Jerusalem District

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.

Mahseya (Hebrew: מַחְסֵיָה) is a moshav in central Israel. Located about 2 kilometers east of Beit Shemesh, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council in the Jerusalem District. In 2021 it had a population of 493.

Beit Shemesh railway station is an Israel Railways station in Beit Shemesh, Israel, on the Tel Aviv–Lod–Jerusalem line. The station is located near the northern industrial zone of Beit Shemesh.

Dayr Aban (also spelled Deir Aban; Arabic: دير آبان) was a Palestinian Arab village in the Jerusalem Subdistrict, located on the lower slope of a high ridge that formed the western slope of a mountain, to the east of Beit Shemesh. It was formerly bordered by olive trees to the north, east, and west. The valley, Wadi en-Najil, ran north and south on the west-side of the village. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on October 19, 1948, during Operation Ha-Har. It was located 21 km west of Jerusalem. Today there are over 5000 people originally from Deir Aban living in Jordan.

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.

Hartuv (Hebrew: הרטוב) or Har-Tuv (lit. "Mount of Goodness") was an agricultural colony in the Judean Hills established in 1883 on land purchased from the Arab village of Artuf by English missionaries. It was destroyed in the 1929 Palestine riots but was rebuilt in 1930. In 1948 it was abandoned again. Hartuv was the starting point for the Convoy of 35 during the 1948 war. Hartuv is now an industrial zone near Beit Shemesh.

Naham (Hebrew: נַחַם) 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 561.

Artuf (Arabic: عرتوف) was a Palestinian village in the Jerusalem foothills depopulated in 1948. It was situated 21.5 kilometers (13.4 mi) west of Jerusalem on a high plateau, surrounded by plains on the south, east, and west. The village was on a secondary road that linked it to the main road to Jerusalem.

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.

The Biblical Museum of Natural History, currently located in Hartuv at the entrance to Beit Shemesh, Israel, was founded in 2014 by Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin, affectionately referred to as the "Zoo Rabbi."

Avshalom Cave (Hebrew: מערת אבשלום, romanized: Me'arat Avshalom), known in academic literature as Soreq Cave (Hebrew: מערת שׂורק, romanized: Me'arat Soreq), Arabic: مغارة سوريك, romanized: Mghar Suriq) an popularly as Stalactites Cave (Hebrew: מערת הנטיפים, romanized: Me'arat HaNetifim), is a 5,000 m2 cave on the western side of Mt. Ye'ela, in the Judean hills in Israel, unique for its dense concentration of stalactites and other cave formations. The cave has been the focus of paleoclimate research, which allowed reconstruction of the region's semi-arid climate for the past 185,000 years. According to the American geologist James Aronson, the Soreq Cave Nature Reserve is the Rosetta stone of climate history in the Eastern Mediterranean.

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.