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She'ar Yashuv

She'ar Yashuv () is a moshav in northern Israel. Located in the Upper Galilee in the northeastern Hula Valley, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council. In it had a population of .

The moshav came to public awareness after the 1997 Israeli helicopter disaster, when two IDF helicopters collided in midair above the settlement, killing 73 people on board.

Name

The name "She'ar Yashuv" () is based on the eponymous son of the prophet Isaiah (see Isaiah ).

History

Identification with Beth 'Anath

Recent studies have identified the area of She'ar Yashuv with Beth-Anath (בֵּית עֲנָת), mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as one of the fortified cities allotted to the tribe of Naphtali (Joshua 19:38). It reappears in Judges 1:33, where Naphtali is said not to have expelled its Canaanite inhabitants, who instead became subject to forced labor.

A Greek boundary stone from the reign of Diocletian (284–305 CE), part of the Panias (Banias) corpus of territorial markers in the upper Jordan basin, records the village name Βηθθ Ἀνάθης (Beth-Anath), a site also known from the bible and Hellenistic sources. Roy Marom has tentatively identified it with Tell ʿAnt in the vicinity of She'ar Yashuv, on the basis of spatial considerations and Roman–Byzantine archaeological remains in the area.

Modern history

She'ar Yashuv was first founded in February 1940 along with Beit Hillel as part of the Tower and Stockade system by 30 families from the HaNoar HaTzioni ("Zionist Youth") and HaOved HaTzioni ("Zionist Workers"). It was originally called Metzadat Ussishkin Gimel, lit. "Ussishkin Fortress (No.) 3", named after Menahem Ussishkin, before being renamed Aleh Reish ("Go Up, Take Possession"). The present name is taken from the Book of Isaiah ("A remnant will return, (the remnant of Jacob)").

When the battles of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War ended and a ceasefire was declared at the end of 1948, most of the inhabitants abandoned the community because of artillery shells fired by Syria from Tel Azaziat, which overlooks the village from the east. In 1949 it was resettled by remnants of the original community. This time, by members of HaNoar HaTzioni from Hungary who survived the Holocaust and had come to Israel during the war.

References