Atarot

Atarot (Hebrew: עטרות‎) was a moshav in Mandatory Palestine, north of Jerusalem along the highway to Ramallah. It was named after the Biblical Atarot mentioned in Joshua 16:2, which is believed to have been situated nearby. The village was captured and destroyed by the Jordanian Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Atarot Airport and Jerusalem's largest industrial park are now located there.

History

In 1912, the Palestine Land Development Corporation (PLDC) purchased land in the hills north of Jerusalem from the neighbouring Arab village of Kalandia. In 1914 the tract was settled by Zionist youth of the Second Aliyah who prepared the rocky soil for agriculture. Among the settlers was Levi Eshkol, a future Prime Minister of Israel.

After the outbreak of World War I, the project was abandoned until 1922, when a group of workers returned to the area to continue reclamation and planting work. This group leased some of the land to local Arabs and acquired more tracts for settlement. The plan was to ready the land for sale to individuals and groups. When the venture proved unsuccessful, the Jewish National Fund bought 375 dunams of the best land. It was on this land that Atarot was established. The village was named for the biblical town of Ataroth believed to be located nearby.