Beersheba: Encyclopedia II - Beersheba - History

Beersheba - History

Biblically, the site of Beersheba is mentioned in two of the three Genesis stories of a wife confused for a sister as a location where an oath of non-aggression was made between the Philistines, represented by a king named Abimelech, and the Israelites. The bible describes the oath being made on two seperate occasions by the Israelites, once represented by Abraham, and once by Isaac. Beersheba is also mentioned in Joshua 19:2. Beersheba was the southernmost city of Israel in Biblical times hence the expression "from Dan to Beersheba" to describe the whole kingdom.

Between the two Abimelech Genesis stories, there are several different etymologies given for the origin of Beersheba's name:

• in memory of the oath of Abraham and Abimelech (well of the oath)
• in memory of the seven ewes which stood witness to Abraham and Abimelech's oath (well of the seven)
• in memory of seven wells dug by Isaac (seven wells), though only 3 or 4 are identified
• in memory of the oath of Isaac and Abimelech (well of the oath)

Linguistic studies favour the well of the oath, as were it to be well of the seven then Shebabeer would be more accurate.

An archeological site called "Tel Beer-Sheva", a few kilometers north-east of modern day Beer-Sheva has evidence of being populated since the 4th millennium BC. It was destroyed and rebuilt many times during its history. The latest inhabitants of Tel Beer-Sheva were the Byzantines, which abandoned the city at the 7th century. The Turkish Ottomans who had controlled Israel since the 16th century barely paid any interest to Beersheba until the end of the 19th century. At the begining of the 19th Century Beersheba is noted by European pilgrims for being in ruins, for its well and the Bedouin living in the surrounds. The Ottomans built a police station in Beersheba at the end of the 19th century in order to control the Bedouin. This attracted a small settlement to the East of the city of Bedouin wishing to abandon nomadic life and some Arabs from Hebron, Gaza and elsewhere. The Ottomans planned and built a perfect town centre with straight roads and small characteristic buildings built with local materials (many of which stand today but in disrepair). The Ottomans also built a train station and a railway to Ashkelon and Gaza.

On 31 October 1917, as part of the Sinai and Palestine campaign during World War I, the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade, under Brigadier General William Grant, charged more than four miles at the Turkish trenches, overran them and captured the wells at Beersheba. This is often reported as the last successful cavalry charge in history. During the period of the British Mandate of Palestine Beersheba remained a small administrative centre, with police and local courts most residents worked for the British. According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan Beersheba was destined to be part of an Arab entity. On 21 October 1948, as part of Operation Yoav, the Israel Defence Forces captured Beersheba from the Egyptian Army, which had invaded Israel and captured Beersheba in May 1948.

Until 2004 there were almost no terrorist attacks in Beersheba but on 31 August 2004, 16 people were killed in 2 suicide bombings on buses in Beersheba for which the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas claimed responsibility. On 28 August 2005 another suicide bomber attacked this time at the central bus station seriusly injuring 2 security guards. (Those parts of Israel that border on the West Bank where there is an effective security fence have been proven to be almost free of terrorist attacks, the southern section of the fence, nearest to Beersheba, is not expected to be effective until 2006.)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki