Since 1996, Kobar has been governed by a village council which is currently administrated by 11 members appointed by the Palestinian National Authority. There are two further employees working in the council; the village council owns a permanent headquarters and is included within a Joint Services Council for neighboring localities.
According to the Kobar Village Council, the name "Kobar" means "the place where the gypsum was" on account of it once containing abundant gypsum deposits.[4]
Kobar was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, and in the census of 1596, the village was located in the Nahiya of Quds of the Liwa of Quds. The population was 31 households, all Muslim. They paid a fixed tax-rate of 33,3% on wheat, barley, vineyards, fruit trees, occasional revenues, goats and/or beehives; a total of 4,000 akçe.[6] Potsherds from the early Ottoman period has also been found here.[5]
In 1838, it was noted as Kubar, a Muslim village in the Bani Zeid district, north of Jerusalem.[7]
In 1863 the French explorer Victor Guérin visited the village. He noted it had 600 inhabitants, and a mosque dedicated to a Sheikh Ahmed.[8] An Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed Kobar with a population of 220, in 48 houses, though the population count included men, only.[9][10]
In 1882, the PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Kobar as a "small village on a hill-top, with rock-cut tombs, and a tank, surrounded by olives."[11]
In 1896 the population of Kubar was estimated to be about 444 persons.[12]
In 1922, Tawfiq Canaan documented local traditions linking two springs to spirits. 'En el-Qubbeh was believed to be the dwelling place of es-sitt Zenab, who reportedly inflicted consequences on any unclean woman approaching the spring, resulting in permanent loss of menstruation or the death of one of her children. Another spring, 'en esh-Sharqiyeh, was said to be home to es-sitt Fattumeh, who was observed engaging in prayer at the site.[16]
In the 1945 statistics the population was 610, all Muslims,[17] while the total land area was 9,678 dunams, according to an official land and population survey.[18] Of this, 3,512 were allocated for plantations and irrigable land, 1,434 for cereals,[19] while 33 dunams were classified as built-up areas.[20]
In 2008, the preacher at the local mosque in Kobar, Majed Barghouti, 44, died while in detention. His relatives alleged that he had been tortured.[23][24]
^Canaan, Tawfiq (1922). "II: Haunted Springs and Water Demons in Palestine". Studies in Palestinian Customs and Folklore. Jerusalem: The Palestine Oriental Society. p. 20.
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 26
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 65
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 112
^Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 162
