Sde Nahum Colony
November 2, 2025
Duchan
November 2, 2025Beit Yosef is a colony located in the Beisan (Beit She’an) area, in the northern part of occupied Palestine, approximately eight kilometers north of Beisan.
The colony was established in 1937 as a tower and stockade settlement on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of Rabu‘a. It was part of a series of such colonies built during the Arab Revolt in Palestine (1936–1939). The settlement was named after Yosef Aharonovitch, an influential figure in the Labor Party and a journalist.
By 1947, the number of settlers had reached over 200. Despite being abandoned during the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, following a heavy attack by the Arab Legion and the Iraqi army, the settlement was re-established in 1951 by immigrants from Kurdistan and Iraq.
As of 2022, the population of Beit Yosef was 493 settlers.
Sources:
Due to the scarcity of Arabic-language sources, Hebrew sources were used:
- The Hebrew website of the settlement
- The Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics
Information about the village of Rabu‘a was obtained from the Palestine Remembered website.