Kawkab al-Hawa
| Kawkab al-Hawa | |
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The northwestern tower of Belvoir Fortress, outside which the village Kawkab al-Hawa expanded.
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 Kawkab al-Hawa
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| Arabic | كوكب الهوا |
| Name meaning | "star of the wind" |
| Also spelled | Kaukab al Hawa |
| Subdistrict | Baysan |
| Coordinates | 32°35′43″N 35°31′12″E / 32.59528°N 35.52000°ECoordinates: 32°35′43″N 35°31′12″E / 32.59528°N 35.52000°E |
| Palestine grid | 199/222 |
| Population | 300 (1945) |
| Area | 9,949 dunams |
| Date of depopulation | 16 May 1948 |
| Cause(s) of depopulation | Military assault by Yishuv forces |
Kawkab al-Hawa (Arabic: كوكب الهوا), is a depopulated former Palestinian village located 11 km north of Baysan. It was built within the ruins of the Crusader fortress of Belvoir, from which it expanded. The Crusader names for the Frankish settlement at Kuwaykat were Beauvoir, Belvoir, Bellum videre, Coquet, Cuschet and Coket. During Operation Gideon in 1948, the village was occupied by the Golani Brigade and depopulated.
Yaqut al-Hamawi, writing in the 1220s, referred to the place as a castle near Tiberias. According to him, it fell in ruins after the reign of Saladin. The Ayyubid commander of Ajlun, Izz al-Din Usama, was given Kawkab al-Hawa as an iqta ("fief") by Saladin in the late 1180s and it remained in his hands until 1212, when it was seized by sultan al-Mu'azzam.
An inscription in the Ustinow collection, dated, tentatively, to the 13th century, Ayyubid period, was found incised on a basalt rock near the spring at Kawkab al-Hawa. The inscription state: "He ordered to make this blessed fountain the illustrious amir, Shuja ad-Din, may his glory be perpetuated."
Under the Ottoman Empire, in 1596, Kawkab al-Hawa was administrated by nahiya ("subdistrict") of Shafa under the liwa' ("district") of Lajjun, with a population of 50. It paid taxes on a number of crops, including wheat, beans and melons, as well as on vineyards.
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