Beit HaShita Colony

Beit HaShita is a kibbutz located in the northern part of occupied Palestine. Byzantine-era ceramic fragments and coins have been discovered in the area surrounding the kibbutz.

The kibbutz traces its origins to a meeting held in Hadera in 1928 by Kvutzat HaHogim, a group from the HaMahanot HaOlim movement in Haifa and Jerusalem. The early members lived in the nearby Ein Harod until 1934, when construction of the kibbutz began at its present location, approximately 1 kilometer east of Shatta.

The land for the kibbutz was purchased in 1931 by the Palestine Land Development Company from its Arab owners.

In 2015, Yasmin Donahaye, a descendant of kibbutz residents, published a book titled “Losing Israel”, in which she expressed her disappointment upon learning that Arabs had been displaced at the time of the kibbutz’s establishment.

Beit HaShita was established near the depopulated Palestinian village of Al-Marsas, in the District of Baysan.

According to 1945 statistics, Beit HaShita had a population of 590 settlers, all of whom were Zionist immigrants. As of 2022, the population had grown to 1,275 settlers.

Sources:
– The Hebrew website of the settlement
– The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics
– Pictures: Palestine Remembered website.