Belad Besharah in the 1858 van de Velde maps

Belad Bechara, also spelled Bilad Beshara ( ar, بلاد بشارة), is a popular and historic name for a mountainous region in

Jabal Amel Jabal Amil ( ar, جبل عامل, Jabal ʿĀmil), also spelled Jabal Amel and historically known as Jabal Amila, is a cultural and geographic region in Southern Lebanon largely associated with its long-established, predominantly Twelver Shia Musl ...

Southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa Districts, the southernmost distri ...

Etymology

Some historians believe that the name ''Belad Bechara'' means the "Country of the Gospel" in reference to the teaching and revelation of Christ in the region while others believe it is in reference to an Ayyubid Prince by the name of Bechara.

Geography

Belad Bechara is the mountainous region that lies south of the

Litani River The Litani River ( ar, نهر الليطاني, Nahr al-Līṭānī), the classical Leontes ( grc-gre, Λέοντες, Léontes, lions), is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of ...

, extending southward to

Upper Galilee The Upper Galilee ( he, הגליל העליון, ''HaGalil Ha'Elyon''; ar, الجليل الأعلى, ''Al Jaleel Al A'alaa'') is a geographical-political term in use since the end of the Second Temple period. It originally referred to a mountai ...

, and including the

Hula Valley The Hula Valley ( he, עמק החולה, Romanization of Hebrew, translit. ''Emek Ha-Ḥula''; also transliterated as Huleh Valley, ar, سهل الحولة) is an agriculture, agricultural region in northern Israel with abundant fresh water, ...

, Hunin, and

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; he, טְבֶרְיָה, ; ar, طبريا, Ṭabariyyā) is an Israeli city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's F ...

History

According to

Abrahamic The Abrahamic religions are a group of religions centered around worship of the God of Abraham. Abraham, a Hebrew patriarch, is extensively mentioned throughout Abrahamic religious scriptures such as the Bible and the Quran. Jewish tradition ...

traditions, Belad Bechara is the northernmost part of the

Promised Land The Promised Land ( he, הארץ המובטחת, translit.: ''ha'aretz hamuvtakhat''; ar, أرض الميعاد, translit.: ''ard al-mi'ad; also known as "The Land of Milk and Honey"'') is the land which, according to the Tanakh (the Hebrew B ...

, which was the division of the tribes of Azer and

Naphtali According to the Book of Genesis, Naphtali (; ) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Bilhah (Jacob's sixth son). He was the founder of the Israelite Tribe of Naphtali. Some biblical commentators have suggested that the name ''Naphtali'' m ...

, and later took the name of

. In 1881,

C. R. Conder Claude Reignier Conder (29 December 1848, Cheltenham – 16 February 1910, Cheltenham) was an English soldier, explorer and antiquarian. He was a great-great-grandson of Louis-François Roubiliac and grandson of editor and author Josiah Conder. ...

and H. H. Kitchener mentioned ten villages in the ''Belad Besharah'' region on their map 2, namely:

'Aita ez Zut Aayta Ej Jabal ( ar, عيتا الجبل), is a village in Nabatiye Governorate, in the Bint Jbeil District of southern Lebanon, about from Beirut. The village is situated in the southern outskirts of the town of Tebnine, in the heart of the ...

, Berashit, Haris, El Jumeijmeh, Kefrah, Meis, Safed el Battikh,

Tibnin Tebnine ( ar, تبنين ''Tibnīn'', also Romanized ''Tibnine'') is a Lebanon, Lebanese town spread across several hills (ranging in altitude from 700m to 800m (2,275 ft to 2,600 ft) above sea level) located about east of Tyre, Leba ...

, Kulat Tibnin and El Yehudiyeh. On map 3 there was one village; Salhaneh. The remaining 27 villages were on map 4: 'Ain Ibl, 'Ainata, 'Aita esh Shaub, 'Aitherun, Beit Lif, Beit Yahun, Belideh, Bint Umm Jubeil, Deishun, Dibl,

Haddatha Haddatha ( ar, حدّاثا) is a village in Bint Jbeil District in Southern Lebanon. History In 1596, it was named as a village, ‘“Hadata” in the Ottoman '' nahiya'' (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the '' liwa (district) of Safad, w ...

, Hanin,

Kades Kedesh (alternate spellings: Cadesh, Cydessa) was an ancient Canaanite and later Israelite settlement in Upper Galilee, mentioned few times in the Hebrew Bible. Its remains are located in Tel Kedesh, 3 km northeast of the modern Kibbutz M ...

, El Kozah, Kunin,

El Malkiyeh Al-Malikiyya ( ar, المالكية) was a Palestinian village located in the Jabal Amil region. In a 1920s census, the village was registered as part of Greater Lebanon. It was later placed under the British Mandate of Palestine. Its populat ...

, Marun er Ras,

Neby Muheibib Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets a ...

, Ramia,

Rumeish Rmeish ( ar, رميش) is located in the District of Bint Jbeil, Lebanon near the Lebanese-Israeli border covering an area of . The ruins found in the village indicate that the area was occupied by the Romans and the Crusaders at some stage in h ...

Rusheif Rachaf or Rchaf ( ar, رشاف) is a village in the Bint Jbeil District of the Nabatieh Governorate of Southern Lebanon, 16 kilometres from the Israel- Lebanon border. Etymology According to Palmer, the name means "morass" or "bog. Locati ...

, Salhah, Es Salihiyeh, Surubbin,

Et Tireh :''See Tira for other sites with similar names.'' At Tiri ( ar, الطيري) is a village located in the Caza of Bint Jbeil in the Nabatiye Governorate in Lebanon. It is also the location of two pre-historic archaeological sites. History T ...

, Yater and Yarun.Conder and Kitchener, 1881, p
203
/ref>

References

Bibliography

* {{refend Western Asia category:Regions of Lebanon Geography of Lebanon

Etymology

Geography

History

See also

References

Bibliography