At the moment, I cannot say for sure what this all means, but through the course of digging deeper into the history of the Beit El "settlement" and the Ulpana Hill neighborhood, I have found some very interesting details. As I present these details, I am overwhelmingly convinced that the LORD is indicating something big is soon to take place. Please pray about the following.

On May 7, 2012, the Supreme Court in Israel ruled that 5 apartments (30 units), housing 33 families, in the Ulpana Hill neighborhood located in the Beit El "settlement" was illegal. The families living in these "illegal" units that the Israeli government helped build during Ehud Barak's stint as prime minister would be forced to leave and the buildings would be razed.

On June 26, 2012, 50 days after the Supreme Court ruling, some of the first residents of Ulpana Hill would honor the deadline and leave voluntarily from their homes and lives, while others would decide to stay, choosing instead to wait for the forced eviction deadline. The forced evictions began on June 28th and carried over into June 29th.

Beit El is located in the hills north of Jerusalem, the Benjamin region of Biblical Samaria, or modern day West Bank. It was about nine to ten years after the reunification of Jerusalem, during the Six-Day War of 1967, which ended with Jerusalem once again under Israeli control after almost 2,000 years of exile, that the Biblical heartland of Israel once again began to flourish with Jews. Most of these were Zionist and believed, just as many Bible prophecy students, that this migration and "resettling" of the land was not only fulfilling prophecy, but was more of a prophetic homecoming rather than strangers invading a foreign land.

Beit El, just as many other "settlements" throughout Israel, the West Bank, as well as those formerly in Gaza, all bloomed in the desert, built on both state-owned land and on land purchased by local Jewish residents from the local Arab neighbors. The practice of Jews purchasing land from Arabs goes back well over a hundred years, not a new practice to say the least. This practice is legal, though as is with all Israeli expansion, such transactions are not typically well accepted and often condemned by the international community. These types of transactions would even put the life of the Arab seller in danger by his fellow Arabs; as it is, Arabs do not look kindly upon fellow Arabs selling land to Jews. These Arabs would be considered traitors, with some cases resulting in the death of the Arab seller.

In 2000, the Bet El Institutions sought to expand the town of Beit El. Under the guidance of Rabbi Zalman Melamed and Yaakov (Jacob) "Ketzaleh" Katz, the attempt was made to purchase about 7.4 acres of land located near the town of Beit El. The land was rough, unused, and on a hill. The land belonged to an Arab by the name of Ibrahim (Abraham) Mustafa Hasan Hasan. The Bet El Institutions located the owner, and after the Dura El Kara Village Council verified that Ibrahim Mustafa Hasan Hasan was indeed the owner, the founder of Bet El, Yaakov Ketzaleh, raised the money for the purchase, signing the contract on June 29, 2000. The transaction was done in accordance with Israeli law and practice.

(Note: The land was purchased on June 29, 2000, it would be exactly 12-years later that the residents living on the land associated with this purchase, on Ulpana Hill, would be forcefully evicted.)

Beit El, or better known in English as Bethel, is first located in Genesis 12:8. Those familiar with Genesis chapter 12 will recognize the following verses:

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:1-3

Bethel is first mentioned five verses later,

And he (Abram) removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD. Genesis 12:8

The next time Bethel is mentioned is in Genesis 13:3, as Abram leaves Egypt.

And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD. Genesis 13:1-4

So Beth-el is the location that Abram built a mizbeach, or altar, unto YAHWEH, shortly after YAHWEH visited him with a promise, the prophetic foretelling of the future great nation of Israel. Along with this prophetic promise also came a prophetic warning for ALL who would attempt to curse this plan, these violators would in return find themselves cursed. This promise has been observable throughout the ages and is one of the primary reasons for this post.

Abram, later named Abraham, was married to Sarah who would later give birth to Isaac, who would eventually have two sons, twins, Esav and Yaakov, or Esau and Jacob. It is a well-known fact that Esau gave up his birthright to Jacob, so I will not go in depth on this topic. If interested, this can be found in Genesis 25.

The next instance where Beth-el is found in Scripture is located in Genesis 28. It is within the details of this chapter that I have come to strongly believe that the current events recently transpiring in modern day Bethel, in Ulpana Hill, hold a very clear prophetic warning and elevates the recent evictions to an entirely different level of significance.

And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God: And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Genesis 28:10-22

It was at Bethel that not only did YAHWAH make HIS promise to Abraham, but HE came also unto Jacob, later named Israel, many years later to confirm HIS promise, prophesying to Jacob about the future great nation of Israel that would come through his seed.

So why did the Supreme Court in Israel, which must be aware of the historical significance of this location, as recorded in the Torah, have such an issue with these five apartments upon Ulpana Hill in Beit-El, modern day Bethel? Well, I can't say for sure, but from what I have found, I strongly believe it has much to do with pressure behind the scenes from the international community and the US to stop "settlement" activity.

Rewind to the year 2000, back to the purchase of the unused and unwanted land on a hill, later to be named Ulpana, and the "legal" purchase by one Yaakov (Jacob) from one Ibrahim (Abraham). See the symbolism? It was YAHWAH that first gave the land to Abram, later named Abraham, who was not a "Jew" and obviously not an "Israelite," as these were terms applied to the "descendants" of Abraham at a much later time, well after Abraham. Yet, as the LORD had promised, this land, originally promised to and "possessed by the faith" of Abraham, was later transferred, through the price of birthright, to Jacob or Yaakov. How amazing it is then to see almost 4,000 years later a similar exchange and involving the very land in which this promise had been declared!

As divine as this exchange appears, it would not be long until it came under harsh scrutiny.

Shortly after Bet El Institutions signed the contract and handed over the money to Ibrahim Hasan, Bet El went to the Land Registry to document the purchase as the new owners of the 7.4 acres of unused rugged hillside. It was here that Bet El was discouraged by senior staff at the Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria to postpone the registration, stating that Ibrahim Hasan would most likely die at the hands of his fellow Arabs if the transaction was made public. It is said that Bet El and the Civil Administration came to a verbal agreement, just as Esau had with Jacob 4,000 years earlier, which would allow Bet El to develop the land without registering the purchase and in exchange, the Civil Administration would not interfere. This verbal agreement, as most verbal agreements, was never committed to writing.

Little did Bet El realize at the time just how important it would be to have received this verbal agreement in writing. It would be the lack of this verbal agreement, in written form, presentable as evidence, that a legal team would later exploit.

The legal battle came in 2007, just seven years after the purchase. An organization funded by the European Union and George Soros, claimed the transaction was illegal and that the Ibrahim Hasan who sold the land was not the original Ibrahim Hasan who owned the land. The legal team was led by Michael Sfard, who claimed that the original owner had died in 1976, ironically, the same year the United States celebrated her bicentennial.

On October 31, 2008, an appeal was presented to the Supreme Court, which claimed that the transaction of land was illegal and actually belonged to the relatives of a different Ibrahim Hasan, who Michael Sfard himself had recorded in the registry at the Judea and Samaria Civil Administration as the owners of the land.

The government's answer to the investigation came a year later, on September 29, 2011, stating that, "the government policy was determined to be that construction on private lands should be demolished, to be differentiated from construction on state-owned lands."  This answer, presented by the prosecution, which represented the government, created a fire storm.

Many ministers within the government felt that the prosecution had completely misrepresented the facts, taking a remark made behind closed doors out of context. Most ministers within the government did not feel that Ulpana Hill in Beit El was applicable to such a motion.

On April 27, 2012, the government informed the Supreme Court that, "The Prime Minister and the forum of ministers request to reconsider the ways to implement the policy upon which they decided, and as an extension of that, their precise position about which they notified the court on this appeal."

Later, on May 7, 2012, the Supreme Court published a response to the government's appeal, stating that there was no reason to reopen the case, declaring their decision as functus officio, the final decision had been made and would not be reopened.

Upon the ruling, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that 300 units would be added to the Beit-El "settlement." "This is not a simple or easy day," said Netanyahu. "Relocating the houses is certainly not an action that the government is eager to carry out, but the court made a decision and we respect the court system's decisions. At the same time, the community of Beit El will be widened. The 30 families from the Ulpana Neighborhood will remain in Beit El and they will be joined by 300 new families." This announcement was immediately received with condemnation by the US.

On June 6, 2012, the same day that Venus was transitioning the Sun; the US State Department issued a condemnation through Mark Toner, "We're very clear that continued Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank undermines peace efforts and contradicts Israeli commitments and obligations, including the 2003 road map."

I know that this post is a bit longer than usual, but I felt it necessary in order to convey the significance of this seemingly insignificant event, at least outside of the 33 families affected, that took place in Israel, with the eviction of these families between June 26 and June 29.

As I noted in the recent post, Twelve Days and the Expulsion, August 17, 2005, began the forced evictions of "settlements" in the Gaza Strip and West Bank as part of the Disengagement Plan, of which tomes could be written about. The beginning of the forced evictions was followed exactly 12-days later by Hurricane Katrina slamming into the Gulf Coast of the US.

In that post, I presented the following thought, "Could the LORD be giving a sign that just as in 2005, 12-days from the start of the forceful evictions of Israelis from their homes, we too could witness a heavy penalty brought against the United States of America for her hand of involvement in the present day evictions?"

So I now ask, is it any coincidence that the recent evictions in Israel, centered around land so intra-connected with YAHWAH's promises to Abraham and Jacob and as I have shown in this post, a promise that appears to be reiterated in the purchase of the land in 2000, be pointing to another significant judgment upon the nations influential in the evictions of the families living in their GOD promised homes?