Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba (קִרְיַת־אַרְבַּע "Town of the Four [Giants]", Standard Hebrew Qiryat Arbaʿ, Tiberian Hebrew Qiryaṯ-ʾarbaʿ; KJV Bible Kirjath-arba) is an Israeli settlement adjoining the city of Hebron.

Jewish settlers founded Kiryat Arba immediately to the east of the the city of Hebron. Building began on an abandoned military base in 1970, and residents moved in in 1971. The town is a self-sufficient community, with pre-nursery though post-secondary educational institutions, medical facilities, shopping centers, a bank and a post office. The population in 2005 was approximately 6,500, with an additional 2,700 settlers living in a number of smaller surrounding settlements.

Origin of Name

In the Book of Joshua (14:15) it says: "Now the name of Hebron previously was Kiryat Arba, he [Arba] was the great man among the giants [Anakim]..." [1]. According to the rabbinical commentator Rashi, Kiryat Arba ("Town of Arba") means either the town (kirya) of Arba himself, the giant who had three sons, or is referring to four giants: Arba and his three sons, Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmi who are described as being the sons of a "giant" in the Book of Numbers (13:22): "On the way through the Negev, they (Joshua and Caleb) came to Hebron where [they saw] Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmi, descendants of the Giant (ha-anak)..." [2] which is according to the Targum and Saadia Gaon, but some say that Anak ("Giant") is a proper name (Targum Jonathan and the Septuagint). [3], and that he, Anak, may have been the father of the three others mentioned in the Book of Numbers as living in Hebron which the Book of Joshua says was previously called Kiryat Arba.

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Pictures of the town