Beit Aryeh-Ofarim () is an Israeli settlement and local council in the northern West Bank. It is located north of Jerusalem and east of Tel Aviv, near the Palestinian 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, 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.
Khirbat Khudash is an archaeological site located within Beit Aryeh. It is a well-planned fortified settlement associated with olive-oil production, dated to the 8th century BCE and linked to the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
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 member Aryeh Ben-Eliezer, a prominent Revisionist Zionist leader who was amongst the founders of Herut.Aryeh Ben-Eliezer Knesset
According to ARIJ, the land for Beit Aryeh-Ofarim was confiscated by Israel from two nearby Palestinian villages: Aboud ‘Abud Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 17 and Al-Lubban al-Gharbi.Al Lubban al Gharbi Village Profile, ARIJ, p. 16Yumna Patel, 'Drowning among Israeli settlements, an ancient Christian village in Palestine struggles to survive,' Mondoweiss 17 August 2018
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 Palestinian village of Deir Ballut.'Paradise lost': How Israel turned the West Bank into a sewage dump for its settlements, By Shatha Hammad, 21 October 2020, Middle East Eye
Voting Patterns In the 2022 election, 65 percent of voters in Beit Aryeh-Ofarim voted for the parties of the right-wing coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu, while 30 percent voted for the parties of the center-left coalition led by Yair Lapid. The Arab parties did not receive any votes.
Notable residents Doron Matalon Aleks Tarn Neil Druckmann
References
External links Local council website