Controversies
Sewage flows and urban runoff from Beitar Illit have contaminated the local hydrological system. The Palestinian Authority claims that Beitar Illit authorities release the settlement's sewage on to the Palestinian fields and orchards surrounding the settlement.
Farmers in the nearby village of Wadi Fukin, specifically, have complained that since construction began in Beitar Illit in 1985, the village's 11 natural wells have gone dry and that they have had problems with overflow from the settlement's backed up sewers. The Israeli government has tried to get Beitar Illit to deal with the problems that its sewage has caused Wadi Fukin.
Beitar Illit made international news in March 2010 when the Israeli interior ministry announced during a visit by U.S. vice-president Joe Biden that 112 new apartments would be built there. Welfare minister Isaac Herzog said that the government should not have made the announcement during Biden's visit and that "This is a real embarrassment and now we have to express our apologies for this serious blunder." Biden said: "I condemn the decision by the government of Israel to advance planning for new housing units."
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