Beit Jimal

The St. Stephen's Church (Hebrew: כנסיית סנט סטפן; Latin: Ecclesia S. Stephani) is a church in Beit Jimal, a Catholic monastery run by Salesian monks near Beit Shemesh in present-day Israel.St. Stephen's is under the jurisdiction of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (Patriarchatus Hierosolymitanus Latinorum) which was established in its modern form in 1847 by Pope Pius IX. It was built in 1930 on the ruins of a Byzantine church of the 5th century that had been discovered in 1916.It is dedicated to the first Christian martyr, who was stoned to death in Jerusalem in 34-35 AD (Acts 6–7), and by tradition was first buried at Beit Jimal. One of its stained glass windows bears the inscription "Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato", which is Latin meaning "It was also crucified for us under Pontius Pilate". Another inscription, on the roof, says "Pater dimitte illis", which means "Father, forgive them".

Tel Yarmuth (also Tel Yarmouth and Tel Yarmut; Hebrew name) or Khirbet Yarmuk (Arabic name) is an ancient Near East archaeological site in Israel located 25 kilometers southwest of Jerusalem and near modern Beit Shemesh. It is a large primarily single-period (EB II/III) site and has been suggested as possibly being the city of Jarmuth, being only a tentative identification, as it is based solely on the similarity of the Hebrew name with the Arabic name and its areal location.

Jarmuth, Hebrew: Yarmut (יַרְמוּת), was the name of two cities in the land of Canaan.The Douai-Rheims version of the Bible has an alternative spelling, Jaramoth.

Beit Shemesh (Hebrew: בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ [bet ʃemeʃ]) is a city located approximately 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of 141,764 in 2021.

Zanoah (Hebrew: זָנוֹחַ) is a moshav in central Israel. Located adjacent to Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 539.

Ganei HaEla (Hebrew: גני האלה) is a community of Beit Shemesh in Israel with 96 homes geared toward Dati Leumi Torani and Modern Orthodox Jews.

Tel Beit Shemesh is a small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city of Beit Shemesh. It was identified in the late 1830s as Biblical Beth Shemesh – it then was known as Ain Shams – by Edward Robinson. The tel was excavated in numerous phases during the 20th century.

Hurvat Ganim (Hebrew: חורבת גנים) is an archaeological site located near Yish'i, in the Shephelah region of Israel. The site is identified with the biblical city of Ein Gannim (Hebrew: עין גנים, sometimes Engannim) of the Tribe of Judah, not to be confused with a place of the same name belonging to Issachar, identified with modern-day Jenin.

Yish'i (Hebrew: יִשְׁעִי, lit. 'My Salvation') is a moshav in central Israel. Located near Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 857.

The Judea and Samaria Area (Hebrew: אֵזוֹר יְהוּדָה וְשׁוֹמְרוֹן, romanized: Ezor Yehuda VeShomron; Arabic: يهودا والسامرة, romanized: Yahūda wa-s-Sāmara) is an administrative division of Israel. It encompasses the entire West Bank, which has been occupied by Israel since 1967, but excludes East Jerusalem (see Jerusalem Law). Its area is split into 165 Palestinian "islands" that are under total or partial civil administration by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), and a contiguous area containing 230 Israeli settlements into which Israeli law is "pipelined". While its area is internationally recognized as a part of the Palestinian territories, some Israeli authorities group it together with the districts of Israel proper, largely for statistical purposes. The term Judea and Samaria serves as another name for the West Bank in Israel.

The Jerusalem District (Hebrew: מחוז ירושלים; Arabic: منطقة القدس) is one of the six administrative districts of Israel. The district capital is Jerusalem. The Jerusalem District has a land area of 652 km2. The population of 1,159,900 is 66.3% Jewish and 32.1% Arab. A fifth (21%) of the Arabs in Israel live in the Jerusalem Municipality, which includes both East and West Jerusalem. Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem has not been recognized by the international community. The majority of Arabs in the Jerusalem District are Palestinians, eligible to apply for citizenship under Israeli law, but either declining to apply or unsuccessful. The minority are Arab citizens of Israel living in Abu Ghosh, Beit Safafa and East Jerusalem, where Arab professionals have settled since the late 1970s, mainly for the provision of legal and other services to the local population. The non-Jewish population is 95.2% Muslim, 3.5% Christian with the others unclassified by religion.

Khirbet Qeiyafa (Arabic: خربة قيافة), also known as Elah Fortress and in Hebrew as Horbat Qayafa (Hebrew: חורבת קייאפה), is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley and dated to the first half of the 10th century BCE. The ruins of the fortress were uncovered in 2007, near the Israeli city of Beit Shemesh, 30 km (20 mi) from Jerusalem. It covers nearly 2.5 ha (6 acres) and is encircled by a 700-meter-long (2,300 ft) city wall constructed of field stones, some weighing up to eight tons. Excavations at site continued in subsequent years. A number of archaeologists, mainly the two excavators, Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor, have claimed that it might be one of two biblical cities, either Sha'arayim, whose name they interpret as "Two Gates", because of the two gates discovered on the site, or Neta'im; and that the large structure at the center is an administrative building dating to the reign of King David, where he might have lodged at some point. This is based on their conclusions that the site dates to the early Iron IIA, ca. 1025–975 BCE, a range which includes the biblical date for the biblical Kingdom of David. Others suggest it might represent either a North Israelite, Philistine, or Canaanite fortress, a claim rejected by the archaeological team that excavated the site. The team's conclusion that Khirbet Qeiyafa was a fortress of King David has been criticised by some scholars.