Israeli settlement in the West Bank
Place in West Bank
Beitar Illit
(
Hebrew
:
??????? ???????
; officially
Betar Illit
;
Arabic
:
????? ?????
) is a
Haredi Jewish
-
Israeli settlement
organized as a
city council
in the
Gush Etzion
settlement bloc
,
[2]
ten kilometres (6 mi) southwest of
Jerusalem
in the
West Bank
.
[3]
Beitar Illit is one of
Israel
's largest and most rapidly growing settlements,
[4]
and in 2022 had a population of 64,016.
Israeli settlements in the West Bank are
illegal under international law
.
[5]
[6]
Name
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.
History
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
[7]
and 1,166 dunams from
Nahalin
.
[8]
It was established by a small group of young families from the
religious Zionist
yeshiva
of
Machon Meir
. The first residents settled in 1990.
[9]
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
]
Geography
Beitar Illit lies in the northern Judean Hills
[3]
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.
[10]
Demographics
Numbers
Historical population
Year
| Pop.
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
1995
| 5,500
| ?
|
---|
2008
| 32,900
| +14.75%
|
---|
2013
| 44,900
| +6.42%
|
---|
2018
| 56,750
| +4.80%
|
---|
2019
| 59,270
| +4.44%
|
---|
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.
[11]
A Ministry of Interior report from July 2013 placed the population at 45,710.
[12]
With an annual
birth rate
of 1,800 births, Beitar Illit has the fastest
population growth
among the West Bank settlements.
[9]
Approximately 63 percent of the population is under the age of 18, which is the highest percentage of children in any Israeli settlement or city.
[9]
Character
The population of Beitar Illit is 100%
Haredi
.
[9]
[13]
Approximately 50% of the population is
Hasidic
.
[14]
An estimated 10 percent of the population is
English-speaking
. There are three English-speaking
synagogues
, two English-speaking
kollels
(one for retirees), and an English-speaking women's group.
[14]
As of 2010, all incoming residents used to be screened by an acceptance committee.
[14]
Education
As the population of Beitar Illit is Haredi, the schools are all Haredi schools.
[9]
The city has close to 20,000 schoolchildren. Of these, approximately 6,000 are enrolled in the city's 225 preschools and daycare centers. Elementary school-age boys attend the city's 27
Talmud Torahs
, and elementary school-age girls attend 18 elementary schools. Secondary education includes 21
yeshivas
for boys and 11 high schools and post-high schools for girls. Married adult men study in 75
kollels
.
[9]
Employment
A significant number of men work, mostly at home or in Jerusalem. Women are employed by local
business process outsourcing
companies that accommodate the Haredi lifestyle, such as Greenpoint, Matrix, and CityBook.
[14]
In 2010, it was reported that 64.3% of working-age men and 45.8% of working-age women in Beitar Illit were unemployed.
[11]
Culture
One hundred and forty
synagogues
and 15
mikvehs
serve the population.
[9]
Awards
Beitar Illit has been awarded the Israel Ministry of Interior's gold prize, recognizing "responsible management and sustainable urban planning", for eight years running.
[9]
In 2002, it received the Ministry of Interior's prize for
water conservation
in public gardens, urban public institutions, and urban water administration.
[9]
The municipal welfare department was awarded a prize and recognized by the national government as an "outstanding department" for its work in preventing teen
dropouts
.
[15]
The city is well known for its landscaping and general cleanliness. There are 94 parks and hundreds of playgrounds in the city.
[9]
From 2000 to 2013, Beitar Illit earned five out of five stars in the
Council for a Beautiful Israel
's annual "Beautiful Town in a Beautiful Israel" contest, which recognizes a city's investment in environment, aesthetics, and maintenance of appearance and cleanliness. In 2005 the city won the Council for a Beautiful Israel's "Beauty Flag", which is awarded every five years.
[9]
Status under international law
Like all settlements in the
Israeli-occupied territories
, Beitar Illit is considered illegal under international law,
[16]
[17]
though Israel disputes this. The international community considers Israeli settlements to violate the
Fourth Geneva Convention
's prohibition on the transfer of an occupying power's civilian population into occupied territory. The Israeli government disputes that the Fourth Geneva Convention applies to the Palestinian territories as they had not been legally held by a sovereign prior to Israel taking control of them.
[18]
This view has been rejected by the
International Court of Justice
and the
International Committee of the Red Cross
.
[19]
Controversies
At an international conference in Karlsruhe in November 2010, Jawad Hasan claimed that sewage and
urban runoff
from Beitar Illit have contaminated the local hydrological system.
[20]
The
Palestinian Authority
claims that sewage flows into neighboring Palestinian fields and orchards.
[21]
Farmers from
Wadi Fukin
have complained that since the establishment of Beitar Illit in 1985, 11 natural wells have gone dry and they have suffered from overflow from the settlement's backed up sewers. The Israeli government has ordered Beitar Illit to address these sewage problems.
[22]
In 2010, the Israeli interior ministry announced plans to build 112 new apartments during a visit by U.S. vice-president
Joe Biden
, leading to widespread news coverage that embarrassed the Israeli government.
[23]
Beitar Illit was one of four cities named in a petition to the
Israeli High Court
in December 2010 alleging a pattern of discrimination against
Sephardi
girls in the local Haredi schools. A Beitar Illit spokesman denied the charges, stating that the percentage of Sephardi girls in the school matched the percentage of Sephardim in the settlement.
[24]
Notable residents
See also
References
- ^
"Regional Statistics"
. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
. Retrieved
21 March
2024
.
- ^
"Why Israel invented the concept of 'settlement blocs'
"
.
Middle East Eye
. 26 January 2016
. Retrieved
10 July
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"City: Beitar Illit"
. Govisitisrael.com.
Archived
from the original on 11 July 2011
. Retrieved
2011-07-19
.
- ^
Joshua Mitnick (October 15, 2010).
"Israeli settlement building surges as US pushes for a new freeze"
. Christian Science Monitor
. Retrieved
August 21,
2012
.
- ^
"Israeli settlements: UN Security Council calls for an end"
.
BBC News
. 23 December 2016
. Retrieved
23 December
2016
.
- ^
"The Geneva Convention"
.
BBC News
. 10 December 2009
. Retrieved
27 November
2010
.
- ^
Husan Village Profile
, ARIJ, p. 17
- ^
Nahhalin Village Profile
, ARIJ, p. 18
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
Tzoren, Moshe Michael. "Some Talk Peace, Others Live It".
Hamodia
Israel News, November 21, 2018, pp. A18-A19.
- ^
John Collins (Fall 2008). "Dromocratic Palestine".
Middle East Report
(248): 8?13.
JSTOR
25164857
.
- ^
a
b
Paul Rivlin (15 November 2010).
The Israeli Economy from the Foundation of the State through the 21st Century
. Cambridge University Press. p. 169.
ISBN
978-0-521-19037-4
. Retrieved
22 August
2012
.
- ^
????? ???? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ??????? ???????
[Notice Regarding the Assignment of Council Members in Regional Councils]
(PDF)
(in Hebrew).
Israel Ministry of Interior
. 18 July 2013. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 29 October 2013
. Retrieved
14 December
2013
.
- ^
"Beitar Illit"
. torahalive.com
. Retrieved
14 December
2013
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"Beitar Illit"
.
Nefesh B'Nefesh
. October 2010
. Retrieved
14 December
2013
.
- ^
"Beitar Renewed"
Archived
September 28, 2007, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"EU chides Israel over new West Bank settlement homes"
. Agence France-Presse. July 19, 2011
. Retrieved
August 21,
2012
.
- ^
"Israel to build 336 new West Bank settlement homes"
. Agence France-Presse. July 18, 2011.
- ^
"The Geneva Convention"
.
BBC News
. 10 December 2009
. Retrieved
27 November
2010
.
- ^
Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Archived
2010-07-06 at the
Wayback Machine
International Court of Justice, 9 July 2004. pp. 44-45
- ^
Jawad Hasan; Amer Marie; Haneen Froukh (2010).
"Watershed Management Under Terms of Depletive Water Balance and High Vulnerability in Wadi Fuqeen: West Bank Palestine"
.
Integrated water resources management Karlsruhe 2010 : international conference, 24 - 25 November 2010; conference proceedings
. KIT Scientific Publishing. pp. 50?6.
ISBN
978-3-86644-545-1
. Retrieved
21 August
2012
.
- ^
"Settlers Drown Palestinians' Land with Wastewater in Bethlehem"
.
Wafa
. 29 May 2011. Archived from
the original
on 1 June 2011
. Retrieved
19 July
2011
.
- ^
"Palestinian village and Israeli town build rare partnership across line"
. Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. April 20, 2010
. Retrieved
August 22,
2012
.
- ^
"Israel sorry for announcing homes plan during Biden visit"
. Guardian Unlimited. March 10, 2010
. Retrieved
August 21,
2012
.
- ^
Jeremy Sharon (January 11, 2011).
"Court postpones ruling on haredi school discrimination petition"
. Jerusalem Post
. Retrieved
August 21,
2012
.
External links