History
In Biblical times, Beit El was the site where Jacob slept and dreamt of the angels coming up and down a ladder (Genesis 28:19). Beit El has been identified with the ruins surrounding the Palestinian village of Beitin and with hilltop site of Pisgat Ya'akov.
Beit El was established in 1977, ten years after the Six Day War. Several families moved into the Israel Defense Forces base and others settled on nearby hilltops. In September 1997, Beit El was awarded local council status. 1,200 families now reside in Beit El, most affiliated with the Religious Zionist Movement. Its Ulpana neighbourhood was established in 1999. A stop-work order was issued by an Israeli court as early as September of that year, but construction has continued, notwithstanding a demolition order issued by the High Court in 2008 after Palestinians from the village of Dura al-Qar' appealed to the High Court of Israel.
Read more about this topic: Beit El
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)
“the future is simply nothing at all. Nothing has happened to the present by becoming past except that fresh slices of existence have been added to the total history of the world. The past is thus as real as the present.”
—Charlie Dunbar Broad (1887–1971)
“There is no example in history of a revolutionary movement involving such gigantic masses being so bloodless.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)