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Beit El
Beit El or Beth El (Hebrew: בֵּית אֵל) is an Israeli settlement and local council located in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Jewish town was settled in 1977–78 by the ultranationalist group Gush Emunim. It is located in the hills north of Jerusalem, east of the Palestinian city of al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah. In September 1997, Beit El was awarded local council status. The head of the local council is Shai Alon. In 2023 its population was 6,040.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. The Ulpana neighbourhood was evacuated when it emerged that it was built on private Palestinian land. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) halted land transactions in the Aleph neighbourhood of Beit El after it emerged that some 250 buildings there were constructed illegally, and fraud was suspected.
Beit El, with a higher elevation than Jerusalem, has cool nights in summer and occasional snow in winter. The Pisgat Ya'akov neighborhood (also named Jabel Artis) has a hilltop observatory with a commanding view of the surrounding hills. Tel Aviv area and Mount Hermon can be seen on clear days.
Northeast of Beit El is the Ma'ayanot Qara Nature Reserve, so named on account of its proximity to the nearby village of Dura al-Qara'. The nature reserve is the site of five natural springs whose source is a channel carved between overlying cliffs. The limestone formations at the springs are dated to the Cenomanian age. The nature reserve is a habitat for Hedera helix ivy, not known anywhere else between the region of Edom to the south and the Galilee to the north, as well as Teucrium montbretii, which grows only in the vicinity of Ramallah.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, the area came under Israeli occupation. According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from three nearby Palestinian towns/villages in order to construct Beit El: 680 dunams from Dura al-Qar'; 346 dunams from Al-Bireh; 137 dunams from Ein Yabrud.
In 1970, private Palestinian land of al-Bireh and Dura al-Qar was seized[clarification needed] by military order for a military outpost and later on consigned to settlers for the purpose of civilian settlement.[citation needed]
In 1977, Beit El was established on this land. Seventeen families settled near the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) base. The settlement consisted of Beit El Aleph (Beit El A), a residential religious community in the southern half of Beit El, whose inhabitants worked in the free professions outside the yishuv, and Beit El Bet (Beit El B), situated on the northern hill around the yeshiva founded by Ya'akov Katz[broken anchor] and Zalman Baruch Melamed, partly on private land and partly on land purchased by the Himnuta land development company (a subsidiary of JNF-KKL). Public buildings and civilian homes and caravans were built on the land.
The settlement has been founded by the ultranationalist group Gush Emunim.
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Beit El AI simulator
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Beit El
Beit El or Beth El (Hebrew: בֵּית אֵל) is an Israeli settlement and local council located in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Jewish town was settled in 1977–78 by the ultranationalist group Gush Emunim. It is located in the hills north of Jerusalem, east of the Palestinian city of al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah. In September 1997, Beit El was awarded local council status. The head of the local council is Shai Alon. In 2023 its population was 6,040.
The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. The Ulpana neighbourhood was evacuated when it emerged that it was built on private Palestinian land. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) halted land transactions in the Aleph neighbourhood of Beit El after it emerged that some 250 buildings there were constructed illegally, and fraud was suspected.
Beit El, with a higher elevation than Jerusalem, has cool nights in summer and occasional snow in winter. The Pisgat Ya'akov neighborhood (also named Jabel Artis) has a hilltop observatory with a commanding view of the surrounding hills. Tel Aviv area and Mount Hermon can be seen on clear days.
Northeast of Beit El is the Ma'ayanot Qara Nature Reserve, so named on account of its proximity to the nearby village of Dura al-Qara'. The nature reserve is the site of five natural springs whose source is a channel carved between overlying cliffs. The limestone formations at the springs are dated to the Cenomanian age. The nature reserve is a habitat for Hedera helix ivy, not known anywhere else between the region of Edom to the south and the Galilee to the north, as well as Teucrium montbretii, which grows only in the vicinity of Ramallah.
After the Six-Day War in 1967, the area came under Israeli occupation. According to ARIJ, Israel confiscated land from three nearby Palestinian towns/villages in order to construct Beit El: 680 dunams from Dura al-Qar'; 346 dunams from Al-Bireh; 137 dunams from Ein Yabrud.
In 1970, private Palestinian land of al-Bireh and Dura al-Qar was seized[clarification needed] by military order for a military outpost and later on consigned to settlers for the purpose of civilian settlement.[citation needed]
In 1977, Beit El was established on this land. Seventeen families settled near the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) base. The settlement consisted of Beit El Aleph (Beit El A), a residential religious community in the southern half of Beit El, whose inhabitants worked in the free professions outside the yishuv, and Beit El Bet (Beit El B), situated on the northern hill around the yeshiva founded by Ya'akov Katz[broken anchor] and Zalman Baruch Melamed, partly on private land and partly on land purchased by the Himnuta land development company (a subsidiary of JNF-KKL). Public buildings and civilian homes and caravans were built on the land.
The settlement has been founded by the ultranationalist group Gush Emunim.