EGYPT

courtesy, Archaeological-Tours.com

In the last hundred years or so, Egypt could have been considered the center of the Arab world. In politics and culture and arts, Egypt attracted people from across the Arab world to take part in its diversity and prosperity. After the founding of the Arab League in 1945, it was in Egypt that, for many years until today, important decisions took place. In fact, It could be said that Egypt was the “capital” of the Arab League. There was only one problem though. Egypt is not an Arab country. True, about 90% of its population is Arab, and Muslim, but originally, Egypt was not an Arab country. The original inhabitants, the ancient Egyptians, are the Coptic Christians of today. The ancient Egyptians were not Arab therefore the Copts are not Arab. Therefore, Egypt is, in fact, an Arab-occupied country where its indigenous people are living under Arab occupation and oppression.  

Below, is a list Egypt’s rulers beginning with the Pharaohs. It briefly glosses over the list of Pharaohs (since there are so many of them), and are followed, in more detail, by their successors, the Coptic Popes based in the Church of Saint Mark in Alexandria. The Arab and Muslim occupation rulers are ignored unless it’s important to mention.

Before the conquest by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, Egypt was ruled by a series of 31 dynasties. The first dynasty began c. 3200 BCE under Narmer who unified Upper and Lower Egypt. Other well-known Pharaohs since then included:
Djoser, Snefru, Khufu, Neferefre, Mentuhotep, Amenemhat, Ahmose,
Yaqub Har (during whose reign, the Hyksos invaded Egypt and replaced the native Egyptian dynasties with their own beginning with Semqen),
Sekhemre (last Hyksos king before being driven out thus, re-establishing native Egyptian rule beginning with Rahotep),
Kamose, Amenhotep, Thutmose, Hatshepsut, Manetho, Akhnaten, Tutankamun, Nefertiti,
Raamses II (possibly the same Pharaoh during the Exodus),
Horemheb, Seti, Merneptah, Shishak,
Bocchoris under whose reign, the Nubians took over the throne under Piye. (The Nubians today are the indigenous people of Sudan, also living under Arab occupation and oppression.),
Shabaka, Taharqa,
Tantamani (last Nubian Pharaoh in Egypt before they were driven out and the throne, once again, came under native rule under Tefnakht II),
Necho, Psamtik, Apries. 

Thereafter, Egypt became an autonomous province in the Persian Empire until the Persians were driven out in 404 BCE by Amyrtaeus. In 343 BCE, the Persians returned only to be driven out again eleven years later by the Macedonian Greeks under Alexander the Great who founded the city named after himself – Alexandria. Alexander’s successors, the Ptolemies ruled for almost three centuries, its most famous ruler being Cleopatra.

In 30 BCE, Egypt was conquered by Rome. In the first century, Christianity was introduced which eventually evolved into its own unique form – Coptic Christianity. Its first leader was said to be St. Mark, a disciple of Jesus Christ. He established the holy seat in Alexandria in a church that bears his name and where future Coptic popes would rule, on and off, ever since. He was martyred c. 61 CE by the Romans and was succeeded by St. Anianus. His successors during the early centuries of the Church were as follows: Avilius, Kedron, Primus, Justus, Eumenius, Markianos, Celadion, Agrippinus, Julian, Demetrius, Heraclas, Dionysuis, Maximus, Theonas, Peter, Achillas, Alexander, Athanasius, Peter II, Timothy, Theophilus, Cyril, Dioscorus, Timothy II, Peter III, Athanasius II, John I, John II, Dioscorus II, Timothy III, Theodosius, Peter IV, Damian, Anastasius, and Andronicus.

Under the Arab conquest and occupation (641-1171): Benjamin, Agathon, John III, Isaac, Simeon, Alexander II, Cosmas, Theodore, Michael, Mina, John IV, Mark II, James, Simeon II, Joseph, Michael II, Cosmas II, Shenouda, Michael III, Gabriel, Cosmas III, Macarius, Theopilus, Mina II, Abraham, Philotheos, Zacharias, Shenouda II, Christodoulos, Cyril II, Michael IV, Macarius II, Gabriel II, Michael V, John V.

Under the rule of the Kurdish Ayyubid dynasty (1171-1250): Mark III, John VI, Cyril III.

Under the rule of the Mameluke dynasty (former Turkish slaves, 1250-1517): Athanasius III, Gabriel III, John VII, Theodosius II, John VIII, John IX, Benjamin II, Peter V, Mark IV, John X, Gabriel IV, Matthew, Gabriel V, John XI, Matthew II, Gabriel VI, Michael VI, John XII.

Under the rule of the Ottoman Turkish Empire (1517-1880): John XIII, Gabriel VII, John XIV, Gabriel VIII, Mark V, John XV, Matthew III, Mark VI, Matthew IV, John XVI, Peter VI, John XVII, Mark VII, John XVIII, Mark VIII (Egypt briefly under French rule during his reign), Peter VII, Cyril IV, Demetrius II.

Cyril V: during his reign, Egypt passed from Ottoman to British rule and then, in 1922, “independence” but as an Arab Muslim country. At the time, such an identification was not emphasized, but since the revolution in 1952, it was, and the indigenous Egyptians have lived under Arab occupation and oppression ever since. The Coptic Popes who ruled from St. Mark’s Church in Alexandria since the reign of Cyril V, until today, were: John XIX, Macarius III, Joseph II, Cyril VI, Shenouda III, Tawadros II (the present incumbent).

BETHLEHEM AND TOMB OF RACHEL

Tomb of Rachel, northern outskirts of Bethlehem, courtesy, JewishIsraelTours.com

[the majority of this article is credited to Nadav Shragai, Senior Researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs]

Bethlehem today is a largely Muslim city with a Christian minority, located about 5 miles south of Jerusalem. The Hebrew matriarch Rachel died on the northern outskirts of Bethlehem while giving birth to Benjamin. For centuries and to this day, her grave has been a venerable holy site for Jews throughout the world. After the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, Bethlehem was among the cities of Judah allowing it to rapidly become a Jewish city. Its name means “house of bread”, probably indicating that bread-making was an important industry at that time. It was the scene of the story of Ruth who became the ancestor of David, and it was through him, a native of Bethlehem, that the messiah would spring forth, ushering in an era of peace and justice. In Christian tradition, that would be Jesus Christ.

During the days of Herod, and after, Bethlehem achieved historic importance as the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ, and as such, has been the site of pious Christian pilgrimages throughout the centuries, even today. Since the destruction of Jerusalem in 70, Bethlehem became less and less a Jewish city and more and more a city of foreign peoples, mainly Christians. As early as the second century, a stable in one of the grottoes close by the town was pointed out as the spot where Jesus was born. After the Arab conquest in the 7^th century, a handful of Jews still lived there. In the 12^th century, the traveler Benjamin of Tudela counted 12 Jews among the foreign population. His was also the first recorded Jewish visit to the Tomb of Rachel. For decades afterward, the Tomb continued to be an important site of Jewish pilgrimages. It was visited by Rabbi Ovadiah di Bertinoro in the second half of the 15^th century and by the 16^th century, the Arab historian Mujir al Din regarded Rachel’s Tomb as a Jewish holy place. The building received its distinctive shape in 1622 when the Turkish governor of Jerusalem, Mohammad Pasha, permitted the Jews to wall off the site’s four pillars that supported the dome. Thus, for the first time, Rachel’s Tomb became a closed building, which also simultaneously prevented Arab shepherds from grazing their flocks at the site. Yet according to one report, an English traveler claims this was done “to make access to it more difficult for the Jews.”

Since the 18^th century, the local Taamra tribe of Arabs would harass Jews visiting the tomb and collect extortion money to enable them to visit the site. One of the scribes who managed the accounts of the Sephardic Jewish kolel (congregation) reported on the protection money that the Jews had to pay. According to him, the payment was to the “non-Jews and lords of the lands who are called effendis…(15000) Turkish grush…and these are the people who patrol the way of Jaffa Road, Kiyat Yearim, the people of the Rama, the site of Samuel the Prophet, the people of Nablus Road, the people of Efrat Road, the tomb of our Matriarch Rachel…so they would not come to grave-robbing, heaven forbid. And sometimes they complain to us that we have fallen behind on their routine payments and they come scrabbling on the gravestones in the dead of night, and they did their things in stealth because their home is there. Therefore, we are compelled against our will to propitiate them.”

In 1796, Rabbi Moshe Yerushalmi, an Ashkenazi Jew from central Europe who immigrated to Israel, related that a non-Jew sits at Rachel’s Tomb and collects money from Jews seeking to visit the site. Other sources attest to Jews who paid taxes, levies, and presented gifts to the Arab residents of the region. Ludwig August Frankl of Vienna, a poet and author, related that the Sephardic community in Jerusalem was compelled to pay 5000 piastres to an Arab from Bethlehem at the start of the nineteenth century for the right to visit Rachel’s Tomb. Taxes were also collected from the Sephardim in Jerusalem to pay the authorities for various “rights”, such as, among other things, payment to the Arabs of Bethlehem for safeguarding Rachel’s Tomb. Rabbi David d’Beth Hillel, a resident of Vilna who visited Syria and the land of Israel in 1824, testified that “…On the opposite hill, there is a village whose residents are Arabs and they are most evil. A stranger who comes to visit Rachel’s Tomb is robbed by them.” In 1827, Avraham Behar Avraham, an official of the Sephardic kolelim in Jerusalem, obtained recognition from the Ottoman Turkish authorities of the status and rights of Jews at the site. This was, in practice, the original firman (royal decree) issued by the Ottoman authorities recognizing Jewish rights at Rachel’s Tomb. The firman was necessary since the Arab Muslims disputed ownership by the Jews of Rachel’s Tomb and even tried by brute force to prevent Jewish visits to the site. From time to time Jews were robbed or beaten by local Arab residents, and even the protection money that was paid did not always prevail. Avraham approached the authorities in Constantinople on this matter and in 1830, the Turks issued the firman that gave legal force to Rachel’s Tomb being recognized as a Jewish holy site. The governor of Damascus sent a written order to mufti of Jerusalem to fulfill the sultan’s order. A similar firman was issued the following year. In 1841, Sir Moses Montefiore obtained a permit from the Turks to build another room, with a dome, adjacent to Rachel’s Tomb to keep the Arab Muslims away and to help protect the Jews at the site. A door to the domed room was installed and keys were given to two Jewish caretakers, one Sephardic and the other Ashkenazi. Jewish caretakers managed the site from that time until it fell into Arab hands in 1948.

This present status notwithstanding, Arab harassment continued. In 1856, James Finn, the British Consul in Jerusalem, spoke about the payments that the Jews were forced to make to Arab Muslim extortionists at some of the holy places including Rachel’s Tomb: “100 lira a year to the Taamra Arabs for not wrecking Rachel’s Tomb near Bethlehem.” In spite of all the dangers, Jews continued to make their way to the site.

By 1905, Bethlehem was a majority Christian city with a Jewish population of 1, a doctor, according to the English traveler Elkan Adler (rising to 2 in 1922). Yehoshua Burla, the father of author Yehuda Burla, was the caretaker of Rachel’s Tomb. The last caretaker was Shlomo Freiman who often spoke of Arab harassment of Jews at the site in the closing days of the British Mandate. He was prevented from having any access once the site came under Arab occupation after the War of Independence. After the Six Day War, Jewish pilgrimages began again. On October 19, 2010, the anniversary of Rachel’s death, some 100,000 Jews visited the site.

Since Jews are prohibited from living in Bethlehem, the nearest Jewish locations to the city are the present neighborhoods of Gilo and Har Homa in the southern part of Jerusalem. Much of the land of the town of Irtas was owned by a Jewish convert to Christianity in the mid-19^th century. But since then, the town has had no Jewish association.

BETAR

ruins of the fortress of Betar, courtesy, Wikipedia

The fortress of Betar was located practically on the border of the ancient Israelite tribal territories of Judah and Benjamin. Later containing a local Sanhedrin, it was of some importance at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem. During the revolt against Rome (132-135), Shimon Bar Kokhba, the leader of the revolt, made Betar the chief base of operations, giving shelter to large numbers of Jewish refugees from the Roman onslaughts. As the revolt was being suppressed, town by town, a powerful Roman force under Julius Severus, which included detachments of the fifth (Macedonica) and the tenth (Claudia) legions, closely surrounded Betar and besieged it for two and a half years until 135. In the summer of that year when the nearby Yoredet HaZalman stream ran dry, the city began to suffer from thirst. Betar was, hence, destroyed on the ninth of month of Av, exactly 65 years to the day after the destruction of Jerusalem. The killed were left to decay in the surrounding fields and only after the revolt was totally suppressed, was it made possible to give them a proper burial. A Roman garrison was then left at the site because of its strategic importance. After the Arab conquest and occupation of Israel in the 7^th century, Arabs settled on top of this ancient Jewish town calling it by the Arabic name, “Batir”. Overnight, Betar became an Arab town but it has been suggested that the Fin-Nun clan, who partly lives in this town, is of Jewish origin. In 1874, Betar became the site of archaeological excavations under the noted French archaeologist Charles Simon Clermont-Ganneau who discovered there, a Latin inscription mentioning the Roman detachments that surrounded the fortress during the revolt against Rome.  

After the War of Independence in 1948, Batir found itself just a few hundred yards from the armistice line, inside Arab-occupied Judea. Beginning in 1950, native-born Israelis along with olim from Argentina from the right-wing movement also named “Betar”, began to return to the approximate area, on the Israeli side, and the town of Mevo Betar was founded. The armistice line was erased after the Six Day War but much of the land on the outskirts of both towns remained barren. It wasn’t until 1985 that the religious, and still growing community of Betar Illit was founded a few miles south, over the “green line”.

BET ALFA AND SYNAGOGUE

mosaic floor of the Bet Alfa Synagogue, courtesy, israel-in-photos.com

The ruins of the ancient Jewish town of Bet Alfa was discovered quite by accident. In 1922, a group of Jews from Czechoslovakia and Germany founded Kibbutz Hefzibah. Its name derived from the Bible, where God speaks about his love for Israel (Isaiah 62:4). In 1928, during irrigation construction on the property of the kibbutz, the floor of the Bet Alfa synagogue was uncovered and excavations began early the following year. The town itself was mentioned in the Talmud but in addition to that, and according to what was uncovered, archaeologists and historians surmise that the town dates to at least the late Roman/early Byzantine periods (4^th - 7^th centuries). Its synagogue was, apparently, built during the reign of Emperor Justinian I (518-527) by the artisans Marianos and his son Hanina who also built the nearby Bet She’an synagogue. It was funded by communal donations. Later, the town was taken over by Arabs, but it remained largely in ruins and abandoned for over millennia during which time, much of the site was buried in dust.   

Shortly after the founding of Hefzibah, the modern Kibbutz Bet Alfa was founded by Jews from Poland belonging to the socialist Hashomer Hatzair movement. It was the first kibbutz founded by members of that movement and was located adjacent to the eastern side of Hefzibah making it the easternmost village in the area.

In 1929, excavations on the synagogue began under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with permission from the Palestinian government’s Department of Antiquities, and led by Israeli archaeologists, Eliezar Sukenik and Nahman Avigad. (In 1962, a second round of excavations covered the surrounding area.) Much later after the discovery of the synagogue, the site, and the surrounding property became a national park. Maps show the synagogue almost at the border between the two kibbutzim, Hefzibah and its namesake Bet Alfa, but at closer look, it is clearly on Hefzibah land, not, as many assume, on the property of the Kibbutz Bet Alfa.

The mosaic floor, as well as some of the exterior were found to be in surprisingly good condition enabling archaeologists and historians to do a theoretical reconstruction of the entire synagogue. The floor itself depicts the lunar Hebrew months as they correspond to the signs of the zodiac. Two inscriptions were found at the entrance to the hall indicating when, and by whom, the synagogue was built. Symbolic animals are depicted on either side of the inscriptions: a lion on the right and a bull on the left. The three mosaic panels in the center of the hall depict (from north to south): (1) The Offering of Isaac, (2) The Signs of the Zodiac, and (3) The Ark of the Synagogue. The simple but strong style of the mosaic pavement represents a folk art that appears to have developed among the Jewish villagers of Galilee.  

In August of 1929, during yet another Arab “uprising”, the kibbutz Bet Alfa was attacked and its fields destroyed. But the kibbutz survived and continued its development. Since the 1930s, one of its members, Hanka Lazarson, was engaged in vegetable breeding; including: cucumber, onion, garlic, aubergine and cauliflower. Between 1931 and 1936 she developed a breed of cucumbers that came to be known as the "Bet Alfa Cucumber". The breed became highly popular worldwide due to its excellent taste and high yield. The vegetable breeding program continued successfully for the next 30 years, constantly improving various varieties.

During the 1936 Arab “uprising”, the Arabs again set fire to Bet Alfa’s surrounding fields. On April 1, 1948 during the War of Independence, Bet Alfa was attacked by Arab mortar fire but they withdrew as a platoon from the 1st parachute battalion of the British 6th Airborne Division approached. After the war, the Gilboa Educational Institute was established in the northern part of the kibbutz. The institute, which served as a school for the surrounding area, offered boarding and had an array of sports facilities and workshops enabling professional training. It was closed in 2003 but still serves as an educational center.

Since 1966, Special Purpose Vehicles, owned by Bet Alfa Technologies (BAT), began their manufacture of fire trucks, later expanding to other forms of such vehicles, especially for the purpose of non-lethal riot control (such as water cannons). These would be sold to more than 30 countries but sometimes, some of these 30 countries would have questionable human rights records. According to The Guardian, a British paper usually associated with vile anti-Semitic propaganda, BAT "developed a profitable industry selling anti-riot vehicles" to the apartheid regime in South Africa "for use against protesters in the black townships". According to an Israeli legislator, "Bet Alfa cars usually end up saving the lives of demonstrators. We would be happy if Saddam Hussein and the Syrians used them. I would be happy if the Chinese in Tiananmen Square had used only water cannons."

During the 2006 Lebanon War, Bet Alfa took in evacuees from the border villages that had been under rocket attack by Hezbollah militants from southern Lebanon. After the war an absorption center for Ethiopian immigrants was set up. Some 600 people are offered boarding, Hebrew language courses, and are prepared for integration in Israeli society.

Other sites in and around Bet Alfa aside from those mentioned above include: "Ahuzat Shoshana", a farmhouse built on a hilltop just north and in sight of Bet Alfa, right next to the ruins of the Crusader castle of Belvoir; the kibbutz dairy, first in Israel to use robotic milking technology; Bet Alfa Home Furniture which is also a recognized supplier for Israel's Ministry of Defense; the Bet Alfa Guesthouses; Mount Gilboa; Harod Valley and Stream to the west; Beit She'an Valley to the east; the northern Jordan Valley; Gan HaShlosha National Park; the kibbutzim Ma'ale Gilboa,  Reshafim, Sde Nahum, and Nir David; and Shita prison.

TRIBAL TERRITORY OF BENJAMIN

Psagot Wineries, territory of Benjamin, courtesy Jerusalem Post

The present day Matteh Binyamin Regional Council in Israel is loosely based on the ancient tribal territory of Binyamin (Benjamin). The main difference is, whereas the ancient territory included Jerusalem as its most southern city, as well as Jericho to the east, today’s regional council does not. And whereas the town of Shiloh is part of the regional council today, it was part of the tribe of Ephraim in ancient times. Since 1981, the council seat was located in the town of Psagot to the north of Jerusalem and on the eastern outskirts of Ramallah.

The tribe of Benjamin was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob by Rachel, who died on the road between Beit El and Ephrat, shortly after giving birth to him. Just before her death, she named him “Ben-oni” (son of my sorrow); but Jacob named him “Ben Yamin”, son of the right hand; that is, of good luck. During the time of Joshua, Benjamin was allotted a slice of territory, which stretched from the southern border of Jerusalem and the border of Judah in the south, to the Ephraimite lands south of Ai and Bet Horon in the north, and from Jericho and the Jordan to the east, to the easternmost border of Dan in the west. Beginning with Joshua 18:21, the cities of Benjamin were stated as follows (in alphabetical order): Avim, Beerot, Bet El, Bet Haarava, Bet Hoglah, Ch’phar Haamonai, Ch’phirah, Eleph, Geva, Givat, Givon (Gibeon), Irpeel, Jericho, Jerusalem, Kiryat, Mizpah, Motza, Ophni, Ophrah, Parah, Ramah, Rakem, Tarala, Zelah, Zemaraim. The territory also included the towns of Anatot and Atarot. All but Motza lie in, what is today known as, the West Bank. Later, the tribe gave Israel its first king, in the person of Saul son of Kish, from the town of Geva. (Mordechai, of Purim fame, was said to have been a descendant.) When Saul died, his son, Ish-Bosheth, reigned for two years over all the tribes except Judah. After David became king, he made Jerusalem the capital of Israel and it was left to his son Solomon to build the Temple on Mount Moriah located within the city limits. At the secession of the northern tribes, Benjamin remained loyal to the House of David and therefore shared the destiny of Judah at the time before, during and after, the Babylonian Captivity.

Since the Biblical period, Jews have continued to live in, and make pilgrimages to, the various sites in the territory of Benjamin such as in Jerusalem, especially since the Arab conquest in the 7^th century. The Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives to the east of today’s Old City, is known as the oldest active Jewish cemetery in the world. For thousands of years, Jews would also make frequent pilgrimages to the Tomb of Samuel north of Jerusalem. Until the Crusader conquest in 1099, Jericho had an important Jewish community, augmented by Jewish refugees from Khaibar after the vicious onslaughts of the armies of Mohammed. After the Crusader conquest, the Jewish population of the territory, dwindled considerably. During their rule, Jewish travelers would often visit the area and write of their experiences. One such traveler, Benjamin of Tudela (a town in northern Spain near Spanish-occupied Catalonia) arrived in Israel c. 1170. He concentrated his writings on the area’s Jewish communities, for example in the town of Mizpah, which he called “Nov”, located in the vicinity of the Tomb of Samuel.  

After the Crusader period, the area recovered somewhat. Pilgrimages to the Tomb of Samuel became so important that during the reign of the Chief Rabbi Isaac Sholal in the early 16^th century, after Israel’s conquest by the Ottoman Turks, a takkanah (rabbinic ruling) was passed that prohibited any unseemly drinking at the site. Beginning in the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries when Ottoman authority began to wane, the local Arabs would often made frequent attacks on Jews. For instance, since the 18^th century, the Mount of Olives cemetery was constantly under threat of vandalism and confiscation.

In 1854, farmland was purchased from the Arab village of Qalunya, on the western outskirts of Jerusalem, by a Baghdadi Jew, Shaul Yehuda, with the aid of the British consul James Finn. Four Jewish families settled there and the town of Motza was re-established. One family established a tile factory - one of the earliest industries in the region. In 1871, local resident Yehoshua Yellin, while plowing his fields, discovered a large subterranean hall from the Byzantine period that he turned into a travellers' inn which provided overnight shelter for pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. In 1881, land was purchased in Shiloah (Silwan), on the eastern side of Jerusalem, for newly-arrived Jews from Yemen. Yemenite Jews also settled on land near the town of Givon in 1895 calling it “Givon Hadashah”. Abandoned for a time, the site was resettled in 1924. In 1912, the Palestine Land Development Corporation purchased land in and near the village of Kalandia allowing for Atarot to be re-established two years later. By 1922, the official census recorded the Benjamin region’s Jewish population as follows: Jerusalem 33,971, Shiloah 153, Qalunya 88, Kalandia 22, Ramallah 7, Jericho 6. During the Arab riots in the 20s and 30s, Jews were ethnically cleansed from parts of Jerusalem and totally from Shiloah as well as other places. In 1939, the village of Bet Haaravah was established in the Jordan Valley north of the Dead Sea.

During the War of Independence, the ancient Jewish community around the Tomb of Samuel was driven out, becoming the first Palestinian refugees of the war. Bet Haaravah and Atarot were totally destroyed and its residents expelled. After the war, the eastern half of Jerusalem was found to be under Arab occupation. Title to the land of Kalandia had long ago been transferred to the Jewish National Fund (which still owns the property), but the land was soon taken over by Arab squatters in which condition it remains to this day and the land of Atarot was turned into an extension of Kalandia airport. After the Six Day War in 1967, these lands, as with the rest of Judea and Samaria, were liberated but Jews were still banned from the area due to the combined forces of the Israeli government and army, and the local Arabs. However, despite the ban on Jews, an industrial zone was established in Atarot alongside the airport. Ophra was revived in 1975, as was Beit El in 1977 and Mitzpe Yericho near Jericho the same year. Givon was re-established the next year. Geva, the boyhood home of King Saul, was revived in 1984. Since the 80s, Jews have even been moving back into Shiloah. In 1998, the Shaar Binyamin Industrial Zone was established about 2 miles north of Geva.