Beit Zayit



Beit Zayit (בֵּית זַיִת) is a moshav in Israel. Located just outside the Jerusalem municipal border to the west, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population of.

Beit Zayit lies on the edge of the Jerusalem Forest. Nearby is a dam, built to collect winter flood waters and create the Beit Zayit Reservoir, meant to slow down the flow of the Soreq Stream and allow water to seep into the Western Mountain Aquifer, a task it seems not to fulfill properly (look here for the Hebrew article).

Name
A village named Beit Zayit is mentioned in the Book 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.

History
Beit Zayit was established after the 1947-49 Arab-Israeli war on land that had belonged to the depopulated Palestinian village of 'Ayn Karim.

The village 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.

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.

Dinosaur footprints
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. This is the only place in Israel where evidence of dinosaurs was discovered, and one of few such sites in the Middle East.

In popular culture
In the Israeli TV show Fauda, the village is visited by the main characters since one of the characters, Yaara, lives there.