An ancient area that the Romans, Persians and Muslims passed through, and the Israelis occupied it in 1948, then it became part of the Gaza Strip in 2005, and it is known for the beauty of its lands and the Beit Lahia Tailoring Project. It is located in the coastal plain area of the Mediterranean coast, northeast of Gaza City.
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Historians differed in explaining the reason for the name “Beit Lahia.” A group of them says that the word is derived from the word for gods, as the town was previously a “house of gods and temples” in ancient times.
While the other team says that it was known for its beauty and hiking spots until it became a place for amusement, from which its name was derived.
Historian Mustafa Al-Dabbagh explains the meaning based on the origin of the word in Arabic and historically. He says that it is a word that means desolate or tired in Syriac, and that it was a place for making idols, so it was called “Beit Lahia.” He said that the root of the word “Lahia” is from amusement and play, and it was also said that it is the drum, which is the boy at The people of Hadhramaut.
Location and space
Beit Lahia is 7 kilometers north of Gaza City, and is bordered to the north by the occupied village of Harbia, to the south by Jabalia and Nazla, Beit Hanoun to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Its area is 24,500 dunums (a dunum equals one thousand square metres). Its area before the Nakba was estimated at 38,376 dunums.
It is divided into: Al-Sifa District (Al-Atatreh), Al-Sultans District, Al-Ghabun Neighborhood, Fadous Residential Area, Western Neighborhood, Eastern Neighborhood, Al-Mansheya Neighborhood, Al-Khazzan Neighborhood, Umm Al-Fahm Neighborhood, Al-Fardous Neighborhood, Bedouin Residential Area, Umm Al-Nasr Village, and Beit Lahia Project.
Close to it are several former settlements that Israel evacuated of settlers in 2005, including the Nisanit, El Sinai, and Dogit settlements, which the occupation established in the village.
It has geostrategic importance for the following reasons:
- Its lands overlook the shore of the Mediterranean Sea.
- It is only 7 kilometers from Gaza City, 31 kilometers from Ashdod, and 54.5 kilometers from Ramla.
- It is close to the Erez crossing in the north of the Gaza Strip, and there is a distance of 5.4 kilometers between them.
- Close to the 1949 armistice line.
- Close to the Gaza Strip settlements and 4 kilometers away from the Netsef Haasara settlement.
Geography
The height of the sand dunes surrounding Beit Lahia ranges from 22 to 55 meters above sea level, and is known for its sandy soil. It is famous for its huge sycamore trees, which bear fruit 7 times a year and tolerate drought. The residents of the region have relied on them throughout its history.
It is known for the beauty of its nature, its orchards, and its many diverse fruits, including pomegranates, cactus, grapes, and various types of citrus fruits, in addition to olives and all kinds of grains. It is most famous for its apples, which are sweeping the Gaza Strip’s markets.
Rainwater is considered one of the main sources, followed by southern groundwater, as Beit Lahia is located on an underground reservoir that extends to the coastal strip of the Gaza Strip. The town is considered one of the water surplus areas, and benefits from rainfall from October to March.
Population
Its population in 2021, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, was 101,507 Palestinians. They are famous for growing strawberries, flowers, vegetables, citrus fruits and apples.
The town is also famous for its people’s sewing profession, and it is known as the “Beit Lahia Project,” the second largest sewing factory in Palestine, which now exports abroad, but the closure of the crossings and obstruction by the Israelis made the merchants resort to opening their factories abroad in Egypt and Jordan.
Most of the villagers depend on working in Israeli-controlled areas to earn their living, followed by local agriculture, then employment and work in stores, and finally industrial professions.
Historical stations
The village was mentioned in the writings of the Roman scholar Zamanus, which confirms its ancient history, and this is supported by ancient monuments dating back to the Roman, Persian, and Islamic eras. It confirms that the Canaanites, Byzantines, and Muslims lived there.
Before the Nakba of 1948, Beit Lahia was the second village in terms of the number of mosques and properties in the southern district of Palestine after the town of Brier. Its lands extended across the villages of Beit Hanoun all the way to the borders of Brier from the east, and its area reached 50 square kilometers.
The migration of the Jews caused the cutting off of part of its lands in the north, making its area smaller. It continued to change due to the conditions that the country was going through at the time, and neighborhoods were added to it that were not part of it, including Aslan, Al-Sifa, Al-Atatra, and Al-Sultan, so its demographic structure changed constantly.
As a result of urban expansion and population increase, the area of agricultural land decreased and was replaced by other crops. Between 1948 and 1967, it was located on the armistice line (Green Line) before the Israelis occupied it in the June 1967 war.
Its first council was established in 1964, and the first president was Khaled Hamouda. At that time, it was the second largest village in area in Palestine after Brier.
With the signing of the Oslo Accords in late 1993, the National Authority made the town part of the North Governorate, adopting a new administrative division in the Gaza Strip in 1994. Then the late President Yasser Arafat announced its transformation into a city and its council into a municipal council.
During the Al-Aqsa Intifada in late 2000, the city was subjected to bombing, sabotage, and bulldozing by the occupation army due to its proximity to the security line established by Israel, and because it was used as a place to launch rockets from the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). Many of its residents were martyred throughout the history of its uprisings.
The Hamas movement won the support of the residents of Beit Lahia in the municipal and local council elections in 2005.
During the Gaza aggression, which began at the beginning of October 2023, which resulted in more than 35,000 martyrs, the town was subjected to massive destruction of homes, infrastructure, and civil and service facilities, and large numbers of bodies were found in its streets, run over by tanks. Due to the continuous bombing, the people were forced to flee. South.
Landmarks and monuments
The archaeological ruin, which includes the ruins of Saqa’b (which contains traces of ancient dwellings and graves) and Al-Laqiya (which contains the remains of a mosque and a tunnel and was called that because it was the meeting place of Saladin and the Crusaders in the battle of the Ayyubids).
There is also Khirbet Hamouda, east of the city, where archaeological pieces were found, and Khirbet al-Sahliyya, north of the city, which Yaqut al-Hamawi mentioned and said that it is part of Ashkelon.
As for the Dome of Umm al-Nasr, there the Ayyubids defeated the Crusaders, and in it a dome was built that remains a witness to that victory.
In Beit Lahia there are also the mosques of Sheikh Salim Abu Muslim and Sheikh Saad, Sidra Al-Ajami, which is a tree that has lived for many years, and Tal Al-Dhahab, but it was completely removed.