Beit Aryeh-Ofarim ( he, בֵּית אַרְיֵה-עֳפָרִים) is an Israeli settlement and local council in the northern

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. It is located north of

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

and east of Tel Aviv, near the

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

village of al-Lubban al-Gharbi, 3.8 km kilometers east of the Green line. It is situated on the Palestinian side of the

Israeli West Bank barrier The Israeli West Bank barrier, comprising the West Bank Wall and the West Bank fence, is a separation barrier built by Israel along the Green Line and inside parts of the West Bank. It is a contentious element of the Israeli–Palestinian ...

, on 8,500 dunams of land. In it had a population of . Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

Established in 1981, Beit Aryeh was recognised as a local council in 1989. In 2004, it merged with Ofarim. Beit Aryeh was named for former

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

member

Aryeh Ben-Eliezer Aryeh Ben-Eliezer ( he, אריה בן אליעזר, 16 December 1913 – 29 January 1970) was a Revisionist Zionist leader, Irgun member and Israeli politician. Biography Aryeh Ben-Eliezer (born Lipa Zabrowsky) was born in Vilnius in the R ...

, a prominent

Revisionist Zionist Revisionist Zionism is an ideology developed by Ze'ev Jabotinsky, who advocated a "revision" of the " practical Zionism" of David Ben-Gurion and Chaim Weizmann which was focused on the settling of ''Eretz Yisrael'' ( Land of Israel) by independe ...

leader who was amongst the founders of Herut. According to ARIJ, the land for Beit Aryeh-Ofarim was confiscated by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

from two nearby

villages:

Aboud Aboud ( ar, عابود, ''ʿĀbūd'') is a Palestinian village in the Ramallah and al-Bireh Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the central West Bank, northwest of Ramallah and 30 kilometers north of Jerusalem. Nearby towns include al-Lu ...

and Al-Lubban al-Gharbi. In 2011, the Israeli Ministry of Defense signed an agreement with the municipality of Beit Aryeh approving the construction of 100 homes and a bypass road between Beit Aryeh and Ofarim. In 2020, Beit Aryeh-Ofarim was one of several Israeli settlements that dumped its untreated sewage onto lands of the nearby

village of

Deir Ballut Deir Ballut ( ar, دير بلّوط) is a Palestinian town located in the Salfit Governorate in the northern West Bank, south west of Nablus. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, it had a population of 3,195 in 2007. In 1870 ...

.'Paradise lost': How Israel turned the West Bank into a sewage dump for its settlements
By Shatha Hammad, 21 October 2020, Middle East Eye

Notable residents

* Doron Matalon * Aleks Tarn * Neil Druckmann

References

External links

Local council website
Local councils in Israel Israeli settlements in the West Bank 1981 establishments in the Israeli Military Governorate Populated places established in 1981 {{Palestine-geo-stub