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Beitar Illit
31°41′52″N 35°6′56″E / 31.69778°N 35.11556°E
Beitar Illit (Hebrew: בֵּיתָר עִלִּית; officially Betar Illit; Arabic: بيتار عيليت) is a Haredi Jewish-Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, ten kilometres (6 mi) southwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank. Beitar Illit is one of Israel's largest and most rapidly growing settlements, and in 2023 had a population of 69,281.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
Beitar Illit (lit. Upper Beitar) is named after the ancient Jewish fortress city of Betar, whose ruins (known as Khirbet el-Yahud, Arabic for "Ruin of the Jews") lie one kilometre (1⁄2 mi) away, near the Palestinian village of Battir, which preserves the ancient name.
According to the ARIJ, Beitar Illit was established in 1985 on land which Israel had confiscated from two nearby Palestinian villages: 3,140 dunams from Husan and 1,166 dunams from Nahalin.
It was established by a small group of young families from the religious Zionist yeshiva of Machon Meir. The first residents settled in 1990. As Beitar Illit began to grow, an influx of Haredi Jewish Bobover families came to predominate, while the original group moved on. The city is now home to many Hasidic groups, including Bobov, Boston, Boyan, Breslov, Karlin-Stolin and Slonim. The city has expanded to three adjacent hills.[citation needed]
Beitar Illit lies in the northern Judean Hills at about 700 m above sea level. It is located just west of the intersection of Route 60, the north–south artery which roughly follows the watershed from Nazareth through Jerusalem to Beersheba, and Route 375, which descends west into the Elah Valley to the coastal plain and Tel Aviv area. It takes about 10 minutes to get to Jerusalem; Tel Aviv is around 60 minutes away. Beitar Illit is connected to West Jerusalem by the Tunnels Highway, which passes directly underneath the Arab town of Beit Jala and allows access to Jerusalem without coming within view of Arabs.
At the end of 2003, the population was 23,000 and in 2006 it was 29,100. According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the population in January 2007 was 35,000, an increase of 20% over one year. A Ministry of Interior report from July 2013 placed the population at 45,710.
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Beitar Illit AI simulator
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Beitar Illit
31°41′52″N 35°6′56″E / 31.69778°N 35.11556°E
Beitar Illit (Hebrew: בֵּיתָר עִלִּית; officially Betar Illit; Arabic: بيتار عيليت) is a Haredi Jewish-Israeli settlement organized as a city council in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc, ten kilometres (6 mi) southwest of Jerusalem in the West Bank. Beitar Illit is one of Israel's largest and most rapidly growing settlements, and in 2023 had a population of 69,281.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law.
Beitar Illit (lit. Upper Beitar) is named after the ancient Jewish fortress city of Betar, whose ruins (known as Khirbet el-Yahud, Arabic for "Ruin of the Jews") lie one kilometre (1⁄2 mi) away, near the Palestinian village of Battir, which preserves the ancient name.
According to the ARIJ, Beitar Illit was established in 1985 on land which Israel had confiscated from two nearby Palestinian villages: 3,140 dunams from Husan and 1,166 dunams from Nahalin.
It was established by a small group of young families from the religious Zionist yeshiva of Machon Meir. The first residents settled in 1990. As Beitar Illit began to grow, an influx of Haredi Jewish Bobover families came to predominate, while the original group moved on. The city is now home to many Hasidic groups, including Bobov, Boston, Boyan, Breslov, Karlin-Stolin and Slonim. The city has expanded to three adjacent hills.[citation needed]
Beitar Illit lies in the northern Judean Hills at about 700 m above sea level. It is located just west of the intersection of Route 60, the north–south artery which roughly follows the watershed from Nazareth through Jerusalem to Beersheba, and Route 375, which descends west into the Elah Valley to the coastal plain and Tel Aviv area. It takes about 10 minutes to get to Jerusalem; Tel Aviv is around 60 minutes away. Beitar Illit is connected to West Jerusalem by the Tunnels Highway, which passes directly underneath the Arab town of Beit Jala and allows access to Jerusalem without coming within view of Arabs.
At the end of 2003, the population was 23,000 and in 2006 it was 29,100. According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior, the population in January 2007 was 35,000, an increase of 20% over one year. A Ministry of Interior report from July 2013 placed the population at 45,710.