Beit Yehoshua
Beit Yehoshua is a moshav in central Israel. Located in the coastal plain near Netanya, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaSharon Regional Council. In it had a population of. The Beit Yehoshua Railway Station is adjacent to the moshav.
History
The region of Beit Yehoshua lies in the southern Sharon plain, an area inhabited intermittently since the prehistoric period, with peak phases of settlement during the Byzantine and Late Ottoman periods. Prior to the 20th century it was part of the extensive Forest of Sharon and of the agricultural lands of the Palestinian village of Ghabat Kafr Sur. The landscape was dominated by Mount Tabor oak and used by local Arab inhabitants for pasture, seasonal cultivation, and firewood. Increasing cultivation and settlement in the 19th century led to deforestation and land degradation.Beit Yehoshua was established on 17 August 1938 as a tower and stockade settlement by a gar'in of the Akiva and HaNoar HaTzioni youth movements. According to the Jewish National Fund, the original settlers were mainly Orthodox Zionists and focused on intensive agriculture, especially citrus orchards and dairy farming. The community was named after Yehoshua (Ozjasz) Thon, a Galician Zionist leader, rabbi, and member of the Polish Sejm.
In 1947, on the eve of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Beit Yehoshua had a population of about 150. After the establishment of the State of Israel, it transitioned in 1950 from a kibbutz to a moshav shitufi, and later to a moshav ovdim, reflecting broader postwar reorganizations of collective settlements.
The moshav is located partly on the former lands of Ghabat Kafr Sur and adjacent to areas linked historically to other depopulated Palestinian villages in the Sharon.