Beit Zayit

Located just outside the Jerusalem municipal border to the west, it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Yehuda Regional Council.

Nearby is a dam, built to collect winter flood waters[2] and create the Beit Zayit Reservoir, meant to slow down the flow of the Soreq Stream and allow water to seep into the Western Mountain Aquifer, a task it seems not to fulfill properly (look here for the Hebrew article).

[2] Beit Zayit was established after the 1947-49 Arab-Israeli war on land that had belonged to the depopulated Palestinian village of 'Ayn Karim.

[2] With the expansion of the moshav in the late 1990s, including the purchase of land by newcomers and renovation of old homes, Beit Zayit became a trendy alternative to living in Jerusalem.

[4] In 1962, dinosaur footprints were discovered in the garden of one of Beit Zayit's residents, and are on display at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Beit Zayit
Beit Zayit Reservoir and Moshav Beit Zayit behind it
Beit Zayit reservoir