Editing Beit Shemesh (section)

==Arab-Israeli conflict==
[[File:Naharayim memorial 9.JPG|thumb|Memorial at Naharayim]]
{{Main|Island of Peace massacre}}
Beit Shemesh has not been involved in any Arab conflict since 1997.  On 13 March 1997, seven 13 and 14-year-old girls from Beit Shemesh's [[AMIT]] Fuerst School were killed at the "[[Island of Peace]]" site in [[Naharayim]] in Northern Israel by a [[Jordanian Armed Forces|Jordanian soldier]] while on a school class trip. They were visiting the joint Israeli and Jordanian tourist resort under [[Jordan]]ian rule.<ref name="nyt">
{{cite news |title=Jordanian Soldier Kills 7 Israeli Schoolgirls |author=Serge Schmemann |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/world/jordanian-soldier-kills-7-israeli-schoolgirls.html?scp=cse&pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=13 March 1997 |access-date=29 December 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727150019/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/14/world/jordanian-soldier-kills-7-israeli-schoolgirls.html?scp=cse&pagewanted=all |archive-date=27 July 2018 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }}
</ref> [[Hussein of Jordan|King Hussein]] of Jordan went to Beit Shemesh a few days after the massacre to ask forgiveness in the name of his country. <ref name="cnn"/>