Beit Ur al-Fauqa (Arabic: بيت عور الفوقا) is a Palestinian town located in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate in the northern West Bank, 14 kilometers West of Ramallah and 3 kilometer southeast of the Beit Ur al-Tahta . According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of approximately 927 in mid-year 2006[1]
Beth Horon
The two Palestinian villages of Beit Ur al-Fauqa[2] (Arabic: بيت عور الفوقة, "Upper house of straw") and Beit Ur al-Tahta[3] (Arabic: بيت عور التحتى, "Lower house of straw") preserve part of the original Canaanite name for the towns,[4] and have been identified as the sites of Upper and Lower Bethoron.[5] Archaeological finds indicate that the Lower town was established before the Upper one; potsherds from the Late Bronze Age onward were discovered at Lower Beit Ur, those potsherds found in Upper Beit Ur date only from the Iron Age onward.[4] It was in the ravines near Beth Horon that the 12th Legion under Cestius Gallus was destroyed in 66CE at the start of the Great Jewish Revolt.[6]
The two villages crown two hilltops, less than two miles apart (with Beit Ur al-Fauqa some 245 Meters higher than Beit Ur al-Tahta) along Route 443, the biblical way of Beth Horon. For many centuries the towns occupying their sites dominated one of the most historic roads in history. The ridge way of Beth Horon climbs from the plain of Ajalon (the modern Yalo) to Beit Ur al Tachta at 370 meters; it then carries along the ridge, with valleys lying either side, north and south, before reaching Beit Ur al Fauqa at 616 meters. The ridge continues for another 8 kilometers arriving at the plateau to the North of al Jib (Gibeon).
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