Shephelah

Agur (Hebrew: עָגוּר, lit. 'Crane') 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 552.

'Ajjur (Arabic: عجّور) was a Palestinian Arab village of over 3,700 inhabitants in 1945, located 24 kilometres (15 mi) northwest of Hebron. It became depopulated in 1948 after several military assaults by Israeli military forces. Agur, Tzafririm, Givat Yeshayahu, Li-On, and Tirosh were built on the village lands.

Britannia Park (Hebrew: Park Britannia, פארק בריטניה) is a forest and recreation area in Israel, in the Judean lowland. The forest was planted by the Jewish National Fund starting in the 1950s, and with the financial aid of British Jews, after whom the park was named.

Azekah (Hebrew: עֲזֵקָה, ʿazēqā) was an ancient town in the Shfela ("lowlands of Judea") guarding the upper reaches of the Valley of Elah, about 26 km (16 mi) northwest of Hebron. The current tell (ruin) by that name, also known as Tel Azeka (Hebrew: תל עזקה, ʿtel azēqā) or Tell Zakariya, has been identified with the biblical Azekah, dating back to the Canaanite period. Today, the site lies on the purlieu of Britannia Park.According to Epiphanius of Salamis, the name meant "white" in Hebrew. The tell is pear shaped with the tip pointing northward. Due to its location in the Elah Valley it functioned as one of the main Judahite border cities, sitting on the boundary between the lower and higher Shfela. Although listed in Joshua 15:35 as being a city in the plain, it is actually partly in the hill country, partly in the plain.

Sdot Micha or Sedot Mikha (Hebrew: שְׂדוֹת מִיכָה, lit. Micha Fields) is a moshav (agricultural settlement) in central Israel. Located to the west of Beit Shemesh, it is under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 390.

Srigim (Hebrew: שריגים. lit. Shoots), also known as Li On (Hebrew: לִי אוֹן), is a community settlement in central Israel. Located to the south of Beit Shemesh. It falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 1,044. It borders the British Park forest and the biblical Elah Valley where David fought Goliath.

Zekharia (Hebrew: זְכַרְיָה) 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 1,146. Settlement in the area dates back to the Iron Age. During the Roman era a town named Beit Zacharia was located on the hill, which according to legend was the burial place of the prophet Zechariah. By the Mamluk era, it had become a Muslim village, and was known by various names, including Zakariyya al-Battih, Kefr Zakaria, Az-Zakariyya or simply Zakariyya. Although the village had been allotted to the Arab state in the 1947 United Nations partition plan, the area was captured by Israeli forces during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and the remaining Arab population was expelled in 1950, after which a new Jewish moshav, now Hebraized as Zekharia, was founded on the site.

Highway 38 is an arterial road in the low plains of Judea in Israel. It serves as the main access route to Beit Shemesh and as a main north–south route in the region. Along the route are many nature preserves and archeological sites.

Luzit (Hebrew: לוּזִית, lit. Almond Tree) is a moshav in central Israel. Located between Beit Shemesh and Kiryat Gat, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In 2021 it had a population of 862.

Deir al-Dubban (Arabic: دير الدبان, from Dayr ad-Dhubban, literally, the "Monastery of the Flies") was a small Palestinian village 26 kilometers (16 mi) northwest of Hebron, near the modern village of Luzit, between Jerusalem, and Ashkelon. The village was depopulated in the 1948 Palestine War.

The Valley of Elah or Ella Valley ("the valley of the terebinth"; from the Hebrew: עמק האלה‎ Emek HaElah), called in Arabic: وادي السنط, Wadi es-Sunt, so-named from its Acacia albida trees, is a long, shallow valley in the Levant best known as the place described in the Hebrew Bible (or Old Testament of Christianity) where the Israelites were encamped when David fought Goliath (1 Samuel 17:2; 1 Samuel 17:19). It is home to several important archaeological sites, including those identified as the ancient towns of Azekah and Socho (1 Samuel 17:1). Rising up from the valley on its extreme southeast end lies the hilltop ruin Adullam, and on its north lie the ruins of the ancient fortress city of Khirbet Qeiyafa, which is identified with the ancient town of Sha'araim (1 Samuel 17:52). The valley is named in Hebrew after the large and shady terebinth trees (Pistacia atlantica) which are indigenous to it. On the west side of the valley, near Socho, there is a very large and ancient tree of this kind, 55 feet (17 m) in height with a trunk 17 feet (5.2 m) in circumference and a canopy at least 75 feet (23 m) in diameter. This tree is notable for being one of the largest terebinths in the area, and marks the upper end of the valley.Since the early 1970s, the valley has also contained a large satellite relay station, with an antenna farm containing some 120 satellite dishes of various sizes. From 2010 to 2014, the region around the valley was believed to be threatened by shale oil extraction through the CCR ground-heating process, with the Green Zionist Alliance and the grassroots group Save Adullam, among others, working to stop exploitation of the region. The plan was ultimately blocked in 2014 by a zoning committee decision. In July 2019, the Elah Valley came under the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, owing largely to its historical importance and the desire to curtail the encroaching city limits of Beit Shemesh to its north.

The Battle of Ajnadayn (Arabic: معركة أجنادين) was fought in July or August 634 (Jumada I or II, 13 AH), in a location close to Beit Guvrin in the present-day Palestine region; it was the first major pitched battle between the Byzantine (Roman) Empire and the army of the Arab Rashidun Caliphate. The result of the battle was a decisive Muslim victory. The details of this battle are mostly known through Muslim sources, such as the ninth-century historian al-Waqidi.