Imwas

Emmaus (; Greek: Ἐμμαούς, Emmaous; Latin: Emmaus; Arabic: عمواس, ʻImwas) is a town mentioned in the Gospel of Luke of the New Testament. Luke reports that Jesus appeared, after his death and resurrection, before two of his disciples while they were walking on the road to Emmaus.Although its geographical identification is not certain, several locations have been suggested throughout history, chiefly Imwas and Al-Qubeiba, both in the West Bank. It is known only that it was connected by a road to Jerusalem; the distance given by Luke varies in different manuscripts and the figure given has been made even more ambiguous by interpretations.

The Battle of Emmaus took place around September 165 BC during the Maccabean Revolt between Judean rebels, led by Judas Maccabeus (Judah Maccabee), and an expedition of Seleucid Empire forces under generals Gorgias, Ptolemy the son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor near Emmaus. The battle was won by the Maccabee rebels, who marched by night and surprised the Seleucid camp while many soldiers were absent. The victorious Maccabees looted the Greek camp for valuables and likely weapons to help further their cause.

Latrun Interchange is a key road interchange of Israel, located in the Latrun Salient in the Israeli occupied West Bank. It lies on the route between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, at the intersection of Highway 1 and Highway 3. It is a slightly modified diamond interchange. The high speed ramps of westbound Highway 1 connect with Highway 3 at a traffic-light controlled junction. The high speed ramps of eastbound Highway 1 connect with Highway 3 at two offset, uncontrolled junctions. The interchange lies east of the Green Line within the Latrun Salient, technically part of the West Bank.

Canada Park (Hebrew: פארק קנדה, Arabic: حديقة كندا, also Ayalon Park,) is an Israeli national park stretching over 7,000 dunams (7km2), and extending from No man's land into the West Bank. The park is located north of Highway 1 (Tel Aviv-Jerusalem), and is situated near the Ayalon Valley, between the Latrun Interchange and Sha'ar HaGai. The park is full with natural attractions, including man-made forests, Mediterranean woodlands home to many local flowers, and the remains of ancient orchards. The park also has a number of historical interest, including a Hasmonean Jewish fort, burial caves and ritual baths of the Second Temple period and the Bar Kokhba revolt, a Crusader fort, a Roman bathhouse that was turned into a maqam, the remnants of three former Palestinian Arab towns, and various military memorials. There are also recreation areas, springs, and panoramic several hilltop views.Canada Park is considered a popular tourist destination for Israelis, drawing some 300,000 visitors annually.

The Battles of Latrun were a series of military engagements between the Israel Defense Forces and the Jordanian Arab Legion on the outskirts of Latrun between 25 May and 18 July 1948, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Latrun takes its name from the monastery close to the junction of two major highways: Jerusalem to Jaffa/Tel Aviv and Gaza to Ramallah. During the British Mandate it became a Palestine Police base with a Tegart fort. The United Nations Resolution 181 placed this area within the proposed Arab state. In May 1948, it was under the control of the Arab Legion. It commanded the only road linking the Yishuv-controlled area of Jerusalem to Israel, giving Latrun strategic importance in the battle for Jerusalem. Despite assaulting Latrun on five separate occasions, Israel was ultimately unable to capture Latrun and it remained under Jordanian control until the Six-Day War. The battles were such a decisive Jordanian victory that the Israelis decided to construct a bypass surrounding Latrun so as to allow vehicular movement between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, thus avoiding the main road. Regardless, during the Battle for Jerusalem, the Jewish population of Jerusalem could still be supplied by a new road, named the "Burma Road", that bypassed Latrun and was suitable for convoys. The Battle of Latrun left its imprint on the Israeli collective imagination, though in two different versions, and constitutes part of the "founding myth" of the Jewish State. The attacks cost the lives of 168 Israeli soldiers, but some accounts inflated this number to as many as 2,000. The combat at Latrun also carries a symbolic significance because of the participation of Holocaust survivors. Today, the battleground site has an Israeli military museum dedicated to the Israeli Armored Corps and a memorial to the 1947–1949 Palestine war.

Latrun (Hebrew: לטרון, Latrun; Arabic: اللطرون, al-Latrun) is a strategic hilltop in the Latrun salient in the Ayalon Valley, and a depopulated Palestinian village. It overlooks the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, 25 kilometers west of Jerusalem and 14 kilometers southeast of Ramla. It was the site of fierce fighting during the 1948 war. During the period of 1949–1967, it was occupied by Jordan at the edge of a no man's land between the armistice lines. In the 1967 war, it was occupied by Israel. The hilltop includes the Latrun Abbey, Mini Israel (a park with scale models of historic buildings around Israel), The International Center for the Study of Bird Migration (ICSBM), the Yad La-Shiryon memorial to armored corps soldiers killed in action, and military tank museum. Neve Shalom (Oasis of Peace) is a joint Jewish-Arab community on a hilltop south of Latrun. Canada Park is nearby to the east.

The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway (also higher-speed railway to Jerusalem, Plan A1, and Railway 29) is a railway line in Israel connecting the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The line serves as the main rail link between the two cities, complementing the old Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. As such, the railway is often referred to in Israel as the high-speed railway to Jerusalem to distinguish it from the older, longer and slower line. In spite of that name, the line is not high-speed under the definition used by the International Union of Railways: both its design speed of 200 km/h (125 mph) and its current operational speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) are below the 250 km/h (155 mph) threshold used by the UIC to define high-speed railways, and it is traversed by IR's regular rolling stock instead of the UIC requirement for specially-designed high-speed trains.The newly constructed railway section to Jerusalem branches off from the Tel Aviv–Lod railway at the Ganot Interchange southeast of Tel Aviv and spans about 56 km (35 mi) of electrified double track. It cost approximately NIS 7 billion (about US$2 billion in 2008 dollars) – due to the extensive bridging and tunneling required along the mountainous route. Besides the construction of the new railway section, the existing railway from Herzliya to Ganot Interchange underwent electrification. The railway's design speed is 160 km/h (99 mph) with a projected non-stop travel time of approximately 28 minutes from Tel Aviv HaHagana railway station to Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon railway station. As of 2019, the scheduled travel time between Ben Gurion Airport railway station and Jerusalem is 22–26 minutes, and between Tel Aviv HaHagana and Jerusalem 32–34 minutes (including the stop at Ben Gurion Airport). This compared with about 75 minutes each way using the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway from Tel Aviv HaHagana to southern Jerusalem's Malha station, which unlike Jerusalem–Navon, is located relatively far from the city center. Construction of the railway began in 2001. It was the first heavy rail line in Israel to be electrified and was originally planned to open in 2008, but various objections, bureaucratic delays and engineering difficulties caused planning and construction to span over two decades, with the line opening for service in stages. The first section, between the Ganot interchange on Highway 1 and Ben Gurion Airport opened in October 2004 and made train travel possible between Tel Aviv and the airport. Another section completed in 2007 is used by trains operating between central Israel and Modi'in. The final section opened on 25 September 2018 and enabled service between Jerusalem–Navon and Ben Gurion Airport. As electrification works progressed northwards from the airport through Tel Aviv to Herzliya, service to and from Jerusalem was extended to include additional stations, beginning with Tel Aviv HaHagana on 21 December 2019, Tel Aviv HaShalom and Savidor Central on 30 June 2020, and Tel Aviv University and Herzliya on 21 September 2020. With the completion of electrification works to Binyamina in February 2023, nighttime-only service was extended from Hertzliya to Netanya, Hadera West And Binyamina. A railway spur which opened on 31 March 2022 also enables direct service on the line between Jerusalem and Modi'in. Eventually, trains from Jerusalem are expected to continue all the way to northern Israel as future phases of Israel Railways' electrification project are carried out along the Coastal Railway, with the long-term plan of trains originating from Jerusalem terminating at Karmiel by the mid 2020s.

Khirbet el-ʻAqd (Arabic: خربه العقد) or Horvat ʻEqed (Hebrew: חורבת עקד) is an archaeological site in the Latrun salient of the West Bank, approximately 22 km northwest of Jerusalem. The site, situated on a hill, contains the ruins of an ancient fortified town dating from the Hellenistic period through the Bar Kokhba revolt (130s CE), after which the site was ultimately abandoned. The site has yielded significant finds, including robust fortifications constructed during the Hellenistic period, possibly by the Seleucid general Bacchides. These defenses were subsequently strengthened during the Bar Kokhba revolt, suggesting the site's potential role as a major rebel stronghold during that period. Further discoveries from this revolt include hiding complexes and coins used by the Jewish rebel state. Notable among the findings are Jewish ritual baths, as well as remnants of weaponry such as armor scales, slingshots, ballistae and arrowheads. Khirbet el-ʻAqd is believed to be the site of the Hellenistic and early Roman-period town of Emmaus, with the name later shifting to a newer, larger city situated on the slopes, 2 km away from the original location.

Mini Israel (Hebrew: מיני ישראל) is a miniature park located near Latrun, Israel in the Ayalon Valley. Opened in November 2002, the site contains miniature replicas of hundreds of buildings and landmarks in Israel. The tourist attraction consists of about 350 large models of notable buildings. The scale of 1:25 produces skyscrapers that tower over an adult and historic churches taller than a child.

Neve Shalom (Hebrew: נְוֵה שָׁלוֹם, lit. 'Oasis of Peace'), also known as Wāħat as-Salām (Arabic: واحة السلام) is a cooperative village in Israel, jointly founded by Israeli Jews and Arabs in an attempt to show that the two peoples can live side by side peacefully, as well as to conduct educational work for peace, equality and understanding between the two peoples. The village is located on one of the two Latrun hilltops overlooking the Ayalon Valley, and lies midway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Falling under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council, in 2021 it had a population of 356.

Sha'alvim (Hebrew: שַׁעַלְבִים) is a religious kibbutz in central Israel and one of only two affiliated with Poalei Agudat Yisrael (Hafetz Haim being the other). Located near the city of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gezer Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,886.

Salbit (Arabic: سلبيت, also spelled Selbît) was a Palestinian Arab village located 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) southeast of al-Ramla. Salbit was depopulated during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War after a military assault by Israeli forces. The Israeli locality of Shaalvim was established on the former village's lands in 1951.