Beit El

Beit El (Hebrew: בֵּית אֵל) is an Israeli settlement and local council located the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Jewish town is located in the hills north of Jerusalem, east of the Palestinian city of al-Bireh, adjacent to Ramallah. In September 1997, Beit El was awarded local council status. The head of the local council is Shai Alon. In 2014 its population was 5,991. Its current population is 6,500 residents.

The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this. The Ulpana neighbourhood was evacuated when it emerged that it was built on private Palestinian land. The World Zionist Organization halted land transactions in the Aleph neighbourhood of Beit El after it emerged that some 250 buildings there were constructed illegally, and fraud was suspected.

History

Biblical

In the Hebrew Bible, Beit El (literally, "The House of God") was the site where Jacob slept and dreamt of the angels coming up and down a ladder (Genesis 28:19). Some identify Beit El with the ruins surrounding the Palestinian village of Beitin and with hilltop site of Pisgat Ya'akov.