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Beitar Illit

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Template:Infobox Israel municipality

Bobov Hachnasat Sefer Torah to the Boston synagogue in Beitar Illit.

Beitar Illit (Template:Lang-he-n; officially also spelled Betar Illit; "Illit" is pronounced "ee-leet") is an Israeli settlement and a city west of Gush Etzion, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) south of Jerusalem, in the Judean Mountains of the West Bank. As of January 2007 it had a population of approximately 35,000. consisting of over 6000 families. By 2020, the population is expected to reach 100,000. Beitar Illit was established in 1984 and initially settled by a small group of young families from the religious Zionist yeshiva of Machon Meir, including that of Rabbi Reuven Hass (now of Beit El). As Beitar Illit began to grow, an influx of Haredi Jewish Bobov families came to predominate while the original group moved on. The city has since expanded to three adjacent hills. It is named after the ancient Jewish city of Betar, whose ruins lie 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) away. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

Demographics

Beitar Illit is one of the largest and most rapidly growing settlements, with a higher birthrate than any other habitation in the West Bank or Israel.

At the end of 2003 the population of Beitar Illit 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 estimated to be 35,000, an increase of 20% over one year. The town is reported to have almost 20,000 schoolchildren. According to local authorities the population may reach 100,000 by 2020, based on population growth and the building of new apartments to attract more Haredim from older Haredi cities such as Bnei Brak and parts of Jerusalem.

To support the growing population in Beitar Illit, the Ministry of Construction and Housing announced in 2011 that it would issue tenders for 642 new housing units in the settlement. These 642 tenders were part of the 1,577 tenders planned in 2011 by the Israeli government, a number that was higher than in any year since Ariel Sharon's government issued 1,917 in 2003.

In 2010 it was reported that 64.3% of working age men and 45.8% of working age women in Beitar Illit did not work.

Geography

Beitar Illit is 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 and Tel Aviv is around 60 minutes away.

Beitar Illit is connected to West Jerusalem by the Tunnels Highway, which passes directly underneath the Palestinian town of Beit Jala and allows settlers access to Israel without coming into contact with or eyesight of Palestinians.

Status under international law

Main article: International law and Israeli settlements

Like all Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories, Beitar Illit is considered illegal under international law, 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. This view has been rejected by the International Court of Justice and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Awards

Despite having no industry and minimal commerce, as well as a population that is generally weak economically, Beitar Illit has been awarded the Israeli Interior Ministry's gold prize for a balanced budget seven years running. 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. The city also received the 2005 national "flag award," as well as the Council for a beautiful Israel's "Stars of Beauty" prize as one of the cleanest Israeli municipalities, and for community education programs emphasizing recycling, for five years running.

In July 2012 the Israeli government announced that Beitar Illit would be one of a number of settlements receiving construction subsidies of up to $27,000 per home for around 500 new homes. The decision represents a reversal of the government's promise earlier in 2012 to deny building subsidies to settlements.

Education

There are dozens of pre-schools, 50 elementary schools, 2 girls' high schools, 3 yeshiva ketanahs, 2 yeshiva gedollahs, and 2 English kollels in Beitar Illit.

Beitar Illit was one of four cities, along with Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, and Modi'in Illit, named in a petition filed with the Israeli High Court in December 2010 by an anti-discrimination group. The petition alleged a pattern of discrimination against Sephardi girls in haredi schools in the cities involving unofficial quotas of no more than 30% of enrollment. A spokesman for the Beitar Illit city government denied the charges, stating that the percentage of Sephardi girls in the school matched the percentage of Sephardim in the settlement.

Controversies

Sewage flows and urban runoff from Beitar Illit have contaminated the local hydrological system. The Palestinian Authority claims that Beitar Illit authorities release the settlement's sewage on to the Palestinian fields and orchards surrounding the settlement.

Farmers in the nearby village of Wadi Fukin, specifically, have complained that since construction began in Beitar Illit in 1985, the village's 11 natural wells have gone dry and that they have had problems with overflow from the settlement's backed up sewers. The Israeli government has tried to get Beitar Illit to deal with the problems that its sewage has caused Wadi Fukin.

Beitar Illit made international news in March 2010 when the Israeli interior ministry announced during a visit by U.S. vice-president Joe Biden that 112 new apartments would be built there. Welfare minister Isaac Herzog said that the government should not have made the announcement during Biden's visit and that "This is a real embarrassment and now we have to express our apologies for this serious blunder." Biden said: "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units."

See also

Further reading

References

  1. ^ "City: Beitar Illit". Govisitisrael.com. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  2. "Environmental Peacebuilding Theory and Practice A Case Study of the Good Water Neighbours Project and In Depth Analysis of the Wadi Fukin / Tzur Hadassah Communities" (PDF). EcoPeace/Friends of the Earth. January 2008. pp. 29–35. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Communities -Beitar Illit". Kehillot Tehilla. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  5. "US denies Israel settlement move violates moratorium". BBC. March 8, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  6. ^ "The Geneva Convention". BBC News. 10 December 2009. Retrieved 27 November 2010.
  7. "EU chides Israel over new West Bank settlement homes". Agence France-Presse. July 19, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  8. "Israel to build 336 new West Bank settlement homes". Agence France-Presse. July 18, 2011.
  9. Joshua Mitnick (October 15, 2010). "Israeli settlement building surges as US pushes for a new freeze". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  11. Shragai, Nadav (August 14, 2007). "Ultra-Orthodox Jews deliver a population boom to the West Bank". Haaretz. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  12. Tovah Lazaroff (January 11, 2012). "Peace Now: 1,577 settlement tenders issued in 2011". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  13. John Collins (Fall 2008). "Dromocratic Palestine". Middle East Report (248): 8–13. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  14. "EU chides Israel over new West Bank settlement homes". Agence France-Presse. July 19, 2011. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  15. "Israel to build 336 new West Bank settlement homes". Agence France-Presse. July 18, 2011.
  16. Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory International Court of Justice, 9 July 2004. pp. 44-45
  17. "Beitar Renewed" on municipality website
  18. Amy Teibel (July 16, 2012). "Israel OKs subsidies to build more homes in West Bank - Government backtracks in agreeing to aid construction of more than 500 houses". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  19. Jeremy Sharon (January 11, 2011). "Court postpones ruling on haredi school discrimination petition". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  20. 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.
  21. "Settlers Drown Palestinians' Land with Wastewater in Bethlehem". Wafa. 29 May 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  22. "Palestinian village and Israeli town build rare partnership across line". Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. April 20, 2010. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  23. "Israel sorry for announcing homes plan during Biden visit". Guardian Unlimited. March 10, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2012.

External links

Judea and Samaria Area
Cities Map of Judea and Samaria Area
Regional committee
Regional councils
Local councils
See also
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