Bashshit

Bashshayt بشيت Beshshayt, Beit Shayt
The tomb of Neby Shayt ("prophet Seth"). Its location is labeled "M" in the 1940s map below; it is currently in a park in the center of Aseret.
Etymology: "House of Seth"[1]
1870s map 1940s map modern map 1940s with modern overlay map A series of historical maps of the area around Bashshit (click the buttons)
Bashshayt Location within Mandatory Palestine
Coordinates: 31°49′27″N 34°44′56″E / 31.82417°N 34.74889°E / 31.82417; 34.74889
Palestine grid	126/136
Geopolitical entity	Mandatory Palestine
Subdistrict	Ramle
Date of depopulation	May 13, 1948[4]
Area
• Total	18,553 dunams (18.6 km2 or 7.2 sq mi)
Population  (1945)
• Total	1,620[2][3]
Cause(s) of depopulation	Military assault by Yishuv forces
Current Localities	Neve Mivtah[5] Meshar,[5] Kfar Mordechai,[5] Misgav Dov,[5] Kannot,[5] Shedema,[5] and Aseret.[5]

Bashshayt (Arabic: بشيت), also Beshshayt, was an Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict, located 16.5 kilometers (10.3 mi) southwest of Ramla about half a mile from wadi Bashshit. Archaeological artifacts from the village attest to habitation in the Early Islamic period and 12th and 13th centuries. Mentioned by Arab geographers from the 13th century onward, there was a tomb for the Neby Shayt ("prophet Seth") in the village.

Like much the rest of Palestine, Bashshayt was ruled by the Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans and the British. It was depopulated at the beginning of the 1948 Palestine war during Operation Barak. Along with the villages of Barqa, Bayt Daras, al-Batani al-Sharqi, and al-Maghar, among others, Bashshayt was attacked by Haganah's Givati Brigade.^[6] Following its depopulation, Bashshayt was mostly destroyed. There are seven Israeli localities now situated on what were the village lands.