Editing Kawkaba (section)

==History==
The site was known during the [[Crusades]] as Coquebel. Kawkaba contained an archaeological site with a pool, cisterns, the foundations of buildings, [[column]]s, severed [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]]. North of it was Khirbat Kamas, which was identified as the Crusader Camsa and which yielded some archaeological artifacts.<ref name=Khalidi122/>

===Ottoman era===
Kawkaba was incorporated into the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1517 with the rest of [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], and by 1596 [[Defter|tax record]] it was known as ''Kawkab'', with a population of 16 [[Muslim]] households; an estimated 88 persons. The villagers paid a fixed tax rate of 33.3% on a number of crops, including wheat, barley, sesame, fruit trees and vineyards; a total of 2,640 [[akçe]]. 6/24 of the revenue went to a [[waqf]].<ref>Hütteroth and  Abdulfattah, 1977,  p. 145. Quoted in Khalidi, 1992, p. 122</ref>

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the area of Kawkaba experienced a significant process of settlement decline due to [[nomad]]ic pressures on local communities. The residents of abandoned villages moved to surviving settlements, but the land continued to be cultivated by neighboring villages.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Marom |first1=Roy |last2=Taxel |first2=Itamar |date=2023-01-01 |title=Ḥamāma: The historical geography of settlement continuity and change in Majdal 'Asqalān's hinterland, 1270 – 1750 CE |url=https://www.academia.edu/106637796 |journal=Journal of Historical Geography |volume=82 |pages=49–65 |doi=10.1016/j.jhg.2023.08.003|doi-access=free }}</ref>

In 1838, [[Edward Robinson (scholar)|Edward Robinson]] noted ''Kaukaba'' as a Muslim village, located in the Gaza district.<ref name="Robinsonp119">Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, Appendix 2, p.  [https://archive.org/stream/biblicalresearch03robiuoft#page/119/mode/1up 119]</ref>

In 1863 [[Victor Guérin]] found that the village has a population of five hundred inhabitants. In the interior of a [[Maqam (shrine)|oualy]] dedicated to ''Sheikh Mohammed'' he observed  mutilated fluted white marble column,  next to a [[Corinthian order|Corinthian]] [[Capital (architecture)|capital]]. At the [[water well|well]], he noted two barrels, also ancient columns, one with white marble, the second gray granite, which were, he thought, exhumed in that area and did not come from elsewhere.<ref>Guérin, 1869, p. [https://archive.org/stream/descriptiongog02gu#page/127/mode/1up 127]</ref>

An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed ''Kokabe'' with a population of 72, in 20 houses,  though the population count included men, only.<ref>Socin, 1879, p. [https://archive.org/stream/zeitschriftdesde01deut#page/156/mode/1up 156]</ref><ref>Hartmann, 1883, p. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_BZobAQAAIAAJ#page/n941/mode/1up  133],  also noted 20 houses</ref> 

In 1882, the [[Palestine Exploration Fund|PEF]]'s ''[[PEF Survey of Palestine|Survey of Western Palestine]]'' described it as a small [[adobe]] village, with a well to the west and a pool to the north.<ref>Conder and Kitchener, 1883,  SWP III, p. [https://archive.org/stream/surveyofwesternp03conduoft#page/260/mode/1up 260]</ref> The village had a rectangular layout along the above-mentioned road, and expanded north–south alongside it.<ref name=Khalidi122/>

===British Mandate era===
In the [[1922 census of Palestine]], conducted by the  [[Mandate for Palestine|British Mandate]] authorities,  ''Kukaba'' had a population of 439, all [[Muslim]]s,<ref>Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n10/mode/1up   8]</ref> increasing in the [[1931 census of Palestine|1931 census]]  to 522, still all Muslims, in  121 houses.<ref name="Census1931">Mills, 1932, p. [https://archive.org/details/CensusOfPalestine1931.PopulationOfVillagesTownsAndAdministrativeAreas 4].</ref>

[[File:Beit Tima 1931.jpg|thumb|Kawkaba 1931 1:20,000]]
[[File:Ashkelon 1945.jpg|thumb|Kawkaba 1945 1:20,000]]

Kawkaba shared an elementary school with the villages of [[Bayt Tima]] and [[Hulayqat]]. Its houses were made of [[adobe]] and cement, and its shops were located at the village center, on the western side of the road. On its eastern site were two water sources: a spring and a 70-meter deep well. The villagers  engaged in [[rainfed agriculture]], cultivating grain and winter and summer vegetables. Towards the end of the British Mandate period they also cultivated fruits, such as figs and grapes, on all their land expect to the west.<ref name=Khalidi122/>

In  the [[Village Statistics, 1945|1945 statistics]] the population of  ''Kaukaba''  was 680 Muslims,<ref name=DoS1945p31/> while  the total land area was 8,542 [[dunam]]s, according to an official land and population survey.<ref name=Hadawi46/> Of this, a total of  166 dunams  were used  for plantations and irrigable land,  8,166  for cereals,<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20II/Gaza/Page-087.jpg 87]</ref> while 40 dunams were built-up areas.<ref>Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. ''Village Statistics, April, 1945.'' Quoted in  Hadawi,  1970, p. [http://www.palestineremembered.com/download/VillageStatistics/Table%20III/Gaza/Page-137.jpg 137]</ref>

===1948 and after===
The village that was captured by Israel during [[Operation Yoav]] during the [[1948 Arab-Israeli War]]. The fall of the village was preceded by the events at nearby [[Burayr]]; where the [[Haganah]] [[Oded Brigade]] apparently executed a large number of military age Palestinians. The Kawkaba villages had offered to surrender to the Yishuv's forces but the [[Haganah]] drove out the last of the inhabitants on the 27/28 May 1948.<ref> Morris, 2004, p.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA258 258]</ref> The village was on the front line between the Israeli and Egyptian armies through the summer of 1948 and appears to have changed hands several times.<ref>For example see [[Operation An-Far]], Khalidi, 1992, page 122.</ref>

Following the war the area was incorporated into the [[State of Israel]] and in 1950 the [[moshav]] of [[Kokhav Michael]] was founded on village land, southeast of the village site.<ref name=Khalidi122/>

According  to Khalidi, by 1992 the remaining structures on the village land were: 
<blockquote>"The site is overgrown with sycamore and Christ's -thorn trees. The old road, as well as crumbled walls and debris in a wooded part of the site are clearly visible. The land in the vicinity is cultivated by Israeli farmers."<ref name=Khalidi122/></blockquote>