the [[First Temple period|period of the First Temple]], which shed light on the [[Kingdom of Judah]] in the 7th century BCE.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Milevski |first=Ianir |last2=Naveh |first2=Joseph |last3=נוה |first3=יוסף |last4=מילבסקי |first4=יניר |date=2005 |title=אוסטרקונים בשפה העברית מרמת בית שמש, אתר 94/21, מערה A-2 / The Hebrew Ostraca from Site 94/21, Cave A-2, at Ramat Bet Shemesh |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23464165?seq=6 |journal='Atiqot / עתיקות |volume=50 |pages=19–25 |issn=0792-8424}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Mendel-Geberovich |first=Anat |last2=Faigenbaum-Golovin |first2=Shira |last3=Shaus |first3=Arie |last4=Sober |first4=Barak |last5=Cordonsky |first5=Michael |last6=Piasetzky |first6=Eli |last7=Finkelstein |first7=Israel |last8=Milevski |first8=Ianir |date=2019 |title=A Renewed Reading of Hebrew Ostraca from Cave A-2 at Ramat Beit Shemesh (Naḥal Yarmut), Based on Multispectral Imaging |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26842730 |journal=Vetus Testamentum |volume=69 |issue=4/5 |pages=682–701 |issn=0042-4935}}</ref>

===Early development town years===
The area that comprises Beit Shemesh today was under Ottoman rule and later the [[Mandatory Palestine|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|date=July 2018}} Under the proposed [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]], the town was slated to be part of an internationalized Jerusalem. The [[Palestinians|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]].<ref>Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA468 468], note #32 in Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA494 494]</ref> Israeli forces later completely destroyed Bayt Nattif along with other Arab villages.<ref>Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA355 355], footnote #85, on Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA400 400]: Harel Brigade HQ, "Daily report for 22 October", 23 Oct. 1948, IDFA 4775\49\3, for the destruction of Bait Nattiv and [[Deir Aban]]</ref><ref>''Har’el: Palmach brigade in Jerusalem'', Zvi Dror (ed. Nathan Shoḥam), Hakibbutz Hameuchad Publishers: Benei Barak 2005, p. 270 (Hebrew)</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-05-14 |title=Mass forced displacement in Gaza highlights urgent need for Israel to uphold Palestinians’ right to return |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/05/mass-forced-displacement-in-gaza-highlights-urgent-need-for-israel-to-uphold-palestinians-right-to-return/#:~:text=Amnesty%20International's%202022%20report%20found,of%20Israel's%20system%20of%20apartheid. |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=[[Amnesty International]] |language=en}}</ref> Afterwards, the Harel Brigade drove out all Palestinian refugees they found in the area south of Bayt Nattif.<ref>Morris, 2004, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA518 518]</ref>

On 6 December 1950, the [[Hartuv]] [[displaced person]]s camp "[[Ma'abarot|Ma'abarat]] Har-Tuv" was established on the site of the current-day Moshav [[Naham]]. The first inhabitants were [[History of the Jews in Bulgaria|Jewish Bulgaria]]n immigrants. They were joined by more Jewish immigrants from Bulgaria, [[History of the Jews in Iran|Iran]], [[History of the Jews in Iraq|Iraq]], [[History of the Jews in Romania|Romania]], [[History of the Jews in Morocco|Morocco]], and [[Kurdish Jews|Kurdistan]].

In 1952, the first permanent houses were built in Beit Shemesh.  In its early years, Beit Shemesh came to typify the "[[Development town|Development Town]]" with a largely [[Maghrebi Jews|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|date=July 2018}}

Building of a new area of Beit Shemesh called "Givat Sharett" commenced on the hill adjacent to, and immediately to the south of, the original part of Beit Shemesh (the original area now being colloquially referred to as "Old Beit Shemesh" despite continuing building there and in the rest of the city).

===21st century===
[[File:Beit Shemesh - Condominiums 04.jpg|thumb|Apartment complexes in Beit Shemesh]]The [[Israel Police]] maintains a bomb disposal specialist unit and training center in Beit Shemesh.<ref>Omri Efraim. [http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4125018,00.html Israel Police get 1st female sapper] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402100347/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4125018,00.html |date=2 April 2015 }}, Israel News, 20 September 2011.</ref>

The Nahala U'Menucha neighborhood, the Sheinfeld neighborhood, the Nofei Aviv neighborhood and the Migdal HaMayim neighborhood all began to be built in the early 1990s in Givat Sharret.  Ramat Beit Shemesh started to be built on hills immediately south of Givat Sharett in the late 1990s, doubling the size of the city. In 2017, the Israeli government approved a master plan to build 17,000 new housing units along with {{convert|53|ha}} zoned as new commercial space for businesses and hotels.<ref>
{{Cite web |url=http://hamodia.com/2017/04/03/netanyahu-beit-shemesh-will-double-size/ |title=Netanyahu: Beit Shemesh Will Double in Size - Hamodia Jewish and Israel News |access-date=12 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170903140420/http://hamodia.com/2017/04/03/netanyahu-beit-shemesh-will-double-size/ |archive-date=3 September 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}
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{{Cite web |url=http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-beit-shemesh-to-double-in-size-1001184442 |title=Globes English - Beit Shemesh to double in size |access-date=12 May 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511035833/http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-beit-shemesh-to-double-in-size-1001184442 |archive-date=11 May 2017 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}
</ref> It is expected that the city could be home to as many as 250,000 residents by 2025 and 350,000 by 2035. A new commercial center in the Ramat Beit Shemesh neighborhood is planned to be the city's largest.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://real-invest.co.il/?p=3558|title=משקיעים? נפתחה הזדמנות לחנות משלכם במרכז הגרנדיוזי שנבנה ברמות בית שמש - Real-Invest|date=2 April 2017}}</ref> In 2020, the construction of a hospital in Beit Shemesh, which will be run as a branch of [[Hadassah Medical Center]], was approved.<ref name=hospital>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpost.com/health-science/hadassah-hospital-announces-plans-to-open-branch-in-beit-shemesh-614033|title=Hadassah Hospital announces plans to open branch in Beit Shemesh|website=The Jerusalem Post &#124; JPost.com|date=14 June 2020 }}</ref>