Kokhav Ya'akov ( he, כּוֹכַב יַעֲקֹב, lit. ''Star of Jacob'') is a religious

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. Located between

Ramah in Benjamin Ramah (from Hebrew: "height") was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a city in ancient Israel in the land allocated to the tribe of Benjamin. It was located near Gibeon and Mizpah to the West, Gibeah to the South, and Geba to the East. It has bee ...

and

Beit El Beit El or Beth El ( he, בֵּית אֵל) is an Israeli settlement and local council located in the Binyamin Region of the West Bank. The Orthodox Jewish town was settled in 1977-78 by the ultranationalist group Gush Emunim. It is located in ...

near al-Bireh about 10 minutes away by car from the Jerusalem neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze'ev and Neve Yaakov, it is organised as a

community settlement A community settlement ( he, יישוב קהילתי, ''Yishuv Kehilati'') is a type of village in Israel and the West Bank. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the village's residents are organized in ...

and falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. In it had a population of . The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this.

History

According to ARIJ Israel confiscated land from two Palestinian villages in order to construct Kokhav Ya'akov: * 2,037

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s from Kafr 'AqabKafr 'Aqab village profile
ARIJ, p. 15 * 284 dunams from Burqa The settlement was established in 1985 by the Amana settlement movement, and was initially named Abir Ya'akov after rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira. In 1988, its name was changed to Kokhav Ya'akov. The Haredi neighborhood of Tel Zion, established in 1990, is part of the village. Its community boasts of over 800 families, including a large growing Litvish segment. The Yishuv is headed by the warm Rabbi Avraham Goldberg. A recent housing project was launched to attract new members, and over 100 apartments have been occupied. Two new Kollelim have been established under the directive of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. Rabbi Noe is the leader of the younger members, together with full support of Rabbi Goldberg.

Yemen Gallery

In March 2013 a heritage and tourism site promoting the legacy of Yemenite Jewry opened in Kokhav Ya'akov. Founded by Shoham Simchi, the Yemen Gallery () houses an art gallery and a workshop that recreates the life of Yemen's Jews. The building itself is designed in the spirit of traditional Yemenite architecture.

Notable residents

* Bat-El Gatterer (born 1988), Israeli taekwondo Olympian and European champion

References

External links

Official website
{{Mateh Binyamin Regional Council Religious Israeli settlements Populated places established in 1985 Mateh Binyamin Regional Council 1985 establishments in the Israeli Civil Administration area