Editing Modi'in Illit (section)

==History==
A place named Kiryat Sefer (also called Dvir) is mentioned several times in the [[Book of Joshua]] and in the [[Book of Judges]]. However, this place is situated south of [[Hebron]], and the Israeli Governmental names committee rejected calling the town Kiryat Sefer as was proposed initially, electing the name Modi'in Illit.

According to [[Applied Research Institute–Jerusalem|ARIJ]] the settlement was built on the land confiscated from several [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] villages:

*1,818 [[dunam]]s from [[Deir Qaddis]],<ref name=ARIJ17>[http://vprofile.arij.org/ramallah/pdfs/vprofile/Deir_Qaddis_vp_en.pdf Deir Qaddis Village Profile], ARIJ, p. 17</ref>
*891 dunams from [[Bil'in]],<ref>[http://vprofile.arij.org/ramallah/pdfs/vprofile/Bi'lin.pdf Bil’in Village Profile], ARIJ, p. 17</ref>
*833 dunams from [[Kharbatha Bani Harith]],<ref>[http://vprofile.arij.org/ramallah/pdfs/factsheet/Kharbatha_Bani_Harith_vp_en.pdf Kharbatha Bani Harith Village (Fact Sheet)], ARIJ</ref><ref>[http://vprofile.arij.org/ramallah/pdfs/vprofile/Kharbatha_Bani_Harith_vp_en.pdf Kharbatha Bani Harith Village Profile], ARIJ, p. 4</ref>
*384 dunams from [[Ni'lin]].<ref name=ARIJ16>[http://vprofile.arij.org/ramallah/pdfs/factsheet/Ni'lin_vp_en.pdf Ni’lin Town (Fact Sheet)], ARIJ, pp. 16–17</ref>

The barrier surrounding the city divides the nearby village of [[Bil'in]] from most of its olive groves and other agricultural land and is the subject of the documentary ''[[5 Broken Cameras]]''. The homes in Kiryat Sefer were completed in 1994, and the local council of Modi'in Illit was given city status on March 7, 2008.{{citation needed|date=August 2013}} In keeping with its name, which means "Book Town," most of Kiryat Sefer's streets are named after a landmark ''[[Sefer (Hebrew)|sefer]]'' (book) written by ''[[Gadol|Gedolei Yisrael]]''. These include: ''[[Yisrael Meir Kagan|Chofetz Chaim]]'', ''[[Yechezkel Landau|Noda BiYehuda]]'', ''[[Meir Simcha of Dvinsk|Meshech Chochma]]'', ''[[Avrohom Bornsztain|Avnei Nezer]]'', and ''[[Chaim Hezekiah Medini|Sdei Chemed]]''.