Moshav A’minadav

A’minadav is an agricultural colony established in central occupied Palestine, southwest of Jerusalem near Yad Kennedy. It was built in 1950 on the destroyed and depopulated lands of the Palestinian village of al-Wallajeh, forcibly seized during the 1948 Nakba. The first settlers were Zionist immigrants of Yemeni origin, followed between 1952 and 1953 by additional groups from North Africa and some native-born Israeli settlers.

The colony is surrounded by the A’minadav Forest, which extends over 7 km² (700 hectares). The forest is a combination of natural woodlands and trees planted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) along the Sorek–Salmon basin. It contains numerous historic and natural features, including springs, ancient agricultural terraces, orchards, wine presses, and chalk quarries—all part of the centuries-old Palestinian landscape before colonization.

Within the A’minadav Forest lies the Lord Sacks Forest, planted with 25,000 trees by the JNF in the United Kingdom. It was dedicated to Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, the former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. As of 2022, the settlement had a population of approximately 1,119 settlers.