Bayt Dajan
| Bayt Dajan | |
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Bayt Dajan, before 1935. From the Khalil Raad-collection.
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 Bayt Dajan
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| Arabic | بيت دجن |
| Name meaning | "The house of Dagon" |
| Also spelled | Beit Dajan, Bait Dajan, Dajūn |
| Subdistrict | Jaffa |
| Coordinates | 32°0′13″N 34°49′46″E / 32.00361°N 34.82944°ECoordinates: 32°0′13″N 34°49′46″E / 32.00361°N 34.82944°E |
| Palestine grid | 134/156 |
| Population | 3,840 (1945) |
| Area | 17,327 dunams 17.3 km² |
| Date of depopulation | 25 April 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Influence of nearby town's fall |
| Current localities | Beit DaganMishmar HaShiv'aHemedGanot |
Bayt Dajan (Arabic: بيت دجن, translit. Bayt Dajan; Hebrew: בית דג'אן), also known as Dajūn, was a Palestinian Arab village situated approximately 6 kilometers (3.7 mi) southeast of Jaffa. It is thought to have been the site of the biblical town of Beth Dagon, mentioned in the Book of Joshua and in ancient Assyrian and Ancient Egyptian texts.
In the mid-16th century, Bayt Dajan formed part of an Ottoman waqf established by Roxelana, the wife of Suleiman the Magnificent, and by the late 16th century, it was part of the nahiya of Ramla in the liwa of Gaza. Villagers paid taxes to the Ottoman authorities for property and agricultural goods and animal husbandry conducted in the villages, including the cultivation of wheat, barley, fruit, and sesame, as well as on goats, beehives and vineyards. In the 19th Century, the village women were also locally renowned for the intricate, high quality embroidery designs, a ubiquitous feature of traditional Palestinian costumes.
By the time of the Mandatory Palestine, the village housed two elementary schools, a library and an agronomic school. After an assault by the Alexandroni Brigade during Operation Hametz on 25 April 1948 in the lead up to the 1948 Arab–Israeli war, the village was entirely depopulated. The Israeli locality of Beit Dagan was founded at the same site in October 1948.
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