Bethphage
Bethphage (Hebrew "Bēth Paggē" "House of unripe figs") or Bethsphage is a Christian religious site on the Mount of Olives east of historical Jerusalem. Bethphage is mentioned in the New Testament as the place in ancient Israel from which Yeshua/Jesus sent his disciples to find a colt upon which he would ride into Jerusalem. The Synoptic Gospels mention it as being close to Bethany, where he was staying immediately prior to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. However, another possibility, based on the writings of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, would place it in the valley east of as-Sawahira  ash-Sharqiya, since, she writes, "Going up from Bethphage to the Mount of Olives, one could see, through the high hills that bordered the route on either side, the Temple standing opposite," a vista possible only from Abu Dis. She describes, "It lay on low, swampy ground, and was a poor little place consisting of only a row of houses on either side of the road." Ancient Bethany would then have to be further east than Bethphage yet in close proximity to Jerusalem, the Capital given by God to the Jewish people. Unknown villagers living there, the owners of the  colt according to Gospel of Luke 19:33, permitted Jesus' disciples to take the colt away for Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which would have been four days before Passover. There is an annual Palm Sunday walk into Jerusalem which begins here in Bethphage. Eusebius ("Onom" 58:13) located it on the Mount of Olives. It was likely on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho and the limit of a Sabbath-day's journey from Jerusalem, that is, 2000 cubits. There is the Franciscan Church of Bethphage at a likely location.