Aseret Explained

Aseret
Meaning:Ten (after ten members of Bilu)
Foundation:1954
District:center
Council:Gederot
Region:Shephelah
Pushpin Map:Israel center ta#Israel
Pushpin Mapsize:250
Pushpin Label Position:left
Coordinates:31.8247°N 34.7469°W

Aseret (Hebrew: עֲשֶׂרֶת) is a community settlement on the coastal plain of south-central Israel. Located near Gedera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Gederot Regional Council.

It was founded in 1954 on the ruins of the depopulated Palestinian village of Bashshit. The word "Aseret" means ten, and the community is named after the ten members of Bilu who founded Gedera. In its population was .

History

Aseret was founded in 1954 as the municipal center of Gederot Regional Council. It continues to serve this function today. Aseret is the center, both geographically and municipally, of the other six communities in the council: Meishar, Misgav Dov, Kfar Aviv, Kfar Mordechai, Shdema and Gan HaDarom.

Aseret was built on the lands of Bashshit, a Palestinian village depopulated in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.[1] There is an old tomb associated with Seth, the son of Adam in the Hebrew Bible. According to scholars of the Palestine Exploration Fund, the name Bashshit was derived from Beit Shit, meaning the "house of Seth.[2] [3] The tomb lies within a triple-domed mosque located on the side of a hill.[4]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Walid Khalidi

    . All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Walid. Khalidi. Walid Khalidi. 1992. Washington D.C.. Institute for Palestine Studies. 0-88728-224-5. 363.

  2. [Palestine Exploration Fund]
  3. Web site: Quarterly Statement for 1877. Palestine Exploration Fund. Internet Archive. 2009-08-22.
  4. Book: A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine: Volume I (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology). Andrew. Petersen. 2002. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-727011-0.