Geospatial Analyses of the Geological and Geographical Impacts upon the Settlement and Evolution of Bet Safafa from a Small Village to an Arab Suburb of Western Jerusalem

Using geospatial analyses complemented by ground-truthing, we investigate several factors that possibly influenced the evolution of the residential, agricultural and open areas of the village of Bet Safafa. We suggest that the geological conditions that were unresourceful with regard to flowing water and mediocre for agriculture were not factors that led to the establishment of the village. The location of the village by the periphery of western Jerusalem, slightly above the Refaim valley that since 1892, hosted the Ottoman railway to Jerusalem, and beneath the ancient-to-modern north–south route of the Judean Highlands is suggested to have been an important factor governing settlement sustainability and development until today. Since 1948 and 1967, the poor agriculture merit of the lands straddling the village has matured into attractive zones for the development of housing in the form of a unique Arab suburb of western Jerusalem.