Beit HaKerem Valley

32°55′43″N 35°18′10″E / 32.9287°N 35.3028°E / 32.9287; 35.3028Beit HaKerem Valley (Hebrew: בקעת בית כרם), also known as al-Shaghur (Arabic: الشاغور, romanized: al-Shāghūr), is a valley in the Galilee region in northern Israel.

[1][2] The five Arab local authorities (Bi'ina, Deir al-Asad, Majd al-Krum, Nahf and Rameh) and two Jewish local authorities (Karmiel and Misgav) of the Beit HaKerem Valley have formed a "cluster" of municipalities, connecting municipal leaders to create long-term development strategies, enhance economic development, and attract and receive additional government funding.

[3] Under Mamluk rule, in 1370, the Shaghur was part of an amal (subdistrict) in the province of Safed called 'al-Shaghurayn wa Ma'ilya' and in 1418 as 'al-Shaghur'.

The Shaghur was recorded as a subdivision of the Acre subdistrict of Safed Sanjak in the mid-16th century, during Ottoman rule.

[4] In 1838, the scholar Edward Robinson noted that al-Shaghur was the district between Acre, Safed and Nazareth and contained the villages of Yaquq, Maghar, al-Mansura, Eilabun, Arraba, Sakhnin Majd al-Krum, Deir al-Asad, Bi'ina, Rameh, Kafr Inan, Deir Hanna and Nahf.

Panorama of the Beit HaKerem Valley
Panorama of the valley