Yoshah Colony

Yoshah Colony is a socialist agricultural settlement (kibbutz) located in the Western Galilee region of occupied Palestine. It lies near Kiryat Ata and was established on November 9, 1937, on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village of Husha. The founding of the kibbutz began in 1930 with the construction of a tower and stockade by a Polish Zionist group, under the procedures permitted by the British Mandate authorities.

Prior to building the settlement, the group had organized themselves within several other colonies in the coastal plain stretching 71 kilometers south of Mount Carmel towards Jaffa, in an area the Zionists referred to as “The Sharon”, which also includes Kfar Saba, Magdiel, and Petah Tikva. The founders were members of the youth group HaNoar HaTzioni, and Yoshah was the first kibbutz established by this organization.

The colony was built 2 kilometers west of the site of the Palestinian village of Husha, whose population in 1945 was estimated at approximately 400 people. The remaining lands of the village were annexed to the nearby town of Shefa-‘Amr.

During the 1948 Nakba War, the kibbutzim of Yoshah and Ramat Yohanan were attacked by the Druze Battalion of the Arab Liberation Army, but the residents of the two colonies reportedly repelled the assault.

As of 2022, the settlement had a population of 628 settlers.