Baraashit

Baraashit (Arabic: برعشيت), also spelt Brashit, is a municipality located in the Nabatiye Governorate, in the Bint Jbeil District of southern Lebanon, ca. 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) southeast of Tibnin and about 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Beirut. The village sits on an elevation of 832 metres (2,730 ft) above sea level. The town has a mixed population of Shi'a and Christians.

History

Baraashit is identified with Barashta (Hebrew: ברשתה), a place referenced in the Baraita on the "Boundaries of the Land of Israel" as part of the delineation of the northwestern border of Jewish resettlement following the return from Babylonian exile. Scholarly analysis suggests that this text likely describes a later era, possibly the Hasmonean or Herodian periods, during the 2nd or 1st century BCE. Additionally, the place is documented in the 3rd-century Mosaic of Rehob.

By 64 BCE, the region had come under the control of the Roman Empire. The area was also known since the Muslim conquest as Jabal 'Amilah, and later as Jabal 'Amil (Jabal Amel), an area that shoulders the Galilee and overlooks Land of Israel, with a predominant Shi'ite population.

Ottoman era

In 1596, the village Bra'sit was named in the Ottoman nahiya (subdistrict) of Tibnin under the Liwa Safad, with a population of 45 households and 7 bachelors, all Muslim. The villagers paid taxes on agricultural products, such as wheat, barley, olive trees, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues" and a fixed sum; a total of 13,370 akçe.