Beit She'an Valley
Valley in Northern District, Israel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Beit She'an Valley (Hebrew: בקעת בית שאן or Hebrew: עמק בית שאן) is a valley in Israel.
The valley lies within the Beit She'an rift, part of the Afro-Syrian Rift (Jordan Rift Valley), which opens westwards to the Harod Valley.[1] It is a middle part of the Jordan Valley. The valley is bounded by the Mount Gilboa mountain range from the southwest, Jordan River from the east, Nahal Tavor from the north, the lower part of the Wadi el Maleh (Malcha Stream/Nahal Malcha), where it flows into the Jordan River, from the south.[2] It is named after the ancient city of Beit She'an.
During the Ottoman period, the Beit She'an Valley formed part of the Bedouin Turabay emirate (1517-1683).[3][4] During the 18th century, the dominant local power in the valley were the Bedouins of the Banu Saqr tribe. Although weakened by their conflicts with the Acre-based strongmen Daher al-Umar and Ahmad Pasha al-Jazzar and their successors, this tribe remained the predominant group of the valley, particularly the areas west and south of Beit She'an, throughout the 19th century.[5][6][7] The smaller tribes that lived in the others parts of the valley during this period were the Ghazzawiya, Bashatwa and the Balawna.[8]
The valley is abundant in springs. For this reason, in order to attract tourism, the Beit She'an Valley Regional Council was rebranded as the Emek HaMaayanot Regional Council ("Valley of Springs Regional Council")[9]
It includes the Beit She'an National park in the northern part of Beit She'an.[10]
