 According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated 920 dunams of land from the nearby Palestinian village of Khirbet Beit Zakariyyah in order to construct Alon Shvut.Alon Shvut is located on the site of the Battle of Beth Zechariah, fought between the Maccabees and the Seleucid army after the defeat of the Seleucids in Jerusalem.The ancient town of Beit Zakariah, in northern Judea, is identified with the ruins of Khirbet Zechariah, less than a kilometer north of Alon Shvut.