Beitar Illit

Beitar Illit is an Israeli settlement and city west of Gush Etzion in the northern Judea region of the West Bank.

Located south of Jerusalem, Beitar Illit was established in 1985 on land purchased from Nahaleen, Husan and Wadi Fukin Arab villages. Initially, it was 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 Orthodox Jewish families came to predominate while the original group moved on. The city has since expanded to three adjacent hills.

Beitar Illit is the fastest-growing city in Israel, with the highest birthrate in the country. [*] As of September 2007, it had a total population of 34,427. According to former mayor Yitzchak Pindrus, the population is expected to 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 Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.

Beitar Illit was the first Haredi town to be established as such. The city's ideology is based on the desire to have an exclusively Haredi environment that "fulfills the Zionist dream of fearless Jewish development." (1) . It is named after the ancient Jewish city of Betar, whose ruins lie away.

Demographics

According to the statistics from the Ministry of Interior, the population figures for January 2007 there are 34,427 members listed on their computers and 29,404 citizens that are listed as active. The town is reported to have almost 20,000 schoolchildren.

Income

According to CBS, as of 2000, in the city there were 2,172 salaried workers and 131 self-employed. The mean monthly wage in 2000 for a salaried worker in the city is ILS 3,079, a real change of 3.6% over the course of 2000. Salaried males have a mean monthly wage of ILS 4,475 (a real change of 7.2%) versus ILS 2,173 for females (a real change of -0.7%). The mean income for the self-employed is 4,438. There are 99 people who receive unemployment benefits and 671 people who receive an income guarantee.

Education

According to CBS, there are 26 schools and yeshivas and 3,225 students in the city. They are spread out as 22 elementary schools and 3,019 elementary school students, and 4 high schools and 206 high school students. ..% of 12th grade students were entitled to a matriculation certificate in 2001. All education in the town is religious, as its population is exclusively Haredi.

Achievements

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 recognised 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 Beaty" prize as one of the cleanest Israeli municipalities, and for community education programs emphasizing recycling, for five years running.

2007 municipal elections

In a closely-fought election on October 30, 2007, Rabbi Yitzchak Pindrus, the incumbent mayor for the past five years, was defeated by Rabbi Meir Rubinstein.