Yad Binyamin is a communal settlement

Communal settlement (Israel)

A community settlement is a type of town in Israel. While in an ordinary town anyone may buy property, in a community settlement the town's residents, who are organized in a cooperative, can veto a sale of a house or a business to an undesirable buyer....

 in central Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. The seat

County seat

A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Nahal Sorek Regional Council

Nahal Sorek Regional Council

Nahal Sorek Regional Council is a regional council in the Center district of Israel. The seat of the council is Yad Binyamin. The council is named for the Sorek stream.-List of settlements:...

, it is located adjacent to the junction of three major highways: Highway 3

Highway 3 (Israel)

Highway 3 is a highway in Israel. It begins at Beit Horon junction with Highway 443 near Modi'in, it passes through Kiryat Malakhi, and it ends a junction with Highway 4 on the outskirts of Ashkelon.- Plan for the future :...

, Highway 6

Highway 6 (Israel)

Highway 6 , widely known as the Trans-Israel Highway or Cross-Israel Highway , is a major electronic toll highway in Israel. The highway was officially dedicated as the Yitzhak Rabin Highway , though this name is not commonly used. It started operating in the early 2000s and is being lengthened as...

 and Highway 7

Highway 7 (Israel)

Highway 7 is a new highway in the South District of Israel from Yesodot to Gedera. It connects the Trans-Israel Highway with the coastal region. It is planned to reach Ashdod and to terminate in a junction with Highway 4...

. In 2009 it had a population of 3,200.

History

Yad Binyamin was originally founded as a religious settlement and educational center in 1962 by Poalei Agudat Yisrael, in partnership with the municipality of Nahal Sorek. It was named after the former Minister of Postal Services

Communications Minister of Israel

The Communications Minister of Israel is the political head of the Israeli Ministry of Communications and a relatively minor position in the Israeli cabinet. The post was established in 1952, and until 1970 was known as the Minister of Postal Services...

, Binyamin Mintz

Binyamin Mintz

Binyamin Mintz was an Israeli politician who served briefly as Minister of Postal Services From July 1960 until his death.-Biography:Born in Łódź in the Russian Empire , Mintz studied in a hasidic Ger school and was a member of Young Agudat Israel...

 who had died the previous year. For many years, the community was a center of higher Jewish learning, based around the yeshiva

Yeshiva

Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

.

Following the disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan

Israel's unilateral disengagement plan , also known as the "Disengagement plan", "Gaza expulsion plan", and "Hitnatkut", was a proposal by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, adopted by the government on June 6, 2004 and enacted in August 2005, to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from...

, around 200 families from Gush Katif

Gush Katif

Gush Katif was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip. Gush Katif was specifically mentioned by Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli prime minister who fell victim to an assassin in 1995, as essential to Israel's security border. In August 2005, the Israeli army moved the 8,600...

 moved into temporary pre-fabricated housing in Yad Binyamin. Some of them, the families of the Ganei Tal

Ganei Tal

Ganei Tal was an Israeli settlement in the south of the Gaza Strip. Located in the Gush Katif settlement bloc, it was established as a moshav in 1979 with a primarily agricultural purpose; exporting geraniums and tomatoes to Europe. It had a population of some 75 families, or 500 people.Lined...

 community, are slated to move en masse to Hafetz Haim

Hafetz Haim

Hafetz Haim is a religious kibbutz in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Nahal Sorek Regional Council. In 2006, it had a population of 450....

. A further 100 families will move to Netzer Hazani

Netzer Hazani

Netzer Hazani was an Israeli settlement located in the northeast corner of the Gush Katif and evacuated in Israel's disengagement of 2005...

, adjacent to Yesodot

Yesodot

Yesodot is a religious moshav shitufi in central Israel. Located in the Shephelah, it falls under the jurisdiction of Nahal Sorek Regional Council. In 2006, it had a population of 434....

, while others have already started to build permanent homes in Yad Binyamin. A further 100 families will move to Netzer Hazani

Netzer Hazani

Netzer Hazani was an Israeli settlement located in the northeast corner of the Gush Katif and evacuated in Israel's disengagement of 2005...

Transport

Yad Binyamin is located 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from the Re'em Junction on Highway 3

Highway 3 (Israel)

Highway 3 is a highway in Israel. It begins at Beit Horon junction with Highway 443 near Modi'in, it passes through Kiryat Malakhi, and it ends a junction with Highway 4 on the outskirts of Ashkelon.- Plan for the future :...

 and one kilometer from the intersection of Highway 6

Highway 6 (Israel)

Highway 6 , widely known as the Trans-Israel Highway or Cross-Israel Highway , is a major electronic toll highway in Israel. The highway was officially dedicated as the Yitzhak Rabin Highway , though this name is not commonly used. It started operating in the early 2000s and is being lengthened as...

 and Highway 7

Highway 7 (Israel)

Highway 7 is a new highway in the South District of Israel from Yesodot to Gedera. It connects the Trans-Israel Highway with the coastal region. It is planned to reach Ashdod and to terminate in a junction with Highway 4...

. Israel Railways

Israel Railways

Israel Railways is the principal passenger railway operating company in Israel, and is responsible for all inter-city and suburban rail way passenger and freight traffic in the country. All its lines are standard gauge. The network is centered in Israel's densely populated coastal plain, from...

 plans to upgrade the tracks of nearby Tel Aviv–Beersheba line

Railway to Beersheba

The Railway to Beersheba is the common name for the railroad which currently stretches from central Israel to the Zin Factories in southern Israel, with spurs to the Be'er Sheva Center Railway Station, Ramat Hovav and the Arad phosphate mines and factories in Tzefa...

 and build a station at Kfar Menahem

Kfar Menahem

Kfar Menahem is a kibbutz in Israel located about 7 km east of Kiryat Malakhi in south-central Israel. It falls under the jurisdiction of Yoav Regional Council....

 to serve the area which is scheduled to be completed in 2011. A number of Egged bus routes provide transport links to Jerusalem, Ashkelon

Ashkelon

Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

and other cities.