Sister cities of Beersheba

For other meanings see Beersheba (disambiguation).

Beersheba (/bɪərˈʃiːbə/; officially Be'er Sheva; Hebrew: בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע [beʔeʁˈʃeva]; Greek: Βηρσαβεε; Latin: Bersabee; Arabic: بئر السبع‎ Biʾr as-Sabʿ  (listen) (info), Levantine pronunciation: [biːr esˈsabeʕ]; Turkish: Birüssebi) is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 205,588.

Beersheba grew in importance in the 19th century, when the Ottoman Turks built a regional police station there. The Battle of Beersheba was part of a wider British offensive in World War I aimed at breaking the Turkish defensive line from Gaza to Beersheba. In 1947, Bir Seb'a (Arabic: بيئر شيبع‎), as it was known, was envisioned as part of the Arab state in the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine. Following the declaration of Israel's independence, the Egyptian army amassed its forces in Beersheba as a strategic and logistical base. In the Battle of Beersheba waged in October 1948, it was conquered by the Israel Defense Forces.

Beersheba has grown considerably since then. A large portion of the population is made up of the descendants of Sephardi Jews and Mizrahi Jews who immigrated from Arab countries after 1948, as well as smaller communities of Bene Israel and Cochin Jews from India. Second and third waves of immigration have taken place since 1990, bringing Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, as well as Beta Israel immigrants from Ethiopia. The Soviet immigrants have made the game of chess a major sport in Beersheba. The city is now Israel's national chess center, with more chess grandmasters per capita than any other city in the world.