Artas is a Palestinian village in Bethlehem Governorate located 2.4km (horizontaldistance) south-west of Bethlehem City. Artas is bordered by Hindaza village to the east, Ad Duheisha camp to the north, Al Khader town to the west, and Wadi Rahhal village to the south. The origin of the word Artas is Latin (Greek) "Artasium" which means garden or paradise, and it was known at the time of crusaders by the name "Hortus Conclusus," which means the closed paradise, and it kept its name since then. Artas is one of the most important agricultural villages in the West Bank, as it is considered the food basket of Bethlehem governorate. Artas is an old Canaanite village, and the pools of water it has, known as Solomon's Pools, show how old the village is. Artas was known by the abundance of its water sources which are considered to be one of the oldest and largest water systems in Palestine which was supplying water to the city of Jerusalem during the Roman era. In terms of history, it is said that Artas village is the next oldest city after Jericho.

Religious and Archaeological Sites

In terms of religious establishments, there are two mosques in Artas: Artas Mosque and Ash Shuhada’ Mosque. As for the archaeological sites in the village, Artas was included in the tourism map and classified as a tourist destination that holds archaeological, religious, and cultural archaeological sites; and these sites are:

• Solomon's Pools which are qualified in term of tourism.
• Artas Nunnery, which is also qualified in terms of tourism, see the above image.
• Artas Spring which is qualified in term of tourism.
• Murad Castle.
• Omar Bin Al Khattab Mosque, which was built on the ruins of the old mosque that was built as a shrine for Omar Bin Al Khattab, when he visited Jerusalem and passed through the city of Bethlehem.