Neve Yamin

Neve Yamin lies east of Kfar Saba and south of Highway 55.[2] It is also described as being on the road to Kochav Yair.[3] The community’s memorial stands beside entrance road 5443.[2] These locations place the moshav within the rural setting of South Sharon.

The National Library of Israel catalogs archival material under the title Yishuv HaSfer, Neve Yamin—“Border Settlement, Neve Yamin”—by Benno Rothenberg.[4] The title preserves an archival characterization of the locality as a border settlement.

The moshav was established in 1950 by immigrants from Greece, Iraq, Persia, and North Africa.[2] Its founding population therefore brought together communities from the Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa.

The village’s name derives from Benjamin, son of Jacob, whose tomb is located near the moshav.[2] The site is known as Nabi Yamin. The name connects the modern community to a nearby place associated with the biblical account of Jacob’s family.

In March 2001, a suicide terrorist attack in Neve Yamin killed two youths and injured 83 people.[5] Raed Houtri was described as having recruited terrorists who carried out the attack.[5]

Military sources cited in a Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs document attributed responsibility for sending suicide bombers—including one involved in the Neve Yamin attack—to 'Abd a-Rahman Sa'id Hamed.[6] The document’s table dates the targeted incident involving Hamed to October 14, 2001, while not independently specifying the date of the Neve Yamin bombing.[6]

Neve Yamin has approximately 1,100 residents.[2] In a study of South Sharon, it was one of five sampled moshavim, alongside Givat Chen, Sdeh-Varburg, Sdei-Chemed, and Hagor.[1] The study treated these communities as part of central Israel’s countryside rather than providing a separate demographic profile for Neve Yamin.

The South Sharon study describes the council area as a prominent example of transformation in central Israel’s agricultural sector, including declining reliance on agriculture as a primary income source, changing land use, and stronger ties to nearby urban markets.[1] A majority of surveyed residents across the region’s moshavim, kibbutzim, and community settlements supported developing non-agricultural businesses as a supplement to or substitute for agricultural activity.[1]

The same research found that moshav residents were more doubtful than kibbutz residents about the prospects of agricultural tourism.[1] It also recorded broad interest in preserving the countryside’s rural character and regulating non-agricultural activity. These findings describe the surveyed settlement types collectively and should not be read as Neve Yamin-specific economic statistics.[1]

Neve Yamin maintains a memorial complex honoring residents who fell in Israel’s military campaigns.[2] A long stone path flanked by shrubs leads toward the memorial, with a row of cypress trees behind it. Flags and a memorial-torch stand border the memorial area.[2]

At the center is a raised circular platform bounded at the rear by a curved stone wall. A high stone pillar bearing the IDF emblem rises above the wall, while two memorial torches stand on a lower stone structure extending toward the platform’s center.[2] The names of the fallen and the circumstances of their deaths are inscribed on the wall.[2]