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81-618: Following Operation Yoav, the Egyptian Army tried to stabilize a defensive line between its two arms of controlled territory in the Negev, along the Beer Sheva - Gaza road. With international peace-efforts intensifying, both sides felt that the war was drawing to a close, and such a strong defensive line would help Egypt claim the majority of western and southern Negev, which included some Israeli settlements. Israel wished to disconnect

162-740: A military railroad from the Hejaz line to Beersheba, inaugurating the station on October 30, 1915. The celebration was attended by the Ottoman army commander Jamal Pasha and other senior government officials. The train line was captured by Allied forces in 1917, towards the end of the war. Today, it forms part of the Israeli railway network . Beersheba played an important role in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. The Battle of Beersheba

243-422: A "clean, compact, and somewhat sterile-looking collection of high-rise office and residential towers." The city's tallest building is Rambam Square 2, a 32-story apartment building. Many additional high-rise buildings are planned or are under construction, including skyscrapers. There are further plans to build luxury residential towers in the city. In December 2012, a plan to build 16,000 new housing units in

324-478: A 115,000-square-metre (1,240,000-square-foot) ecologically planned mall with pools for collecting rainwater and lighting generated by solar panels on the roof. It will be situated next to an 8,000-meter park with bicycle paths. In addition, the first ever farmer's market in Israel was established as an enclosed, circular complex with 400 spaces for vendors surrounded by parks and greenery. A new central bus station

405-471: A dumping site and filled with untreated wastewater. After the renovation, the river was transformed and now flows with high-quality purified wastewater. At the official entrance to the river park is the Beit Eshel Park, which consists of a park built around a courtyard with historic remains from the settlement of Beit Eshel . Four new shopping malls were also built. Among them is Kanyon Beersheba,

486-511: A monastery. Barsanuphius of Gaza corresponded with a certain monk of Beersheba, John, who might be identified with John the Prophet , who between 525 and 527 moved to the monastery of Seridus and together with Barsanuphius wrote over 850 letters on spiritual direction. During the early Muslim period , some of the Byzantine buildings continued to be used, but there was a slow decline of

567-487: A reader is not familiar with Arabic pronunciation. Examples in Literary Arabic : There have been many instances of national movements to convert Arabic script into Latin script or to romanize the language. A Beirut newspaper, La Syrie , pushed for the change from Arabic script to Latin script in 1922. The major head of this movement was Louis Massignon , a French Orientalist, who brought his concern before

648-511: A two-storey stone khan , and several tents. By the start of 1901 there was a barracks with a small garrison as well as other buildings. The Austro-Hungarian -Czech orientalist Alois Musil noted in August 1902: By 1907, there was a large village, military post, a residence for the kaymakam and a large mosque. The population increased from 300 to 800 between 1902 and 1911, and by 1914 there were 1,000 people living in 200 houses. A plan for

729-504: A way to reclaim and reemphasize Egyptian culture. As a result, some Egyptians pushed for an Egyptianization of the Arabic language in which the formal Arabic and the colloquial Arabic would be combined into one language and the Latin alphabet would be used. There was also the idea of finding a way to use hieroglyphics instead of the Latin alphabet. A scholar, Salama Musa , agreed with

810-624: A witness that I have dug this well ( bǝ'er )." Therefore the name of that place was Be'er Sheba, for there the two of them had sworn ( nishbǝ'u ). Genesis 26 relates: And Isaac redug the wells which had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, and which the Philistines had sealed after the death of Abraham, and he used the same names as had his father . . . And they arose in the morning, and they swore ( wa-yishabǝ'u ) each to his fellow, and Isaac sent them off, and they departed him in peace. On that same day, Isaac's men came to him to tell him of

891-452: Is a useful tool for anyone who is familiar with the sounds of Arabic but not fully conversant in the language. One criticism is that a fully accurate system would require special learning that most do not have to actually pronounce names correctly, and that with a lack of a universal romanization system they will not be pronounced correctly by non-native speakers anyway. The precision will be lost if special characters are not replicated and if

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972-473: Is not technically correct. Transliteration is the direct representation of foreign letters using Latin symbols, while most systems for romanizing Arabic are actually transcription systems, which represent the sound of the language, since short vowels and geminate consonants, for example, do not usually appear in Arabic writing. As an example, the above rendering munāẓaratu l-ḥurūfi l-ʻarabīyah of

1053-821: Is that written Arabic is normally unvocalized ; i.e., many of the vowels are not written out, and must be supplied by a reader familiar with the language. Hence unvocalized Arabic writing does not give a reader unfamiliar with the language sufficient information for accurate pronunciation. As a result, a pure transliteration , e.g., rendering قطر as qṭr , is meaningless to an untrained reader. For this reason, transcriptions are generally used that add vowels, e.g. qaṭar . However, unvocalized systems match exactly to written Arabic, unlike vocalized systems such as Arabic chat, which some claim detracts from one's ability to spell. Most uses of romanization call for transcription rather than transliteration : Instead of transliterating each written letter, they try to reproduce

1134-549: Is the systematic rendering of written and spoken Arabic in the Latin script . Romanized Arabic is used for various purposes, among them transcription of names and titles, cataloging Arabic language works, language education when used instead of or alongside the Arabic script, and representation of the language in scientific publications by linguists . These formal systems, which often make use of diacritics and non-standard Latin characters and are used in academic settings or for

1215-512: Is thus connected to two of the three Wife–sister narratives in the Book of Genesis . According to the Hebrew Bible, Beersheba was founded when Abraham and Abimelech settled their differences over a well of water and made a covenant (see Genesis 21:22–34 ). Abimelech's men had taken the well from Abraham after he had previously dug it so Abraham brought sheep and cattle to Abimelech to get

1296-456: The Arabic : مناظرة الحروف العربية is a transcription, indicating the pronunciation; an example transliteration would be mnaẓrḧ alḥrwf alʻrbyḧ . Early Romanization of the Arabic language was standardized in the various bilingual Arabic-European dictionaries of the 16–19th centuries: Any romanization system has to make a number of decisions which are dependent on its intended field of application. One basic problem

1377-546: The Hebrew Bible in connection with the Patriarchs Abraham and Isaac , who both dug a well and close peace treaties with King Abimelech of Gerar at the site. Hence it receives its name twice, first after Abraham's dealings with Abimelech ( Genesis 21:22–34 ), and again from Isaac who closes his own covenant with Abimelech of Gerar and whose servants also dig a well there ( Genesis 26:23–33 ). The place

1458-650: The Jewish National Fund funded major redevelopment projects in Beersheba. One such project is the Beersheba River Walk, a 900-acre (3.6-square-kilometre) riverfront park stretching along 8 kilometers of the riverside and containing a 15-acre (6.1-hectare) manmade boating lake, a 12,000-seat amphitheater, green spaces, playgrounds, and a bridge along the route of the city's Mekorot water pipes. The Beersheba River had previously been used as

1539-593: The Masoretic Text in Joshua 19:2, usually translated "Beersheba or Sheba"; however the Septuagint reads "Beersheba and Samaa (Σαμαὰ)" which fits with MT 1 Chron. 4:28. Abraham ibn Ezra and Samuel b. Meir suggest the two etymologies refer to two different cities. During the Ottoman administration, the city was referred as بلدية بئرالسبع ( Belediye Birüsseb ). Beersheba is mainly dealt with in

1620-628: The Mishmar HaNegev junction, 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Beersheba and others from the Turkish train station and Hatzerim . By 9:45, Beersheba was in Israeli hands. Around 120 Egyptian soldiers were taken prisoner. All of the Arab inhabitants who had resisted were expelled. The remaining Arab civilians, 200 men and 150 women and children, were taken to the police fort and, on October 25,

1701-410: The "Roundabouts Capital of Israel" and the largest number of roundabouts in the world. The Book of Genesis gives two etymologies for the name Be'er Sheba . Genesis 21:28-31 relates: Then Abraham set seven ewes apart. And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What mean these seven ewes, which you have set apart? And [Abraham] said, "That you are to take these seven ( sheba ) ewes from me, to be for me

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1782-557: The "conquest of Beersheba, occupation of outposts around it, [and] demolition of most of the town." The objective was to break the Egyptian blockade of Israeli convoys to the Negev. The Egyptian army did not expect an offensive and fled en masse. Israel bombed the town on October 16. At 4:00 am on October 21, the 8th Brigade's 89th battalion and the Negev Brigade 's 7th and 9th battalions moved in. Some troops advanced from

1863-637: The "last successful cavalry charge in British military history." On the edge of Beersheba's Old City is a Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery containing the graves of Australian, New Zealand and British soldiers. The town also contains a memorial park dedicated to them . During the Palestine Mandate , Beersheba was a major administrative center. The British constructed a railway between Rafah and Beersheba in October 1917 which opened to

1944-537: The "water city" of Israel. One of the projects, "Beersheva beach", is a 7- dunam fountain opposite city hall. Other projects included fountains near the Soroka Medical Center and in front of the Shamoon College of Engineering. In the 1990s, as skyscrapers began to appear in Israel, the construction of high-rise buildings began in Beersheba. Today, downtown Beersheba has been described as

2025-858: The Arab state. It was occupied by the Egyptian army from May 1948 until October 1948 when it was captured by the Israel Defense Forces and part of Arab population fled, relocated or was expelled. Today, the metropolitan area is composed of approximately equal Jewish and Arab populations, with a large portion of the Jewish population made up of the descendants of Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews who fled, relocated or were expelled from Arab countries after Israel's founding in 1948, as well as smaller communities of Bene Israel and Cochin Jews from India. Second and third waves of immigration have taken place since 1990, bringing Russian-speaking immigrants from

2106-709: The Arabic Language Academy in Damascus in 1928. Massignon's attempt at romanization failed as the Academy and the population viewed the proposal as an attempt from the Western world to take over their country. Sa'id Afghani, a member of the Academy, asserted that the movement to romanize the script was a Zionist plan to dominate Lebanon. After the period of colonialism in Egypt, Egyptians were looking for

2187-619: The Arabs in the 7th century and to the Turks in the 16th century. It long remained a watering place and small trade centre for the nomadic Bedouin tribes of the Negev , despite Turkish efforts at town planning and development around 1900. Its capture in 1917 by the British Army opened the way for their conquest of Palestine and Syria. After being taken by Israeli troops in October 1948, Beersheba

2268-488: The Negev during this period, and Negev Bedouin. Anthropologist and educationalist Aref Abu-Rabia , who worked for the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture , described it as "the first Bedouin city". In June 1899, the Ottoman government ordered the creation of the Beersheba sub-district ( kaza ) of the district ( mutasarrıflık ) of Jerusalem , with Beersheba to be developed as its capital. Implementation

2349-586: The Oath' or 'Well of the Seven ' ), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel . Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most populous Israeli city with a population of 214,162, and the second-largest city in area (after Jerusalem ), with a total area of 117,500 dunams (45 mi / 117.5 km ). Human habitation near present-day Beersheba dates back to

2430-576: The Ramot Gimel neighborhood was scrapped in favor of creating a new urban forest , which spans 1,360 acres (550 ha) and serves as the area's "green lung", as part of the plans to develop a "green band" around the city. The forest includes designated picnic areas, biking trails, and walking trails. According to Mayor Ruvik Danilovich , Beersheba still has an abundance of open, underdeveloped spaces that can be used for urban development. Romanization of Arabic The romanization of Arabic

2511-695: The Rural Property Tax Ordinance not being applied there. The 1945 village survey conducted by the Palestine Mandate government found 5,570 (5,360 Muslims, 200 Christians and 10 others). In 1947, the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP) proposed that Beersheba be included within the Jewish state in their partition plan for Palestine. However, when the UN's Ad Hoc Committee revised

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2592-522: The area. Following the conclusion of the war, the 1949 Armistice Agreements formally granted Beersheba to Israel. The town was then transformed into an Israeli city with only an exiguous Arab minority. Beersheba was deemed strategically important due to its location with a reliable water supply and at a major crossroads, northeast to Hebron and Jerusalem , east to the Dead Sea and al Karak , south to Aqaba , west to Gaza and southwest to Al-Auja and

2673-431: The armored battalion, both of the 8th Armored Brigade , participated in combat. A few artillery and mortar batteries assisted them. The main assaults were carried out by the mechanized forces, while Golani's infantry came in the second wave to cleanse and defend newly captured positions. Phase 1, went according to plan, with IDF forces capturing three important Egyptian positions without major combat or casualties, on

2754-543: The benefit of non-speakers, contrast with informal means of written communication used by speakers such as the Latin-based Arabic chat alphabet . Different systems and strategies have been developed to address the inherent problems of rendering various Arabic varieties in the Latin script. Examples of such problems are the symbols for Arabic phonemes that do not exist in English or other European languages;

2835-514: The border with Egypt . After a few months, the town's war-damaged houses were repaired. As a post-independence wave of Jewish immigration to Israel began, Beersheba experienced a population boom as thousands of immigrants moved in. The city rapidly expanded beyond its core, which became known as the "Old City", as new neighborhoods were built around it, complete with various housing projects such as apartment buildings and houses with auxiliary farms, as well as shopping centers and schools. The Old City

2916-575: The camp, such as a bath house and dwellings, were found in later excavations. During the Byzantine period, at least six churches were built there, one of which is the largest church to have been excavated in the Negev. Some of the churches were still in use until the Umayyad period but it remains uncertain whether they continued beyond the early eight century. Monasticism is also attested in historical documents and one structure has been identified as

2997-479: The captured positions from their main positions in the west, with an infantry battalion, a tank company and some accurate artillery. The attack came very close to breaking the Israeli defenders, but broke off at dusk . Later data indicated that this was the Egyptian tank battalion's first combat action, after having arrived from Egypt barely two weeks earlier. It had lost 5 of its 12 attacking tanks on that day (number of casualties unknown); Five Israelis were killed in

3078-525: The city in regard to idolatry ( Amos 5:5 and 8:14). Following the Babylonian conquest and subsequent enslavement of many Israelites , the town was abandoned. After the Israelite slaves returned from Babylon , they resettled the town. According to the Hebrew Bible, Beersheba was the southernmost city of the territories settled by Israelites, hence the expression " from Dan to Beersheba " to describe

3159-491: The city, which was manifested in the demolition of the public buildings and their transformation into a source of raw material for secondary construction . In the second half of the 8th century, the city was apparently abandoned. In 1483, during the late Mamluk era, the pilgrim Felix Fabri noted Beersheba as a city. Fabri also noted that Beersheba marked the southern-most border of "the Holy Land". The present-day city

3240-486: The counter-attack and 28 were wounded. The Egyptians made preparations to continue the counter-attack on the afternoon of the following day (December 7). However, Israeli Air Force reconnaissance revealed the Egyptian preparations in the morning. The Israeli assault battalion was sent to the Egyptian's north (left) flank and stormed their forces southwards, then chased the retreating Egyptians westward, eventually stopping in face of strong anti-tank Egyptian positions. It

3321-484: The following reasons: A fully accurate transcription may not be necessary for native Arabic speakers, as they would be able to pronounce names and sentences correctly anyway, but it can be very useful for those not fully familiar with spoken Arabic and who are familiar with the Roman alphabet. An accurate transliteration serves as a valuable stepping stone for learning, pronouncing correctly, and distinguishing phonemes. It

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3402-508: The former Soviet Union as well as Beta Israel immigrants from Ethiopia . The Soviet immigrants have made the game of chess a major sport in Beersheba, and it is now Israel's national chess center, with more chess grandmasters per capita than any other city in the world. Beersheba is home to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev . This city also serves as a center for Israel's high-tech and developing technology industry . The city has constructed over 250 roundabouts, earning its moniker as

3483-613: The fourth millennium BC. In the Bible, Beersheba marks the southern boundary of ancient Israel , as mentioned in the phrase " From Dan to Beersheba ." Initially assigned to the Tribe of Judah , Beersheba was later reassigned to Simeon . During the monarchic era , it functioned as a royal city but eventually faced destruction at the hands of the Assyrians . The Biblical site of Beersheba is Tel Be'er Sheva , lying some 4 km distant from

3564-583: The idea of applying a Latin alphabet to Egyptian Arabic, as he believed that would allow Egypt to have a closer relationship with the West. He also believed that Latin script was key to the success of Egypt as it would allow for more advances in science and technology. This change in script, he believed, would solve the problems inherent with Arabic, such as a lack of written vowels and difficulties writing foreign words. Ahmad Lutfi As Sayid and Muhammad Azmi , two Egyptian intellectuals, agreed with Musa and supported

3645-400: The language as spoken, typically rendering names, for example, by the people of Baghdad ( Baghdad Arabic ), or the official standard ( Literary Arabic ) as spoken by a preacher in the mosque or a TV newsreader. A transcription is free to add phonological (such as vowels) or morphological (such as word boundaries) information. Transcriptions will also vary depending on the writing conventions of

3726-519: The line of Turkish defense between Gaza and Beersheba. Approximately five-hundred soldiers of the Australian 4th Light Horse Regiment and the 12th Light Horse Regiment of the 4th Light Horse Brigade , led by Brigadier General William Grant , with only horses and bayonets, charged the Turkish trenches, overran them and captured the wells in what has become known as the Battle of Beersheba , called

3807-505: The local sheikh until the government house ( Saraya ) was built. Kamal was replaced by Muhammed Carullah Efendi in 1901, who in turn was replaced by Hamdi Bey in 1903. The governor in 1908 was promoted to 'adjoint' ( mutassarrıf muavin ) to the governor of the Jerusalem district, which placed him above the other sub-district governors. A visitor to Beersheba in May 1900 found only a ruin,

3888-408: The means of representing the Arabic definite article , which is always spelled the same way in written Arabic but has numerous pronunciations in the spoken language depending on context; and the representation of short vowels (usually i u or e o , accounting for variations such as Muslim /Moslem or Mohammed /Muhammad/Mohamed ). Romanization is often termed "transliteration", but this

3969-578: The modern city, which was established at the start of the 20th century by the Ottomans . The city was captured by the British-led Australian Light Horse troops in the Battle of Beersheba during World War I . The population of the town was completely changed in 1948–49. Bir Seb'a ( Arabic : بئر السبع ), as it was then known, had been almost entirely Muslim, and the 1947 UN Partition Plan designated it to be part of

4050-539: The north and east). The operation was carried out mainly with the Golani Brigade 's Gideon Battalion infantry forces, for whom this was the first operation in southern Israel or in flat desert terrain (Golani was normally stationed in the lush and hilly Upper Galilee region, near the Golan Heights for which it is named). In addition, the assault battalion and several armoured personnel carriers from

4131-621: The north of the city. In the following years, the town served as front-line defence against Nabatean attacks and was on the limes belt, which in this region is attributed to the time of Vespasian (1st century AD). The city become the centre of an eparchy around 268. During the Roman and Byzantine periods, the city developed significantly and the burial grounds on the outskirts of the city became residential areas. The inhabitants, which consisted of Nabataeans , Jews and other ethnicities, spoke primarily Greek and lived from olive oil production, viticulture, agricultural and other trades. After

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4212-426: The numerous wells in the area. According to the Hebrew Bible , the wells were dug by Abraham and Isaac when they arrived there. The streets were laid out in a grid, with separate areas for administrative, commercial, military, and residential use. It is believed to have been the first planned settlement in the region, and is also noteworthy for its elaborate water system; in particular, a huge cistern carved out of

4293-474: The oath of Isaac and Abimelech in Genesis 26:33 . Alternatively, Obadiah Sforno suggested that the well is called Seven because it was the seventh dug; the narrative of Genesis 26 includes three wells dug by Abraham which are reopened by Isaac ( Esek , Sitnah, Rehoboth ), for a total of six, after which Isaac goes to Beersheba, the seventh well. The double name of Shib'a and Beersheba is referenced again by

4374-535: The operation's first day (December 5, 1948). Phase 2, carried out on the following day (December 6, 1948) captured another important position, thus completing all the operation's objectives. However, the Israelis met stronger resistance at another position (which was not captured) and were forced to stop their advance when they hit a minefield in another location. On the same day, the Egyptians counter-attacked

4455-428: The plan, they moved Beersheva to the Arab state on account of it being primarily Arab. Egyptian forces had been stationed at Beersheva since May 1948. After the Arab states invaded Palestine and declared war on the newly-founded Jewish state of Israel , Yigal Allon proposed the conquest of Beersheba, which was approved by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion . According to Israeli historian Benny Morris , Allon ordered

4536-455: The population had grown to 80,000. The University of the Negev, which would later become Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was established in 1969. The then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat visited Beersheba in 1979. In 1983, its population was more than 110,000. During the 1990s post-Soviet aliyah , the city's population greatly increased as many immigrants from the former Soviet Union settled there. As part of its Blueprint Negev project,

4617-478: The public in May 1918, serving the Negev and settlements south of Mount Hebron . In 1928, at the beginning of the tension between the Jews and the Arabs over control of Palestine and wide-scale rioting which left 133 Jews dead and 339 wounded, many Jews abandoned Beersheba, although some returned occasionally. After an Arab attack on a Jewish bus in 1936, which escalated into the 1936–39 Arab revolt in Palestine ,

4698-481: The push for romanization. The idea that romanization was necessary for modernization and growth in Egypt continued with Abd Al Aziz Fahmi in 1944. He was the chairman for the Writing and Grammar Committee for the Arabic Language Academy of Cairo. He believed and desired to implement romanization in a way that allowed words and spellings to remain somewhat familiar to the Egyptian people. However, this effort failed as

4779-529: The reforms of Diocletian, the town became part of the province of Palaestina Tertia and grew to an approximate size of 60 hectares during its peak in the 6th century. Beersheba was described in the Madaba Map and Eusebius of Caesarea as a large village with a Roman garrison. The camp was later identified in aerial photographs taken during the First World War and other structures associated with

4860-495: The region has been inhabited since the 4th millennium BC (between 5000 and 6,000 years ago). Tel Be'er Sheva , an archaeological site containing the ruins of an ancient town believed to have been the Biblical Beersheba, lies a few kilometers east of the modern city. The town dates to the early Israelite period , around the 10th century BCE. The site was possibly chosen due to the abundance of water, as evidenced by

4941-422: The remaining Jews left. At the time of the 1922 census of Palestine , Beersheba had a population of 2,356 (2,012 Muslims, 235 Christians, 98 Jews and 11 Druze ). At the time of the 1931 census , Beersheba had 545 occupied houses and a population of 2,959 (2,791 Muslims , 152 Christians, 11 Jews and five Baháʼí ). The 1938 village survey did not cover Beersheba due to the area's largely nomadic population and

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5022-621: The rock beneath the town. During the Persian rule 539 BC–c. 332 BC Beersheba was at the south of Yehud Medinata autonomous province of the Persian Achaemenid Empire . During that era the city was rebuilt and a citadel had been constructed. Archeological finds from between 359 and 338 BC have been made, finding pottery and an ostracon . During the Hasmonean rule, the city was not attributed great importance as it

5103-537: The same sound in the Arabic script, e.g. alif ا vs. alif maqṣūrah ى for the sound /aː/ ā , and the six different ways ( ء إ أ آ ؤ ئ ) of writing the glottal stop ( hamza , usually transcribed ʼ  ). This sort of detail is needlessly confusing, except in a very few situations (e.g., typesetting text in the Arabic script). Most issues related to the romanization of Arabic are about transliterating vs. transcribing; others, about what should be romanized: A transcription may reflect

5184-432: The sound of the words according to the orthography rules of the target language: Qaṭar . This applies equally to scientific and popular applications. A pure transliteration would need to omit vowels (e.g. qṭr ), making the result difficult to interpret except for a subset of trained readers fluent in Arabic. Even if vowels are added, a transliteration system would still need to distinguish between multiple ways of spelling

5265-412: The target language; compare English Omar Khayyam with German Omar Chajjam , both for عمر خيام /ʕumar xajjaːm/ , [ˈʕomɑr xæjˈjæːm] (unvocalized ʿmr ḫyām , vocalized ʻUmar Khayyām ). A transliteration is ideally fully reversible: a machine should be able to transliterate it back into Arabic. A transliteration can be considered as flawed for any one of

5346-596: The total number of Arabs driven out from Beersheva and surrounding areas reached 30,000 with many ending up in Jordan as refugees. Following Operation Yoav , a 10-kilometer radius exclusion zone around Beersheba was enforced into which no Bedouin were allowed. In response, the United Nations Security Council passed two resolutions on the November 4 and 16 demanding that Israel withdraw from

5427-509: The town in the form of a grid was developed by a Swiss and a German architect and two others. The grid pattern can be seen today in Beersheba's Old City. Most of the residents at the time were Arabs from Hebron and the Gaza area, although Jews also began settling in the city. Many Bedouin abandoned their nomadic lives and built homes in Beersheba. During World War I , the Ottomans built

5508-423: The two Egyptian arms before it could construct and man strong fortifications along the new defense line. So, Operation Assaf was planned and carried out starting December 5, just two weeks after Operation Yoav ended. In order to surprise the defenders, IDF units were transported via the newly captured Beer Sheva to the Egyptian Army's southern (rear) flank, and attacked northwards (the Egyptians expected attacks from

5589-465: The well back. He set aside seven lambs to swear that it was he that had dug the well and no one else. Abimelech conceded that the well belonged to Abraham and, in the Bible, Beersheba means "Well of Seven" or "Well of the Oath". Beersheba is further mentioned in the following Bible passages: Isaac built an altar in Beersheba (Genesis 26:23–33). Jacob had his dream about a stairway to heaven after leaving Beersheba. (Genesis 28:10–15 and 46:1–7). Beersheba

5670-413: The well which they had dug, and they said to him, "We found water." And he called it Shib'a ("seven" normally, possibly "oath" or a proper noun); therefore the name of the city is Be'er Sheba to this day. The original Hebrew name could therefore relate to the oath of Abraham and Abimelech ('well of the oath') or the seven ewes in that oath ('well of the seven'), as related in Genesis 21:31 , and/or to

5751-493: The whole kingdom. Zibiah , the consort of King Ahaziah of Judah and the mother of King Jehoash of Judah , was from Beersheba. The city has been destroyed and rebuilt many times. Considered unimportant for centuries, Be’er Sheva regained notoriety under Byzantine rule (in the 4th–7th century), when it was a key point on the Limes Palestinae , a defense line built against the desert tribes; however, it fell to

5832-518: The women, children, disabled and elderly were driven by truck to the Gaza border. The Egyptian soldiers were interned in POW camps. Some men lived in the local mosque and were put to work cleaning, however, when it was discovered that they were supplying information to the Egyptian army, they were also deported. The town was subject to large-scale looting by the Haganah , and by December, in one calculation,

5913-463: Was built in the city. The station has a glass-enclosed complex also containing shops and cafés. Some $ 10.5  million was also invested in renovating Beersheba's Old City, preserving historical buildings and upgrading infrastructure. The Turkish Quarter was also redeveloped with newly cobbled streets, widened sidewalks, and the restoration of Turkish homes into areas for dining and shopping. In 2011, city hall announced plans to turn Beersheba into

5994-537: Was built to serve as an administrative center by the Ottoman administration for the benefit of the Bedouin at the outset of the 20th century and was given the name of Bir al-Sabi (well of the seven). Until World War I , it was an overwhelmingly Muslim township with some 1,000 residents. Ben-David and Kressel have argued that the Bedouin traditional market was the cornerstone for the founding of Beersheba as capital of

6075-517: Was entrusted to a special bureau of the Ministry of the Interior. The British incorporation of Sinai into Egypt led to a need for the Ottomans to consolidate their hold on southern Palestine. There was also a desire to encourage the Bedouin to become sedentary, with a predicted increase of tranquility and tax revenue. The first governor ( kaymakam ), Isma'il Kamal Bey, lived in a tent lent by

6156-571: Was not mentioned when conquered from Edom or described in the Hasmonean wars . Around 64-63 BC, the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus made Beersheba, known as Birosaba , the southern part of the Judea province. During the Herodian period there was a small settlement in Beersheba. Remains of a Jewish village dating back to the 1st century AD were discovered in the Harkapet neighborhood in

6237-542: Was part of a wider British offensive in aimed at breaking the Turkish defensive line from Gaza to Beersheba. The Ottoman army engaged in three battles with the British forces near Gaza between March 26 and November 7, 1917. Having failed in the First and Second Battles of Gaza , the British succeeded in the Third Battle of Gaza . On October 31, 1917, three months after taking Rafah , General Allenby 's troops breached

6318-530: Was rapidly settled by new immigrants and has since developed as the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of the Negev. It is one of the largest cities in Israel outside of metropolitan Tel Aviv , Jerusalem , and Haifa . Human settlement in the area dates from the Copper Age . The inhabitants lived in caves, crafting metal tools and raising cattle. Findings unearthed at Tel Be'er Sheva , an archaeological site east of modern-day Beersheba, suggest

6399-771: Was reported that a hundred Egyptian soldiers were left dead in the wake of the assault; the Israelis had 2 wounded and none killed. During the next week, the Israeli forces cleared the area's minefields, dug defensive fortifications, and harassed nearby Egyptian forces, before being pulled out of the region in preparations for Operation Horev . Beer Sheva Beersheba ( / b ɪər ˈ ʃ iː b ə / beer- SHEE -bə ), officially Be'er-Sheva (usually spelled Beer Sheva ; Hebrew : באר שבע ‎ , romanized :  Bəʾēr Ševaʿ , IPA: [ˈbe(ʔ)eʁ ˈʃeva(ʕ)] ; Arabic : بئر السبع ‎ , romanized :  Biʾr as-Sabʿ , IPA: [biʔr‿as.sabʕ] ; lit.   ' Well of

6480-460: Was the territory of the tribe of Simeon and Judah ( Joshua 15:28 and 19:2). The sons of the prophet Samuel were judges in Beersheba ( I Samuel 8:2). Saul , Israel's first king, built a fort there for his campaign against the Amalekites (I Samuel 14:48 and 15:2–9). The prophet Elijah took refuge in Beersheba when Jezebel ordered him killed ( I Kings 19:3). The prophet Amos mentions

6561-458: Was turned into a city center, with shops, restaurants, and government and utility offices. An industrial area and one of the largest cinemas in Israel were also built in the city. By 1956, Beersheba was a booming city of 22,000. In 1959, during the Wadi Salib riots , riots spread quickly to other parts of the country, including Beersheba. Soroka Hospital opened its doors in 1960. By 1968,

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