Beit El

Bet El (Hebrew: בית אל, German: House of God) is an Israeli settlement in the West Bank with 5,600 inhabitants ( 2010). It was founded in 1977 and is located in the region of Benjamin, in the mountains north of Jerusalem, north-east of the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the south borders the village of Al - Bireh.

Bet El is an ideological stronghold of Gush Emunim.

The international organizations and the international community consider Bet El, like all Israeli settlements in the territories occupied since 1967 as illegal under current international law ( Fourth Geneva Convention). Israel, however, denies that it is an occupied territory, in which the Fourth Geneva Convention is valid.

History

The place Beth- El, to which the name of the settlement relates, is mentioned in 71 places in the Old Testament as the place where Jacob dreamed of the Jacob's Ladder. Since 1967 located in this place military installations with the facilities for the military administration for the northern West Bank. In November 1977 a small group of 15 Israeli families founded the settlement of Beit El. In 1997 the two neighboring settlements Bet El Aleph and Bet Bet El was combined with Bet El.

In Beit El, the Israeli Civil Administration for the space Ramallah / Al Bireh ( Ramallah DCO ) is in the military camp.

Bet El was once located on the main road 60, which led from Jerusalem Al- Bireh to Nablus. Since the Second Intifada, the road between Al- Bireh and Beit El is locked, only diplomatic vehicles may happen here. Road No. 60 was further to the east, at room Ramallah over, laid. The Palestinian traffic flows towards Nablus now on a new road to the west.

On October 21, 2006 Bet El gave the for spying for Israel sentenced to life imprisonment for Jonathan Pollard honorary citizenship.

On January 16, 2014 Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized the first time that even Bet El settlement must remain in place as the fourth block next to Ma'ale Adumim, Gush Etzion and Ariel, when a peace plan providing for the withdrawal from the West Bank.

Population

In 1994, Beit El 1,230 inhabitants. The residents of Beit El are composed largely of French-and Russian-born Jews, and to a lesser extent from Indian and äthiopischstämmigen Jews. The vast majority of the residents are elderly.

Land question

According to a report by the Israeli organization Peace Now there are 96.85 % of the land on which the settlement was built on Palestinian private property; even after Israeli legal opinion should not have been built on this land.

Ulpana evacuation

In 2008, Palestinians complained that houses the Ulpana district had been set up on its own private grounds. After a lengthy process, the Supreme Court noted, finally, that five houses are actually illegal, and can not be legalized later, because they were on private land and are therefore demolish until 1 May 2012. Despite clear legal position, the Government requested the Supreme Court, " rethink " this decision. This was however not granted, the houses had to be empty until 1 July 2012. Benjamin Netanyahu then enlarged his coalition, which then tried to find a legislative solution with a new retroactive expropriation law. So a law rejected Netanyahu but eventually wear out and decided on the five houses to be demolished, along with 300 additional, on the adjacent military base to rebuild .. Numerous administrative institutions ( court, permits, ... ) are in fact now the military camp by Ofer Bet El postponed been. For the construction of Nothäusern for those affected for 33 years was needed because of " urgent and important military reasons " for the first time any civilian building permit. Finally, the houses were evacuated by the deadline, however, the Supreme Court granted still over four months to remove the houses. The Government has planned to not demolish the buildings but to break down into parts and to transfer it to a new location. Whether this is technically possible, but is not sure.