Beitunia
Baituniya (Arabic بيتونيا, DMG Baytūnyā, alternative and official spelling according to city office Beitunia ) is an almost grown together with Ramallah city in the Palestinian territories in the West Bank. The town is situated 18 km north- west of Jerusalem at an altitude of 860 m. With over 13,000 inhabitants (2006) Baituniya is the third largest city in the governorate of Ramallah and Al Bireh.
The old town center with town hall and water tower is on a hill. In the east ( Batn aš - SARQ = Ostbauch ), the city adjacent to the industrial area of Ramallah, in the north-west is the village of Ain Arik. In the valley there are even bigger agricultural land, but the current building boom gnaws at them, so they shrink every year.
While the neighboring cities have international flair, there are no significant cultural or tourist facilities in the purely Muslim Baiytunia. The city administration was modernized around 2000 with German development aid.
In the east - right next to the amusement of Ramallah - is the headquarters of the Palestinian security services, with offices and prisons of the secret service. During the first period of autonomy there was under Jibril al- Radschub intensive cooperation with the Israeli security services and the CIA. On 3 April 2002, the Second Intifada, but the Israeli army stormed the facility, destroying it partially and located militants picked up there.
Since all goods deliveries go to the northern West Bank Baituniya, the Palestinian customs clearance for motor vehicles takes place there. For this reason, there are more car - intermediate storage.
Ofer
To the southeast is the former Israeli Ofer military camp, where there are 1988 (First Intifada ) through 1995 ( autonomy) and since 2002 because of the Second Intifada, a tent camp prison. The tents have now been largely replaced by tin shacks, and the plant was handed over to the civilian prison administration in 2006, but the prison conditions there are bad. In Ofer Palestinian security prisoners are mainly accommodated without a conviction. A visit by members is possible only with great effort, patience and the Red Cross.
Before the Second Intifada, it was possible to drive from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, coming over the Jewish settlement Giw'at Ze'ev past Ofer over Baituniya to Ramallah ( road 436). 2000 to 2001 there was an Israeli and a Palestinian checkpoint. Five Palestinian policemen were shot dead by the Israeli army partly in his sleep on 14 May 2001 there. Today, the Ofer checkpoint is closed to through traffic and instead of truck terminal for the district of Ramallah. It must return the Goods between an Israeli and a Palestinian truck - back to back - be reloaded.
Settler roads
The area around Baituniya is a classic example of money and waste of land for the construction of settler roads. A large part of its territory was lost for it. With the introduction of autonomy, the city remained in Zone B, as the connecting road 436 led to the Jewish settlements Dolev and Talmon through the city. With great effort own ring road was built 450 to Ain Arik in the west around the hill, so that the city in 2000 was to zone A. By the Second Intifada further road through Ain Arik was uncertain, and therefore safe access to the settlements on the new road 463 north of Ramallah was moved. At the same time A Qinya / Dolev were created more bypass roads in the area of Ain Arik /.