The Negev (Hebrew: נֶגֶב, Tiberian vocalization: Néḡeḇ; Arabic: النقب, an-Naqab) is the desert region of southern Israel which makes up the majority of Israel's official Southern District. The origin of the word Negev is from the Hebrew root denoting 'dry'. In the Bible the word Negev is also used for the direction 'south'.
Contents [hide]
1 Geography
2 History
2.1 Today
3 Bedouins
4 Geology
5 Climate
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit] Geography
The Negev covers over some 13,000 km² (4,700 sq mi) or 55% of Israel. It forms an inverted triangle shape whose western side is contiguous with the desert of the Sinai Peninsula, and whose eastern border is the Wadi Arabah. The Negev has a number of interesting cultural and geological features. Among the latter are three enormous, craterlike erosion cirques or makhteshim, which are unique to the region: the Ramon Crater, haMakhtesh haGadol ("The Large Makhtesh"), and haMakhtesh haKatan ("The Small Makhtesh").
The Negev can be split into five different ecological regions: Northern, Western and Central Negev, the High Plateau and the Arava Valley. The Northern Negev, or Mediterranean Zone receives 300 mm of rain annually and has fairly fertile soils. The Western Negev receives 250 mm of rain per year, with light and partially sandy soils. Sand dunes can reach heights of up to 30 metres here. Home to the city of Beersheba, the Central Negev has an annual precipitation of 200 mm and is characterized by impervious soil, allowing minimum penetration of water with greater soil erosion and water runoff. The high plateau area of Ramat HaNegev (Hebrew: רמת הנגב, The Negev Heights) stands between 370 metre and 520 metre above sea level with extreme temperatures in summer and winter. The area gets 100 mm of rain per year, with inferior and partially salty soils. The Arava Valley along the Jordanian border stretches 180 km from Eilat in the south to the tip of the Dead Sea in the north. The Arava Valley is very arid with barely 50 mm of rain annually, the Arava has inferior soils in which little can grow without irrigation and special soil additives.
[edit] History
Nomadic life in the Negev dates back 4000 years and the first urbanized settlements were established by a combination of Canaanite, Amalekite, and Edomite groups circa 2000 BC.[1] Pharaonic Egypt is credited with introducing copper mining and smelting in both the Negev and the Sinai between 1400 and 1300 BC.[1] [2]
In the 9th century BC, development and expansion of mining in both the Negev and Edom (modern Jordan) coincided with the rise of the Assyrian Empire.[3]Bir es-Saba was the region's capital and a center for trade in the 8th century BC.[3] Small settlements of Jews in the areas around the capital and later further afield were existent between 1020 and 928 BC.[3]
The 4th century BC arrival of the Nabateans resulted in the development of irrigation systems that supported at least five new urban centers: Oboda, Mamphis, Sobata, Elusa, and Nessana.[3] The Nabateans controlled the trade and spice route between their capital Petra and the Gazan seaports. Nabatean currency, as well as the remains of red and orange potsherds identified as a trademark of their civilization have been found along the route, remnants of which are also still visible.[3]
Nabatean control of southern Palestine ended when the Roman empire annexed their lands in 106 AD.[3] The population, largely made up of Arabian nomads and Nabateans, remained largely tribal and independent of Roman rule, with an animist belief system.[3]
Byzantine rule in the 4th century AD introduced Christianity to the population.[3] Agricultural-based cities were established and the population grew exponentially.[3]
The arrival of Muslim forces in the 7th century AD was accepted with relative ease by the population, due to their shared Arab background, and Islam was easily adopted by most as well.[3] Upon Islamic conquest, permanent agricultural sites were established and the Ummayads built hundred of farms and systematic terracing of wadis. The efforts, in part were made to settle the semi-nomadic Arab tribes of the area.[4]
Nomadic tribes ruled the Negev largely independently and without interference for the next thousand years.[3] What is known of this time is largely derived from oral histories and folk tales of tribes from the Wadi Musa and Petra areas in present-day Jordan[5] Late in the rule of the Ottoman empire, an administrative center for southern Palestine was established in Bir es-Saba and schools and a railway station were built.[5] The authority of the tribal chiefs over the region was recognized by the Ottomans.[5]
[edit] Today
Today, the Negev is home to some 379,000 Jews and some 175,000 Bedouins. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. around 200,000), in the north. At its southern end is the Gulf of Eilat and the resort city of Eilat. Other towns include Dimona, Arad, Mitzpe Ramon as well as a number of small Bedouin towns, including Rahat and Tel Sheva. There are also several kibbutz settlements, including Revivim and Sde Boker; the latter became the home of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, after his retirement from politics.
The desert is home to the Ben-Gurion University, whose faculties include the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research and the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies, both located on the Midreshet Ben-Gurion campus next to Sde Boker.
[edit] Bedouins
Main article: Negev bedouins
The Negev bedouins are nomadic tribes who have discontinuously inhabited the desert for more than 7,000 years. Although unaffected by external influences throughout history, the tribal culture and way of life has changed dramatically recently.[6]
The bedouins of the Negev survive on sheep and goat husbandry. Scarcity of water and of permanent pastoral land requires them to move constantly. The bedouins have established very few permanent settlements.[7]
[edit] Geology
The Negev is a rocky desert. It is a melange of brown, rocky, dusty mountains interrupted by wadis (dry riverbeds that bloom briefly after rain) and deep craters. The area actually was once the floor of a primordial sea, and a sprinkling of marine snail shells still covers the earth.
[edit] Climate
The whole Negev region is incredibly arid, receiving very little rain due to its location to the East of the Sahara (as opposed to the Mediterranean which lies to the West of most of Israel), and extreme temperatures due to its location 31 degrees north.
The average rainfall totals for the May to October period are 0.[1]
Beer Sheva Average Conditions [2]Temperatures are in degrees Celsius.
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
17 17 20 26 29 31 33 33 31 28 24 18
7 7 9 13 16 18 21 21 19 17 12 8
[edit] See also
South District (Israel)
Monday, November 5, 2007
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew: תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ[2]; usually referred to as Tel Aviv, is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 384,600. Tel Aviv is located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline over an area covering 51.8 km². It is the main city of the largest and most populous metropolitan area in Israel, Gush Dan (Dan Bloc), whose population numbers 3.15 million as of 2007.[3] Tel Aviv is recognized as a strong candidate global city, and has been named the most expensive Middle Eastern city to live in.[4]
The City of Tel Aviv was originally founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants as an alternative to expensive housing in the neighbouring historic port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יפו, Yafo; Arabic: يافا, Yafa). Tel Aviv's extensive growth eventually overtook its Arab-majority neighbour, and the two towns were united into the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv is today considered the center of Israel's globally oriented economy, and is the anchor of the area popularly known as "Silicon Wadi". It is also considered Israel's cultural capital due to its vibrant, modern, cosmopolitan character.[5] The city's Bauhaus architectured White City was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.[6]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Mandatory period
2.3 Modern times
2.4 Terrorism
3 Geography
3.1 Topography and climate
3.2 Districts
3.3 Architecture
4 Demographics
4.1 Religion
5 Culture
5.1 Arts and theatre
5.2 Museums
5.3 Tourism and recreation
5.4 Education
5.5 Sports
6 Economy
7 Transportation
7.1 Road
7.2 Rail
7.3 Bus
7.4 Air
8 Mayors of Tel Aviv
9 Sister cities
10 Footnotes
11 See also
12 External links
[edit] Etymology
In Hebrew, the name Tel Aviv translates as "Hill (tel) of Spring (aviv)". This is the title given by Nahum Sokolow to his Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's book Altneuland (German: "The Old New Land"). There is an account that Sokolow came up with the Hebrew title "Tel Aviv" to allude to the destruction of the ancient Jewish state and its hoped-for restoration: aviv = "spring" to symbolize renewal, and tel to symbolize the destruction of the ancient state, following not the usual Hebrew meaning of the word "tel" but its use in archaeology, meaning "mound of accumulated ruins".[7] Sokolow took the name from the Book of Ezekiel 3:15 : "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days." (The spelling in the King James Version of the Bible is Telabib.[8])
Jaffa in Hebrew is Yafo, which may be derived from yafah/yofi, meaning "beautiful". Tradition holds that Jaffa was founded by and named after Japheth, son of Noah. The city is also mentioned in the book of Jonah, and, by the name of "Japo", on an ancient Egyptian tax register clay tablet found at Tel el-Amarna.[9][10]
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
Tel Aviv was founded on land purchased from Bedouins, north of the existing city of Jaffa. This photograph is of 1909 auction of the first lots.
Early Tel AvivFurther information: Jaffa's history
The gulf of Jaffa has been the site of a fortified port town for at least 4000 years, and as such is the oldest port in the world. During the 19th century, the town’s population grew from about 2,500 in 1806 to 17,000 in 1886. The old city walls could no longer contain the population, and they were destroyed in the 1870s, allowing for newer, more spacious neighborhoods to be constructed.[11]
Settlement in the area of modern southern Tel Aviv (the neighbourhoods of Neve Tzedek and Neve Shalom) began in the 1880s as a substitute for the relatively expensive Arab neighbourhoods of Jaffa by some of the town's distinguished Jewish residents.[11]
In 1908 the Ahuzat Bayit (אחוזת בית) homebuilders' association bought land north of Jaffa. Building commenced in 1909, and the association admitted members of two suburbs established nearby.[12] In 1910, the common name of Tel Aviv was adopted.[13] At its founding, Tel Aviv was intended only to be a bedroom community of Jaffa. The founders envisaged a European-style garden suburb with wide streets and boulevards.[14]
[edit] Mandatory period
Tel Aviv's growth was halted in 1914 when the Ottoman authorities expelled its inhabitants. However, its residents returned and resumed development following the British conquest. The period of British administration saw increasing political friction between Jews and Arabs throughout Palestine, and in May 1921, dozens of Jews were killed by an Arab mob in the Jaffa riots. Soon after, thousands of the 16,000 Jews of Jaffa moved north to Tel Aviv. Following the violence, the inhabitants of Tel Aviv created a new central business district. The master plan for development of the city, based on a framework of central routes and boulevards, was designed in 1925 by Patrick Geddes and adopted by the city council under Meir Dizengoff. Owing to its proximity to the port of Jaffa, and its status as the first Jewish community that immigrants saw when coming into the country, Tel Aviv quickly grew to become the centre of Israeli urban life, which it remains to this day. Due to the 1936-1939 Arab rioting, a local port was opened in 1938, which was an important milestone marking its independence from Jaffa.
According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Palestine was to be partitioned into Jewish and Arab states. Tel Aviv was to be part of the Jewish state, while Jaffa was to become an enclave belonging to the Arab state. The plan was rejected by the Arabs, and violence erupted immediately. During an offensive on Jaffa that started in April 1948, many of its Arab residents fled through the harbor. When Jaffa was taken on May 14, only about 4,100 out of its 70,000 Arab residents remained.[14]
[edit] Modern times
Israel's Declaration of Independence took place in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, and the town served as Israel's provisional capital throughout the 1948 Arab-Israeli War due to the Arab blockade of Jerusalem, which was proclaimed capital in December 1949. Due to the international dispute over the status of Jerusalem, most embassies stayed in the Tel Aviv area. Thirteen more returned there in the early eighties as part of the UN's punitive measures responding to Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law.[15] [16] Today all but two of the international embassies to Israel are in Tel Aviv or the surrounding district.[17] In April, 1949, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united in the single municipality Tel Aviv-Yafo, and the lands of neighboring villages such as al-Shaykh Muwannis, Jammasin and Sumail, which were depopulated during the war, were incorporated into the united municipality.[18] Tel Aviv thus grew to 42 square kilometres (16.2 sq mi).
[edit] Terrorism
Tel Aviv has suffered violence and terrorism at the hands of Palestinian militant groups over the course of several decades. The first suicide attack in Tel Aviv occurred on October 19, 1994, when a suicide bomber exploded on the Line 5 bus killing himself and 21 civilians, as part of a Hamas suicide campaign. This was followed, on March 4, 1996, when another suicide bomber exploded nearby at an ATM during Purim holiday festivities and killed 18 civilians. Оn June 1, 2001, during the Second Intifada, a suicide bomber exploded inside a nightclub called the dolphi disco, and 21 were killed and more than 100 were injured. On January 25, 2002, 20 were killed in a suicide attack near the old Central Bus Station, and on January 5, 2003, in two nearly simultaneous attacks, 23 were killed. On 17 April 2006, 10 people were killed and dozens wounded in another suicide attack in the same location, with many of the victims in these attacks being foreign labourers.[19]
[edit] Geography
[edit] Topography and climate
Tel Aviv is located around 32°5′N, 34°48′E on the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain, the historic land bridge between Europe, Africa, and Asia. Immediately north of Jaffa, Tel Aviv is situated on land which used to be sand dunes, and as such has relatively poor soil fertility. It is now on flat land with no notable gradients. As such, its most notable geographical feature are the bluffs above the Mediterranean coastline and the Yarkon River's mouth. In modern times, due to the expansion of Tel Aviv and the Gush Dan region in general, absolute borders between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and between the city's neighbourhoods do not exist. The city is located some 60 kilometers (37 mi) northwest of Jerusalem, Israel's capital city, and some 90 kilometres (55.9 mi) south of the northern port city of Haifa.
Tel Aviv has a mediterranean climate with hot summers, pleasant springs and autumns, and cool, rainy winters. Humidity tends to be high all year round, and rain usually occurs between October to May. In winter, temperatures seldom drop below 5 °C and are more likely to be in the region of 10° to 15 °C, while in summer the average is 26 °C. The average annual rainfall is 530 millimetres (20.9 in).[20] Tel Aviv boasts on average over 300 sunny days a year. The autumn and spring periods are short, and with climate change appear to be shrinking. Many see the best time of year in Tel Aviv as April when the sun is bright, temperatures are moderate, humidity is down, and the flowers are in bloom.[21]
[hide]Weather averages for Tel Aviv
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 17.5 (63.5) 17.7 (63.7) 19.2 (66.6) 22.8 (73.0) 24.9 (76.8) 27.5 (81.5) 29.4 (84.9) 30.2 (86.4) 29.4 (84.9) 27.3 (81.1) 23.4 (74.1) 19.2 (66.6) 24.0 (75.2)
Average low °C (°F) 9.6 (49.3) 9.8 (49.6) 11.5 (52.7) 14.4 (57.9) 17.3 (63.1) 20.6 (69.1) 23.0 (73.4) 23.7 (74.7) 22.5 (72.5) 19.1 (66.4) 14.6 (58.3) 11.2 (52.2) 16.4 (61.5)
Precipitation mm (inch) 222.3 (8.8) 128.2 (5.0) 22.0 (0.9) 1.5 (0.1) 7.5 (0.3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 2.4 (0.1) 64.1 (2.5) 98.3 (3.9) 546.3 (21.5)
Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics [22][23]
[edit] Districts
Further information: Neighborhoods of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv is made up of a large number of districts which have formed naturally over the city's short history. The most notable of these is Jaffa, the ancient port city which Tel Aviv grew out of. This area is traditionally made up demographically of a greater percentage of Arabs, but recent gentrification is finding them replaced by a yuppie population. Similar processes are occurring in nearby Neve Tzedek, the original Jewish neighborhood outside of Jaffa. Ramat Aviv, a neighborhood in the northern part of the city largely made up of luxury apartments, is currently undergoing extensive expansion and is set to absorb the beachfront property of Sde Dov Airport after its decommissioning.[24]
[edit] Architecture
Old Tel Aviv municipality and Nahum Gutman fountainModern Tel Aviv is notable for two of its architectural styles. Of greatest international notability is the White City which was designated by UNESCO in July 2003 as a World Heritage Site due to its 2500 structures constructed in the Bauhaus, or International Style.[25] These buildings were built largely between the 1930s and 1950s as the modernist art movement reached its apogee in Europe by many Jewish architects who had trained in the style in pre-Nazi era Germany. Tel Aviv now boasts the largest collection of such buildings anywhere in the world,[26] which tie in with its Garden City styling and the city's many wide-boulevards.
More recently, Tel Aviv has become a hub of modern high-rise architecture due to astronomically high land values and the concurrent deterioration of many low-quality buildings constructed in the 1960s to cope with Israel's mass-immigration. The Shalom Tower, Azrieli Center, and the YOO Towers, designed by Phillipe Stark and currently under construction, are among the city's most internationally significant skyscrapers.[27]
[edit] Demographics
The city itself has a population of 384,600 over an area covering 50,553 dunams (50.6 square kilometres (19.5 sq mi)) giving a population density of 7,445 people per km². According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), as of June 2006, Tel Aviv's population is growing at an annual rate of 0.9%. It consists of 91.8% Jews, 4.2% Arabs and 4.0% "other".[28] According to some estimates, about 50,000 unregistered foreign workers live in Tel Aviv. In south Tel Aviv, there are 30,000 to 40,000 construction workers from Eastern Europe and Turkey. Most foreign workers are from Asia (particularly, the Philippines and Thailand), and many others are from Africa.[29]
According to December 2001 statistics, Tel Aviv's socio-economic status was classified as high (8 out of 10) and 63.1% percent of twelfth grade students received graduation certificates in 2000. In 2000, the average monthly wage stood at 6,773 NIS, which is roughly equal to the national average. In the city the population was spread out with 22.2% aged under 20, 18.5% aged 20-29, 24% aged 30-44, and 16.2% aged between 45 and 59. 19.1% of the city's population is aged over 60.
[edit] Religion
The Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv in the 1930sWhilst Jerusalem is regarded as Israel's religious hub, Tel Aviv is perceived as a secular, culturally open coastal city. Despite this, Tel Aviv still has about 500 synagogues, of which some 350 are active. Tel Aviv, especially in Jaffa, has a sizable Muslim population and contains a number of mosques. Furthermore, in part due to the many embassies and foreign diplomatic staff located in the Tel Aviv-Yafo area, the Christian Arab population of Yafo and the increasing number of foreign workers from Eastern Europe, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, a number of churches have been established in and around the city.[30]
[edit] Culture
[edit] Arts and theatre
One of the entrances of the Tel Aviv Performing Arts CentreMany see Tel Aviv as Israel's cultural capital.[5] Cultural centers in Tel Aviv include the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre, which serves as the home of the Israeli Opera House where Plácido Domingo was the house tenor between 1962 and 1965, and of the Cameri Theater. The Culture Hall, is a 3,000 seat theatre, making it the biggest theatre in the city. The Israeli National Theater, Habima Theater ("The Stage"), is the most recognized of its many theatre companies and theatre halls. Others include the Jaffa-based Gesher Theater, and Beit Lessin Theater. Tzavta and Tmuna are smaller theaters used mainly for musical and fringe productions. In Jaffa, the Simta and Notzar theaters specialize in fringe. Also, the city hosts the most international live performances of all the main cities in the region. Kerem Hateimanim also provides insights into the heritage of Yemenite Jews and is also the most observant Jewish place within the city itself.
[edit] Museums
Israel has the highest number of museums per capita of any country, three of the largest of which are located in Tel Aviv.[31][32] Among the most notable are the Eretz Israel Museum which is known for its rich collection of archaeology and history exhibits dealing with the Land of Israel, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art which is one of the major art museums in Israel. Housed on the campus of Tel Aviv University is the Beth Hatefutsoth, a museum of the international Jewish diaspora. Containing both historical documents and art, the museum tells the story of Jewish prosperity and persecution throughout the centuries of exile. Batey Haosef Museum is a showcase of the Israel Defense Forces' military history, containing rare exhibits and authentic pieces from Israel's history as well as a wide variety of firearms and pictures. Meanwhile, the Palmach Museum near Tel Aviv University gives visitors a multimedia experience of the history of the Palmach, as well as vast archives, depicting the lives of young self-trained Jewish soldiers who eventually became the first defenders of Israel. Near Charles Clore's garden in north Jaffa is a small museum of the Etzel Jewish militant organization, one of whose achievements was conquering Jaffa for Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Tel Aviv Exhibition Centre which is located in the northern side of the city, hosts over 60 major events every year. Many offbeat museums and galleries are located in the city's artsy southern areas including the Tel Aviv Raw Art contemporary art gallery.
[edit] Tourism and recreation
Tel Aviv's coastlineTel Aviv is a major tourist destination, combining a Mediterranean feel with culture and complexity. The city has several public parks and gardens, the largest being The Yarkon Park. Gan Meir, named after the first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, is on King George Street. Tel Aviv is known for its openness as well as its thriving night life.[33] It holds many malls, such as Dizengoff Center (Israel's first mall) and the Azrieli Center. The city has many hotels, such as the Crowne Plaza, Sheraton, Four Seasons, Dan, and Hilton. There is also a mall inside the Opera Tower. The city is known in Israel as the city that never sleeps.[33]
Tel Aviv is also known for its lively nightlife and around the clock culture. Its beachfront promenades are especially a focal point of that atmosphere due to its myriad nightclubs and bars.
[edit] Education
The Engineering Faculty Boulevard in Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv's Nokia ArenaHome to a large number of schools, colleges, and universities, Tel Aviv is a center for education in Israel with two universities, Tel Aviv University, and Bar-Ilan University (with its campus in neighbouring Ramat Gan). These two universities give a combined student population of Tel Aviv reaching well over 50,000, of whom a sizeable number are international students.[34][35]
Tel Aviv University was founded in 1953 and is now the largest university in Israel with an excellent reputation internationally, especially for its physics, computer science, chemistry and linguistics departments, and is located in the Ramat Aviv neighbourhood. Bar-Ilan University was founded in 1955 and is located in the suburb of Ramat Gan. It is Israel's largest academic community.
[edit] Sports
Tel Aviv is home to some of the top sports teams in Israel, including a world-class basketball team. Tel Aviv is the only city with three teams in the Israeli football premier league. Maccabi Tel Aviv Sports Club was founded in 1906 and competes in over ten sports including Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club which has forty-seven Israeli titles, won thirty-six editions of the Israel cup, and has five European Championships and Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. which has eighteen Israeli league titles, won twenty-two editions of the Israel cup, two Israel Toto cup and two Asia cups. Maccabi's Judo club athlete Yael Arad won a silver medal in the 1992 Olympic Games.[36]
Hapoel Tel Aviv Sports Club was founded in 1923, and over the years has included over eleven sports,[37] including the Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club (five Israeli championships, four Israeli cups) and the Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club (thirteen Israeli championships, eleven Israeli cups, one Toto cup and once Asia champion), kayaking Club, women's basketball club and more that have always been amongst the top Israeli clubs.
Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv's football club (once Israeli champion, twice Israeli cup holder and twice Israeli Toto cup holder) is the only Israeli football team in the top division (Ligat Ha'al) that represents a neighbourhood - Shechunat Hatikva ("The Hope Neighbourhood") in Tel Aviv - and not a city.
Other football clubs which used to play in the top division were Shimshon Tel Aviv and Beitar Tel Aviv, which are now merged into one team (Beitar/Shimshon Tel Aviv that plays in the third division (Liga Artzit). Maccabi Jaffa is another former 1st division team that currently plays in the lower divisions.
Tel Aviv is also the home of many other sports. Two rowing clubs operate in Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv Rowing Club, which was established as early as 1935 on the banks of the Yarkon River, is the biggest rowing club in Israel.[38] Meanwhile, the beaches of Tel Aviv provide arguably the most vibrant Matkot scene in the world.[39]
The Israel Baseball League begins its inaugural season in June, with the Tel Aviv Lightning representing the city.
[edit] Economy
The economy of Tel Aviv has developed dramatically over the past decades, and as well as being Israel's economic capital, the bustling city has now been described as a flourishing technological center by Newsweek and a "miniature Los Angeles" by The Economist.[40][41] Many computer scientists now live and work in Tel Aviv. Their numbers increased as a result of immigration from the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s. The city is considered by Newsweek to be one of the top ten most technologically influential cities in the world. Actually, it is the metropolitan area (including satellite cities such as Herzlia and Petah Tikva) that contains much of Israel's high-tech muscle which has become known as Silicon Wadi.[40]
Historically, Tel Aviv struggled to find a niche economic position. The city's location on sand dunes was not suited for agricultural usage, and its sea shore poorly suited for a seaport, a role assumed by nearby Haifa and Ashdod. Slowly, the city developed a reputation as a centre for scientific and technical research. In 1974, Intel opened its first overseas research and development operation in Israel, and Tel Aviv finally emerged in the high-tech map in the 1990s following an economic boom.[41]
Tel Aviv is home to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, (TASE), Israel's only stock exchange, which in recent times has reached record heights,[42] as well as many international headquarters of venture-capital firms, scientific research institutes, and high-tech companies. Having said this, there is some industry in the Tel Aviv area, and goods such as chemicals, textiles and food are exported from factories here.[41] Also important to the Tel Aviv economy is tourism, and people travel from around the world to this city not only because of the plethora of cultural sites which Israel can offer, but also because of its legendary nightlife, atmosphere, and architecture.[43]
The Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) at Loughborough University constructed an inventory of world cities based upon their level of advanced producer services. The inventory includes Tel Aviv as having "strong evidence" of world city formation—the highest ranking for a Middle Eastern city with the exception of partly-European Istanbul.[44]
Seven out of the nine Israeli billionaires reside in Israel; of them, at least four live in Tel Aviv or its suburbs (according to Forbes).[45][46] According to Mercer, as of 2007, Tel Aviv is considered the most expensive city in the Middle East to live, and seventeenth most in the world. It falls just short of New York City and Dublin and right ahead of Rome and Vienna.[47][48]
[edit] Transportation
Multimodal traffic in Tel Aviv: pedestrians, private cars, buses, trucks, taxis and train station
[edit] Road
The main road access route to Tel Aviv is the Ayalon Highway (a.k.a. Highway 20), which runs along the eastern side of the city from north to south along the Ayalon River riverbed, dividing for the most part, Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. Driving south on the Ayalon gives access to Highway 1, leading to Ben Gurion International Airport and Jerusalem. Within the city, the main routes are King George Street, Allenby Street, Ibn Gabirol Street, Dizengoff Street, Rothschild Boulevard and in Jaffa, Jerusalem Boulevard. Other access routes include Namir Road (which connects to Highway 2, and provides access from the North) and Begin/Jabotinsky Road (which provides access from the east, through Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Petah Tiqva).
[edit] Rail
Tel Aviv has four train stations all located along the Ayalon Highway. The stops are from north to south: Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Savidor Merkaz (Tel Aviv Central Train Station), Tel Aviv Hashalom (near Azrieli Center shopping mall) and Tel Aviv Hahaganah (near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station). It is estimated that over a million people use the train from the surrounding cities to Tel Aviv each month.
Furthermore, the first phase of the Tel Aviv Subway is planned to be completed by 2012, which is expected to improve public transportation in the city dramatically.[49]
[edit] Bus
The Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, a large central bus station, is located in the south of the city. The main bus network in Tel Aviv is operated by Dan Bus Company whilst the Egged Bus Cooperative, the world's second-largest bus company, provides intercity transportation.[50]
[edit] Air
Ben Gurion International AirportTel Aviv's airport is Dov Hoz Airport Sde Dov (code: SDV) which is located in the northwestern side of the city and serves as a major airport for domestic flights. Sde Dov is, however, slated to close, as the land it is constructed on is prime-coastal real estate in the upscale Ramat Aviv neighbourhood.[51] As such, sometime in the near future, all services to Sde Dov will transfer to Ben Gurion International Airport (code: TLV), Israel's main international airport, which is located 15 km southeast of Tel Aviv, close to the city of Lod. Because of its proximity to Tel Aviv and its location within the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion International Airport is often referred to as Tel Aviv International Airport despite the fact that the airport is not included in any municipal jurisdiction.
[edit] Mayors of Tel Aviv
Meir Dizengoff (1921–1925)
David Bloch (1925–1927)
Meir Dizengoff (1928–1936)
Israel Rokach (1936–1952)
Haim Levanon (1953–1959)
Mordechai Namir (1959–1969)
Yehoshua Rabinowitz (1969–1974)
Shlomo Lahat ("Chich") (1974–1993)
Roni Milo (1993–1998)
Ron Huldai (1998–)
[edit] Sister cities
Toulouse, France (1962)
Philadelphia, USA (1966)
Cologne, Germany (1979)
Frankfurt, Germany (1980)
Bonn, Germany (1983)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (1988)
Budapest, Hungary (1989)
Belgrade, Serbia (1990)
Essen, Germany (1992)
Sofia, Bulgaria (1992)
Warsaw, Poland (1992)
Cannes, France (1993)
Łódź, Poland (1994)
Milan, Italy (1994)
Thessaloniki, Greece (1994)
Beijing, China (1995)
Barcelona, Spain (1998)
İzmir, Turkey (1998)
Chişinău, Moldova (2000)
Incheon, South Korea (2000)
Limassol, Cyprus (2000)
Moscow, Russia (2000)
São Paulo, Brazil (2004)
Vienna, Austria (2005)
The City of Tel Aviv was originally founded in 1909 by Jewish immigrants as an alternative to expensive housing in the neighbouring historic port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יפו, Yafo; Arabic: يافا, Yafa). Tel Aviv's extensive growth eventually overtook its Arab-majority neighbour, and the two towns were united into the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv is today considered the center of Israel's globally oriented economy, and is the anchor of the area popularly known as "Silicon Wadi". It is also considered Israel's cultural capital due to its vibrant, modern, cosmopolitan character.[5] The city's Bauhaus architectured White City was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.[6]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Early history
2.2 Mandatory period
2.3 Modern times
2.4 Terrorism
3 Geography
3.1 Topography and climate
3.2 Districts
3.3 Architecture
4 Demographics
4.1 Religion
5 Culture
5.1 Arts and theatre
5.2 Museums
5.3 Tourism and recreation
5.4 Education
5.5 Sports
6 Economy
7 Transportation
7.1 Road
7.2 Rail
7.3 Bus
7.4 Air
8 Mayors of Tel Aviv
9 Sister cities
10 Footnotes
11 See also
12 External links
[edit] Etymology
In Hebrew, the name Tel Aviv translates as "Hill (tel) of Spring (aviv)". This is the title given by Nahum Sokolow to his Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's book Altneuland (German: "The Old New Land"). There is an account that Sokolow came up with the Hebrew title "Tel Aviv" to allude to the destruction of the ancient Jewish state and its hoped-for restoration: aviv = "spring" to symbolize renewal, and tel to symbolize the destruction of the ancient state, following not the usual Hebrew meaning of the word "tel" but its use in archaeology, meaning "mound of accumulated ruins".[7] Sokolow took the name from the Book of Ezekiel 3:15 : "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days." (The spelling in the King James Version of the Bible is Telabib.[8])
Jaffa in Hebrew is Yafo, which may be derived from yafah/yofi, meaning "beautiful". Tradition holds that Jaffa was founded by and named after Japheth, son of Noah. The city is also mentioned in the book of Jonah, and, by the name of "Japo", on an ancient Egyptian tax register clay tablet found at Tel el-Amarna.[9][10]
[edit] History
[edit] Early history
Tel Aviv was founded on land purchased from Bedouins, north of the existing city of Jaffa. This photograph is of 1909 auction of the first lots.
Early Tel AvivFurther information: Jaffa's history
The gulf of Jaffa has been the site of a fortified port town for at least 4000 years, and as such is the oldest port in the world. During the 19th century, the town’s population grew from about 2,500 in 1806 to 17,000 in 1886. The old city walls could no longer contain the population, and they were destroyed in the 1870s, allowing for newer, more spacious neighborhoods to be constructed.[11]
Settlement in the area of modern southern Tel Aviv (the neighbourhoods of Neve Tzedek and Neve Shalom) began in the 1880s as a substitute for the relatively expensive Arab neighbourhoods of Jaffa by some of the town's distinguished Jewish residents.[11]
In 1908 the Ahuzat Bayit (אחוזת בית) homebuilders' association bought land north of Jaffa. Building commenced in 1909, and the association admitted members of two suburbs established nearby.[12] In 1910, the common name of Tel Aviv was adopted.[13] At its founding, Tel Aviv was intended only to be a bedroom community of Jaffa. The founders envisaged a European-style garden suburb with wide streets and boulevards.[14]
[edit] Mandatory period
Tel Aviv's growth was halted in 1914 when the Ottoman authorities expelled its inhabitants. However, its residents returned and resumed development following the British conquest. The period of British administration saw increasing political friction between Jews and Arabs throughout Palestine, and in May 1921, dozens of Jews were killed by an Arab mob in the Jaffa riots. Soon after, thousands of the 16,000 Jews of Jaffa moved north to Tel Aviv. Following the violence, the inhabitants of Tel Aviv created a new central business district. The master plan for development of the city, based on a framework of central routes and boulevards, was designed in 1925 by Patrick Geddes and adopted by the city council under Meir Dizengoff. Owing to its proximity to the port of Jaffa, and its status as the first Jewish community that immigrants saw when coming into the country, Tel Aviv quickly grew to become the centre of Israeli urban life, which it remains to this day. Due to the 1936-1939 Arab rioting, a local port was opened in 1938, which was an important milestone marking its independence from Jaffa.
According to the 1947 UN Partition Plan, Palestine was to be partitioned into Jewish and Arab states. Tel Aviv was to be part of the Jewish state, while Jaffa was to become an enclave belonging to the Arab state. The plan was rejected by the Arabs, and violence erupted immediately. During an offensive on Jaffa that started in April 1948, many of its Arab residents fled through the harbor. When Jaffa was taken on May 14, only about 4,100 out of its 70,000 Arab residents remained.[14]
[edit] Modern times
Israel's Declaration of Independence took place in Tel Aviv on May 14, 1948, and the town served as Israel's provisional capital throughout the 1948 Arab-Israeli War due to the Arab blockade of Jerusalem, which was proclaimed capital in December 1949. Due to the international dispute over the status of Jerusalem, most embassies stayed in the Tel Aviv area. Thirteen more returned there in the early eighties as part of the UN's punitive measures responding to Israel's 1980 Jerusalem Law.[15] [16] Today all but two of the international embassies to Israel are in Tel Aviv or the surrounding district.[17] In April, 1949, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united in the single municipality Tel Aviv-Yafo, and the lands of neighboring villages such as al-Shaykh Muwannis, Jammasin and Sumail, which were depopulated during the war, were incorporated into the united municipality.[18] Tel Aviv thus grew to 42 square kilometres (16.2 sq mi).
[edit] Terrorism
Tel Aviv has suffered violence and terrorism at the hands of Palestinian militant groups over the course of several decades. The first suicide attack in Tel Aviv occurred on October 19, 1994, when a suicide bomber exploded on the Line 5 bus killing himself and 21 civilians, as part of a Hamas suicide campaign. This was followed, on March 4, 1996, when another suicide bomber exploded nearby at an ATM during Purim holiday festivities and killed 18 civilians. Оn June 1, 2001, during the Second Intifada, a suicide bomber exploded inside a nightclub called the dolphi disco, and 21 were killed and more than 100 were injured. On January 25, 2002, 20 were killed in a suicide attack near the old Central Bus Station, and on January 5, 2003, in two nearly simultaneous attacks, 23 were killed. On 17 April 2006, 10 people were killed and dozens wounded in another suicide attack in the same location, with many of the victims in these attacks being foreign labourers.[19]
[edit] Geography
[edit] Topography and climate
Tel Aviv is located around 32°5′N, 34°48′E on the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain, the historic land bridge between Europe, Africa, and Asia. Immediately north of Jaffa, Tel Aviv is situated on land which used to be sand dunes, and as such has relatively poor soil fertility. It is now on flat land with no notable gradients. As such, its most notable geographical feature are the bluffs above the Mediterranean coastline and the Yarkon River's mouth. In modern times, due to the expansion of Tel Aviv and the Gush Dan region in general, absolute borders between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and between the city's neighbourhoods do not exist. The city is located some 60 kilometers (37 mi) northwest of Jerusalem, Israel's capital city, and some 90 kilometres (55.9 mi) south of the northern port city of Haifa.
Tel Aviv has a mediterranean climate with hot summers, pleasant springs and autumns, and cool, rainy winters. Humidity tends to be high all year round, and rain usually occurs between October to May. In winter, temperatures seldom drop below 5 °C and are more likely to be in the region of 10° to 15 °C, while in summer the average is 26 °C. The average annual rainfall is 530 millimetres (20.9 in).[20] Tel Aviv boasts on average over 300 sunny days a year. The autumn and spring periods are short, and with climate change appear to be shrinking. Many see the best time of year in Tel Aviv as April when the sun is bright, temperatures are moderate, humidity is down, and the flowers are in bloom.[21]
[hide]Weather averages for Tel Aviv
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 17.5 (63.5) 17.7 (63.7) 19.2 (66.6) 22.8 (73.0) 24.9 (76.8) 27.5 (81.5) 29.4 (84.9) 30.2 (86.4) 29.4 (84.9) 27.3 (81.1) 23.4 (74.1) 19.2 (66.6) 24.0 (75.2)
Average low °C (°F) 9.6 (49.3) 9.8 (49.6) 11.5 (52.7) 14.4 (57.9) 17.3 (63.1) 20.6 (69.1) 23.0 (73.4) 23.7 (74.7) 22.5 (72.5) 19.1 (66.4) 14.6 (58.3) 11.2 (52.2) 16.4 (61.5)
Precipitation mm (inch) 222.3 (8.8) 128.2 (5.0) 22.0 (0.9) 1.5 (0.1) 7.5 (0.3) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 2.4 (0.1) 64.1 (2.5) 98.3 (3.9) 546.3 (21.5)
Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics [22][23]
[edit] Districts
Further information: Neighborhoods of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv is made up of a large number of districts which have formed naturally over the city's short history. The most notable of these is Jaffa, the ancient port city which Tel Aviv grew out of. This area is traditionally made up demographically of a greater percentage of Arabs, but recent gentrification is finding them replaced by a yuppie population. Similar processes are occurring in nearby Neve Tzedek, the original Jewish neighborhood outside of Jaffa. Ramat Aviv, a neighborhood in the northern part of the city largely made up of luxury apartments, is currently undergoing extensive expansion and is set to absorb the beachfront property of Sde Dov Airport after its decommissioning.[24]
[edit] Architecture
Old Tel Aviv municipality and Nahum Gutman fountainModern Tel Aviv is notable for two of its architectural styles. Of greatest international notability is the White City which was designated by UNESCO in July 2003 as a World Heritage Site due to its 2500 structures constructed in the Bauhaus, or International Style.[25] These buildings were built largely between the 1930s and 1950s as the modernist art movement reached its apogee in Europe by many Jewish architects who had trained in the style in pre-Nazi era Germany. Tel Aviv now boasts the largest collection of such buildings anywhere in the world,[26] which tie in with its Garden City styling and the city's many wide-boulevards.
More recently, Tel Aviv has become a hub of modern high-rise architecture due to astronomically high land values and the concurrent deterioration of many low-quality buildings constructed in the 1960s to cope with Israel's mass-immigration. The Shalom Tower, Azrieli Center, and the YOO Towers, designed by Phillipe Stark and currently under construction, are among the city's most internationally significant skyscrapers.[27]
[edit] Demographics
The city itself has a population of 384,600 over an area covering 50,553 dunams (50.6 square kilometres (19.5 sq mi)) giving a population density of 7,445 people per km². According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), as of June 2006, Tel Aviv's population is growing at an annual rate of 0.9%. It consists of 91.8% Jews, 4.2% Arabs and 4.0% "other".[28] According to some estimates, about 50,000 unregistered foreign workers live in Tel Aviv. In south Tel Aviv, there are 30,000 to 40,000 construction workers from Eastern Europe and Turkey. Most foreign workers are from Asia (particularly, the Philippines and Thailand), and many others are from Africa.[29]
According to December 2001 statistics, Tel Aviv's socio-economic status was classified as high (8 out of 10) and 63.1% percent of twelfth grade students received graduation certificates in 2000. In 2000, the average monthly wage stood at 6,773 NIS, which is roughly equal to the national average. In the city the population was spread out with 22.2% aged under 20, 18.5% aged 20-29, 24% aged 30-44, and 16.2% aged between 45 and 59. 19.1% of the city's population is aged over 60.
[edit] Religion
The Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv in the 1930sWhilst Jerusalem is regarded as Israel's religious hub, Tel Aviv is perceived as a secular, culturally open coastal city. Despite this, Tel Aviv still has about 500 synagogues, of which some 350 are active. Tel Aviv, especially in Jaffa, has a sizable Muslim population and contains a number of mosques. Furthermore, in part due to the many embassies and foreign diplomatic staff located in the Tel Aviv-Yafo area, the Christian Arab population of Yafo and the increasing number of foreign workers from Eastern Europe, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, a number of churches have been established in and around the city.[30]
[edit] Culture
[edit] Arts and theatre
One of the entrances of the Tel Aviv Performing Arts CentreMany see Tel Aviv as Israel's cultural capital.[5] Cultural centers in Tel Aviv include the Tel Aviv Performing Arts Centre, which serves as the home of the Israeli Opera House where Plácido Domingo was the house tenor between 1962 and 1965, and of the Cameri Theater. The Culture Hall, is a 3,000 seat theatre, making it the biggest theatre in the city. The Israeli National Theater, Habima Theater ("The Stage"), is the most recognized of its many theatre companies and theatre halls. Others include the Jaffa-based Gesher Theater, and Beit Lessin Theater. Tzavta and Tmuna are smaller theaters used mainly for musical and fringe productions. In Jaffa, the Simta and Notzar theaters specialize in fringe. Also, the city hosts the most international live performances of all the main cities in the region. Kerem Hateimanim also provides insights into the heritage of Yemenite Jews and is also the most observant Jewish place within the city itself.
[edit] Museums
Israel has the highest number of museums per capita of any country, three of the largest of which are located in Tel Aviv.[31][32] Among the most notable are the Eretz Israel Museum which is known for its rich collection of archaeology and history exhibits dealing with the Land of Israel, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art which is one of the major art museums in Israel. Housed on the campus of Tel Aviv University is the Beth Hatefutsoth, a museum of the international Jewish diaspora. Containing both historical documents and art, the museum tells the story of Jewish prosperity and persecution throughout the centuries of exile. Batey Haosef Museum is a showcase of the Israel Defense Forces' military history, containing rare exhibits and authentic pieces from Israel's history as well as a wide variety of firearms and pictures. Meanwhile, the Palmach Museum near Tel Aviv University gives visitors a multimedia experience of the history of the Palmach, as well as vast archives, depicting the lives of young self-trained Jewish soldiers who eventually became the first defenders of Israel. Near Charles Clore's garden in north Jaffa is a small museum of the Etzel Jewish militant organization, one of whose achievements was conquering Jaffa for Israel in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Tel Aviv Exhibition Centre which is located in the northern side of the city, hosts over 60 major events every year. Many offbeat museums and galleries are located in the city's artsy southern areas including the Tel Aviv Raw Art contemporary art gallery.
[edit] Tourism and recreation
Tel Aviv's coastlineTel Aviv is a major tourist destination, combining a Mediterranean feel with culture and complexity. The city has several public parks and gardens, the largest being The Yarkon Park. Gan Meir, named after the first mayor, Meir Dizengoff, is on King George Street. Tel Aviv is known for its openness as well as its thriving night life.[33] It holds many malls, such as Dizengoff Center (Israel's first mall) and the Azrieli Center. The city has many hotels, such as the Crowne Plaza, Sheraton, Four Seasons, Dan, and Hilton. There is also a mall inside the Opera Tower. The city is known in Israel as the city that never sleeps.[33]
Tel Aviv is also known for its lively nightlife and around the clock culture. Its beachfront promenades are especially a focal point of that atmosphere due to its myriad nightclubs and bars.
[edit] Education
The Engineering Faculty Boulevard in Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv's Nokia ArenaHome to a large number of schools, colleges, and universities, Tel Aviv is a center for education in Israel with two universities, Tel Aviv University, and Bar-Ilan University (with its campus in neighbouring Ramat Gan). These two universities give a combined student population of Tel Aviv reaching well over 50,000, of whom a sizeable number are international students.[34][35]
Tel Aviv University was founded in 1953 and is now the largest university in Israel with an excellent reputation internationally, especially for its physics, computer science, chemistry and linguistics departments, and is located in the Ramat Aviv neighbourhood. Bar-Ilan University was founded in 1955 and is located in the suburb of Ramat Gan. It is Israel's largest academic community.
[edit] Sports
Tel Aviv is home to some of the top sports teams in Israel, including a world-class basketball team. Tel Aviv is the only city with three teams in the Israeli football premier league. Maccabi Tel Aviv Sports Club was founded in 1906 and competes in over ten sports including Maccabi Tel Aviv Basketball Club which has forty-seven Israeli titles, won thirty-six editions of the Israel cup, and has five European Championships and Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. which has eighteen Israeli league titles, won twenty-two editions of the Israel cup, two Israel Toto cup and two Asia cups. Maccabi's Judo club athlete Yael Arad won a silver medal in the 1992 Olympic Games.[36]
Hapoel Tel Aviv Sports Club was founded in 1923, and over the years has included over eleven sports,[37] including the Hapoel Tel Aviv Basketball Club (five Israeli championships, four Israeli cups) and the Hapoel Tel Aviv Football Club (thirteen Israeli championships, eleven Israeli cups, one Toto cup and once Asia champion), kayaking Club, women's basketball club and more that have always been amongst the top Israeli clubs.
Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv's football club (once Israeli champion, twice Israeli cup holder and twice Israeli Toto cup holder) is the only Israeli football team in the top division (Ligat Ha'al) that represents a neighbourhood - Shechunat Hatikva ("The Hope Neighbourhood") in Tel Aviv - and not a city.
Other football clubs which used to play in the top division were Shimshon Tel Aviv and Beitar Tel Aviv, which are now merged into one team (Beitar/Shimshon Tel Aviv that plays in the third division (Liga Artzit). Maccabi Jaffa is another former 1st division team that currently plays in the lower divisions.
Tel Aviv is also the home of many other sports. Two rowing clubs operate in Tel Aviv. The Tel Aviv Rowing Club, which was established as early as 1935 on the banks of the Yarkon River, is the biggest rowing club in Israel.[38] Meanwhile, the beaches of Tel Aviv provide arguably the most vibrant Matkot scene in the world.[39]
The Israel Baseball League begins its inaugural season in June, with the Tel Aviv Lightning representing the city.
[edit] Economy
The economy of Tel Aviv has developed dramatically over the past decades, and as well as being Israel's economic capital, the bustling city has now been described as a flourishing technological center by Newsweek and a "miniature Los Angeles" by The Economist.[40][41] Many computer scientists now live and work in Tel Aviv. Their numbers increased as a result of immigration from the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s. The city is considered by Newsweek to be one of the top ten most technologically influential cities in the world. Actually, it is the metropolitan area (including satellite cities such as Herzlia and Petah Tikva) that contains much of Israel's high-tech muscle which has become known as Silicon Wadi.[40]
Historically, Tel Aviv struggled to find a niche economic position. The city's location on sand dunes was not suited for agricultural usage, and its sea shore poorly suited for a seaport, a role assumed by nearby Haifa and Ashdod. Slowly, the city developed a reputation as a centre for scientific and technical research. In 1974, Intel opened its first overseas research and development operation in Israel, and Tel Aviv finally emerged in the high-tech map in the 1990s following an economic boom.[41]
Tel Aviv is home to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, (TASE), Israel's only stock exchange, which in recent times has reached record heights,[42] as well as many international headquarters of venture-capital firms, scientific research institutes, and high-tech companies. Having said this, there is some industry in the Tel Aviv area, and goods such as chemicals, textiles and food are exported from factories here.[41] Also important to the Tel Aviv economy is tourism, and people travel from around the world to this city not only because of the plethora of cultural sites which Israel can offer, but also because of its legendary nightlife, atmosphere, and architecture.[43]
The Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network (GaWC) at Loughborough University constructed an inventory of world cities based upon their level of advanced producer services. The inventory includes Tel Aviv as having "strong evidence" of world city formation—the highest ranking for a Middle Eastern city with the exception of partly-European Istanbul.[44]
Seven out of the nine Israeli billionaires reside in Israel; of them, at least four live in Tel Aviv or its suburbs (according to Forbes).[45][46] According to Mercer, as of 2007, Tel Aviv is considered the most expensive city in the Middle East to live, and seventeenth most in the world. It falls just short of New York City and Dublin and right ahead of Rome and Vienna.[47][48]
[edit] Transportation
Multimodal traffic in Tel Aviv: pedestrians, private cars, buses, trucks, taxis and train station
[edit] Road
The main road access route to Tel Aviv is the Ayalon Highway (a.k.a. Highway 20), which runs along the eastern side of the city from north to south along the Ayalon River riverbed, dividing for the most part, Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. Driving south on the Ayalon gives access to Highway 1, leading to Ben Gurion International Airport and Jerusalem. Within the city, the main routes are King George Street, Allenby Street, Ibn Gabirol Street, Dizengoff Street, Rothschild Boulevard and in Jaffa, Jerusalem Boulevard. Other access routes include Namir Road (which connects to Highway 2, and provides access from the North) and Begin/Jabotinsky Road (which provides access from the east, through Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Petah Tiqva).
[edit] Rail
Tel Aviv has four train stations all located along the Ayalon Highway. The stops are from north to south: Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Savidor Merkaz (Tel Aviv Central Train Station), Tel Aviv Hashalom (near Azrieli Center shopping mall) and Tel Aviv Hahaganah (near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station). It is estimated that over a million people use the train from the surrounding cities to Tel Aviv each month.
Furthermore, the first phase of the Tel Aviv Subway is planned to be completed by 2012, which is expected to improve public transportation in the city dramatically.[49]
[edit] Bus
The Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, a large central bus station, is located in the south of the city. The main bus network in Tel Aviv is operated by Dan Bus Company whilst the Egged Bus Cooperative, the world's second-largest bus company, provides intercity transportation.[50]
[edit] Air
Ben Gurion International AirportTel Aviv's airport is Dov Hoz Airport Sde Dov (code: SDV) which is located in the northwestern side of the city and serves as a major airport for domestic flights. Sde Dov is, however, slated to close, as the land it is constructed on is prime-coastal real estate in the upscale Ramat Aviv neighbourhood.[51] As such, sometime in the near future, all services to Sde Dov will transfer to Ben Gurion International Airport (code: TLV), Israel's main international airport, which is located 15 km southeast of Tel Aviv, close to the city of Lod. Because of its proximity to Tel Aviv and its location within the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion International Airport is often referred to as Tel Aviv International Airport despite the fact that the airport is not included in any municipal jurisdiction.
[edit] Mayors of Tel Aviv
Meir Dizengoff (1921–1925)
David Bloch (1925–1927)
Meir Dizengoff (1928–1936)
Israel Rokach (1936–1952)
Haim Levanon (1953–1959)
Mordechai Namir (1959–1969)
Yehoshua Rabinowitz (1969–1974)
Shlomo Lahat ("Chich") (1974–1993)
Roni Milo (1993–1998)
Ron Huldai (1998–)
[edit] Sister cities
Toulouse, France (1962)
Philadelphia, USA (1966)
Cologne, Germany (1979)
Frankfurt, Germany (1980)
Bonn, Germany (1983)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (1988)
Budapest, Hungary (1989)
Belgrade, Serbia (1990)
Essen, Germany (1992)
Sofia, Bulgaria (1992)
Warsaw, Poland (1992)
Cannes, France (1993)
Łódź, Poland (1994)
Milan, Italy (1994)
Thessaloniki, Greece (1994)
Beijing, China (1995)
Barcelona, Spain (1998)
İzmir, Turkey (1998)
Chişinău, Moldova (2000)
Incheon, South Korea (2000)
Limassol, Cyprus (2000)
Moscow, Russia (2000)
São Paulo, Brazil (2004)
Vienna, Austria (2005)
Eilat
Eilat (Hebrew: אֵילַת), is Israel's southernmost city. It is located in the Southern Negev and is part of the Southern District of Israel.[2]
Eilat is located at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Red Sea and it is adjacent to the Egyptian village of Taba and Jordanian port city of Aqaba. It straddles the southern end of the geographic line demarcating Africa from Asia.
Eilat is named after the Biblical Elath, believed to correspond with modern-day Aqaba.
Eilat is hot and semi-arid due to its location in the Negev desert, at the southern end of the Arava, in close proximity to the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Summer temperatures often exceed 40 °C and 22 °C in winter. The city's beaches, nightlife and desert landscapes make it a popular destination for domestic and international tourism.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Biblical era
1.2 Original settlement
2 Modern era
2.1 Growth
2.2 Open borders
3 Tourism
3.1 Attractions
4 Sister cities
5 Climate
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit] History
Fringing coral reef off the coast of Eilat, Israel.
[edit] Biblical era
Eilat is mentioned several times in the Bible, first as one of the stations of the Children of Israel after The Exodus from Egypt. King David conquered Edom, and took over Eilat as well. In Kings 2 14:21-22: "And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept among his fathers." And again in Kings 2 16:6: "At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath to Aram, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath, and dwelt there, unto this day".
[edit] Original settlement
The original settlement was probably at the northern tip of the Sea of Reeds which is now on the border with Jordan, while the later commercial port city and a copper based economic center are believed to correspond with modern Aqaba, Jordan. Archaeological excavations have uncovered prehistoric tombs, evidence of a Roman road, and the remains of a large copper smelting and trading community which flourished during the Ummayad Period (700 CE) between what is now Eilat's industrial zone and nearby Kibbutz Eilot.
The Darb el Hajj or overland "Pilgrim's Road" from Africa through Egypt to Mecca, passed out of Sinai from the west at Eilat before skirting the sea and continuing south into Arabia.
[edit] Modern era
Israeli soldiers raise the Ink Flag in EilatThe area of Eilat was designated as part of the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan. During the War of Independence an old Ottoman police station, called Umm Rashrash in Arabic, was taken without a fight on March 10, 1949 as part of Operation Ovda, in which both the Negev and Golani Brigades participated. (Only one of Umm Rashrash 's mud-brick buildings remains standing in its own park.) Having forgotten to bring an Israeli flag with them, the Negev Brigade soldiers improvised and raised the "Ink Flag" in order to claim for Israel the area upon which Eilat would be constructed.
[edit] Growth
Begun as a military outpost, Eilat quickly grew as the area's resources were surveyed and developed. The Timna Copper Mines were opened and a port constructed, the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline laid, and tourists began visiting. The Port of Eilat became vital to the fledgling country's development.
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War all Arab nations maintained a state of hostility with Israel, blocking all land routes; Israel's access to and trade with the rest of the world was maintained by air and sea. Further, Egypt denied passage through the Suez Canal to Israeli-registered ships or to any ship carrying cargo to or from Israeli ports. This made Eilat and its sea port crucial to Israel's communications, commerce and trade with Africa and Asia, and for oil imports. Without recourse to a port on the Red Sea, Israel would have been unable to effectively develop its diplomatic, cultural and trade ties beyond the Mediterranean basin and Europe.
Such a situation took place in 1967 when Egypt's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping effectively blockaded the port of Eilat and was cited by Israel as an additional casus belli, leading to the outbreak of the Six-Day War.
Despite the rise in world terrorism Eilat has been relatively safe, averaging 2-3 incidents per decade for the past 30 years. The last attack, the Eilat bakery bombing, took place in a residential neighborhood of Eilat in January 2007,
[edit] Open borders
North Beach, Eilat, from east.Following peace treaties signed with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, Eilat's borders with its neighbors were finally opened. In 2007, over 200 Sudanese refugees from Egypt who arrived in Israel illegally on foot were given work and allowed to stay in Eilat, despite the fact that Sudan is technically still at war with Israel.[3][4][5] Eilat's population includes a large number of foreign workers, estimated at over 10,000, working as caregivers, hotel workers and in the construction trades.
[edit] Tourism
Aircraft parked at Eilat Airport.Eilat became a free trade zone in 1985.[6] Eilat Airport is in the center of town, used largely for domestic flights [7] (domestic code: ETH, international code: LLET). International flights to the city often use Ovda International Airport [8] (code: VDA) some 50 km northeast of the city. Eilat has two main roads connecting it with the center of the country and two border crossings: the Taba Border Crossing that connects it to Taba, Egypt and the Wadi Araba Crossing that connects it to Aqaba, Jordan.
[edit] Attractions
Coral World Underwater Observatory.Eilat offers many attractions and recreational options within a 50km. (35 mile) radius.
Freefall parachuting.
Camel tours.
Coral Beach Nature Reserve, an underwater marine reserve of tropical marine flora and fauna.
Coral World, an underwater observatory that allows visitors to view marine life in its own habitat. The park, located at the southern tip of Coral Beach, has aquariums, a museum, simulation rides, and shark, turtle and stingray. tanks.[9]
Skin diving, snorkelling and scuba diving, with equipment for hire on or near all major beaches. Scuba diving equipment rental and compressed air are available from a number of diving clubs and schools open all year round.
Dolphin Reef, offering visitors an opportunity to swim and interact with dolphins.[10]
Hai-Bar Yotvata Nature Reserve, established in the 1960s to reintroduce wild animals, including Biblical species, that were extinct in this region, and bolster populations of endangered species from similar climates. The reserve has a Visitors Center, care and treatment enclosures, and a large open area where desert animals are acclimated before re-introduction into the wild. Hai-Bar efforts have successfully re-introduced the Asian Wild Ass, or Onager, into the Negev.[11]
IMAX theatre.
Kings City, a biblical theme park located in the hotel area next to the Stella Maris Lagoon.[12]
Ostrich Farm.
Bedouin hospitality.
Texas Ranch, inspired by an actual movie set washed away in a flood, is a camel and horse ranch with organized riding excursions. Several local movie productions have been filmed here.
Birdwatching and ringing station: Eilat is located on the main migration route between Africa and Europe
Timna Valley Park - the oldest copper mines in the world. Egyptian temple of Hathor and King Solomon's Pillars geologic formations. [13]
[edit] Sister cities
Queen of Sheba Hilton. Antibes-Juan-les-Pins, France
Arica, Chile
Durban, South Africa
Smolian, Bulgaria
Kamen, Germany
Kampen, Netherlands
Toronto, Canada
Los Angeles, United States
Sopron, Hungary
Piešťany, Slovakia
Ushuaia, Argentina
Eilat has streets named after Durban, Kamen, Kampen and Los Angeles.
Eilat and Aqaba, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia (at far right) across the Red Sea, against the backdrop of the Edomit Mountains.
[edit] Climate
[hide]Weather averages for Eilat
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high °C (°F) 20.8 (69.4) 22.1 (71.8) 25.5 (77.9) 31.1 (88.0) 35.4 (95.7) 38.7 (101.7) 39.9 (103.8) 39.8 (103.6) 37.3 (99.1) 33.0 (91.4) 27.2 (81.0) 22.3 (72.1)
Average low °C (°F) 9.6 (49.3) 10.6 (51.1) 13.6 (56.5) 17.8 (64.0) 21.5 (70.7) 24.2 (75.6) 25.9 (78.6) 26.2 (74.7) 24.5 (79.2) 21.0 (69.8) 15.5 (59.9) 11.2 (52.2)
Precipitation mm (inch) 3.5 (1.4) 5.8 (2.3) 3.7 (1.5) 1.7 (0.7) 1.0 (0.4) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 3.5 (1.4) 3.5 (1.4) 6.0 (2.4)
Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics[14][15]
[edit] See also
Eilat (destroyer)
Eilot (kibbutz)
Eilat Airport
Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company
Eilat International Film Festival
Eilat bakery bombing
Ezion-Geber
Ink Flag (Israel)
Kings City
Operation Ovda
Ovda International Airport
Port of Eilat
Taba Border Crossing
Yotvata Airfield
Eilat is located at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Red Sea and it is adjacent to the Egyptian village of Taba and Jordanian port city of Aqaba. It straddles the southern end of the geographic line demarcating Africa from Asia.
Eilat is named after the Biblical Elath, believed to correspond with modern-day Aqaba.
Eilat is hot and semi-arid due to its location in the Negev desert, at the southern end of the Arava, in close proximity to the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Summer temperatures often exceed 40 °C and 22 °C in winter. The city's beaches, nightlife and desert landscapes make it a popular destination for domestic and international tourism.
Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Biblical era
1.2 Original settlement
2 Modern era
2.1 Growth
2.2 Open borders
3 Tourism
3.1 Attractions
4 Sister cities
5 Climate
6 See also
7 References
8 External links
[edit] History
Fringing coral reef off the coast of Eilat, Israel.
[edit] Biblical era
Eilat is mentioned several times in the Bible, first as one of the stations of the Children of Israel after The Exodus from Egypt. King David conquered Edom, and took over Eilat as well. In Kings 2 14:21-22: "And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Elath, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept among his fathers." And again in Kings 2 16:6: "At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath to Aram, and drove the Jews from Elath; and the Edomites came to Elath, and dwelt there, unto this day".
[edit] Original settlement
The original settlement was probably at the northern tip of the Sea of Reeds which is now on the border with Jordan, while the later commercial port city and a copper based economic center are believed to correspond with modern Aqaba, Jordan. Archaeological excavations have uncovered prehistoric tombs, evidence of a Roman road, and the remains of a large copper smelting and trading community which flourished during the Ummayad Period (700 CE) between what is now Eilat's industrial zone and nearby Kibbutz Eilot.
The Darb el Hajj or overland "Pilgrim's Road" from Africa through Egypt to Mecca, passed out of Sinai from the west at Eilat before skirting the sea and continuing south into Arabia.
[edit] Modern era
Israeli soldiers raise the Ink Flag in EilatThe area of Eilat was designated as part of the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan. During the War of Independence an old Ottoman police station, called Umm Rashrash in Arabic, was taken without a fight on March 10, 1949 as part of Operation Ovda, in which both the Negev and Golani Brigades participated. (Only one of Umm Rashrash 's mud-brick buildings remains standing in its own park.) Having forgotten to bring an Israeli flag with them, the Negev Brigade soldiers improvised and raised the "Ink Flag" in order to claim for Israel the area upon which Eilat would be constructed.
[edit] Growth
Begun as a military outpost, Eilat quickly grew as the area's resources were surveyed and developed. The Timna Copper Mines were opened and a port constructed, the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline laid, and tourists began visiting. The Port of Eilat became vital to the fledgling country's development.
After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War all Arab nations maintained a state of hostility with Israel, blocking all land routes; Israel's access to and trade with the rest of the world was maintained by air and sea. Further, Egypt denied passage through the Suez Canal to Israeli-registered ships or to any ship carrying cargo to or from Israeli ports. This made Eilat and its sea port crucial to Israel's communications, commerce and trade with Africa and Asia, and for oil imports. Without recourse to a port on the Red Sea, Israel would have been unable to effectively develop its diplomatic, cultural and trade ties beyond the Mediterranean basin and Europe.
Such a situation took place in 1967 when Egypt's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping effectively blockaded the port of Eilat and was cited by Israel as an additional casus belli, leading to the outbreak of the Six-Day War.
Despite the rise in world terrorism Eilat has been relatively safe, averaging 2-3 incidents per decade for the past 30 years. The last attack, the Eilat bakery bombing, took place in a residential neighborhood of Eilat in January 2007,
[edit] Open borders
North Beach, Eilat, from east.Following peace treaties signed with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, Eilat's borders with its neighbors were finally opened. In 2007, over 200 Sudanese refugees from Egypt who arrived in Israel illegally on foot were given work and allowed to stay in Eilat, despite the fact that Sudan is technically still at war with Israel.[3][4][5] Eilat's population includes a large number of foreign workers, estimated at over 10,000, working as caregivers, hotel workers and in the construction trades.
[edit] Tourism
Aircraft parked at Eilat Airport.Eilat became a free trade zone in 1985.[6] Eilat Airport is in the center of town, used largely for domestic flights [7] (domestic code: ETH, international code: LLET). International flights to the city often use Ovda International Airport [8] (code: VDA) some 50 km northeast of the city. Eilat has two main roads connecting it with the center of the country and two border crossings: the Taba Border Crossing that connects it to Taba, Egypt and the Wadi Araba Crossing that connects it to Aqaba, Jordan.
[edit] Attractions
Coral World Underwater Observatory.Eilat offers many attractions and recreational options within a 50km. (35 mile) radius.
Freefall parachuting.
Camel tours.
Coral Beach Nature Reserve, an underwater marine reserve of tropical marine flora and fauna.
Coral World, an underwater observatory that allows visitors to view marine life in its own habitat. The park, located at the southern tip of Coral Beach, has aquariums, a museum, simulation rides, and shark, turtle and stingray. tanks.[9]
Skin diving, snorkelling and scuba diving, with equipment for hire on or near all major beaches. Scuba diving equipment rental and compressed air are available from a number of diving clubs and schools open all year round.
Dolphin Reef, offering visitors an opportunity to swim and interact with dolphins.[10]
Hai-Bar Yotvata Nature Reserve, established in the 1960s to reintroduce wild animals, including Biblical species, that were extinct in this region, and bolster populations of endangered species from similar climates. The reserve has a Visitors Center, care and treatment enclosures, and a large open area where desert animals are acclimated before re-introduction into the wild. Hai-Bar efforts have successfully re-introduced the Asian Wild Ass, or Onager, into the Negev.[11]
IMAX theatre.
Kings City, a biblical theme park located in the hotel area next to the Stella Maris Lagoon.[12]
Ostrich Farm.
Bedouin hospitality.
Texas Ranch, inspired by an actual movie set washed away in a flood, is a camel and horse ranch with organized riding excursions. Several local movie productions have been filmed here.
Birdwatching and ringing station: Eilat is located on the main migration route between Africa and Europe
Timna Valley Park - the oldest copper mines in the world. Egyptian temple of Hathor and King Solomon's Pillars geologic formations. [13]
[edit] Sister cities
Queen of Sheba Hilton. Antibes-Juan-les-Pins, France
Arica, Chile
Durban, South Africa
Smolian, Bulgaria
Kamen, Germany
Kampen, Netherlands
Toronto, Canada
Los Angeles, United States
Sopron, Hungary
Piešťany, Slovakia
Ushuaia, Argentina
Eilat has streets named after Durban, Kamen, Kampen and Los Angeles.
Eilat and Aqaba, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia (at far right) across the Red Sea, against the backdrop of the Edomit Mountains.
[edit] Climate
[hide]Weather averages for Eilat
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high °C (°F) 20.8 (69.4) 22.1 (71.8) 25.5 (77.9) 31.1 (88.0) 35.4 (95.7) 38.7 (101.7) 39.9 (103.8) 39.8 (103.6) 37.3 (99.1) 33.0 (91.4) 27.2 (81.0) 22.3 (72.1)
Average low °C (°F) 9.6 (49.3) 10.6 (51.1) 13.6 (56.5) 17.8 (64.0) 21.5 (70.7) 24.2 (75.6) 25.9 (78.6) 26.2 (74.7) 24.5 (79.2) 21.0 (69.8) 15.5 (59.9) 11.2 (52.2)
Precipitation mm (inch) 3.5 (1.4) 5.8 (2.3) 3.7 (1.5) 1.7 (0.7) 1.0 (0.4) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 3.5 (1.4) 3.5 (1.4) 6.0 (2.4)
Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics[14][15]
[edit] See also
Eilat (destroyer)
Eilot (kibbutz)
Eilat Airport
Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company
Eilat International Film Festival
Eilat bakery bombing
Ezion-Geber
Ink Flag (Israel)
Kings City
Operation Ovda
Ovda International Airport
Port of Eilat
Taba Border Crossing
Yotvata Airfield
Haifa
Haifa (Hebrew: חֵיפָה Ḥefa; Arabic: حَيْفَا Ḥayfā (help·info)[1]) is the largest city in Northern Israel and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of about 267,800.[2][3] The city is a seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa, about 90 km north of Tel Aviv, and is one of the country's major industrial centers.[4]
Haifa is built on the slopes of the historic Mount Carmel. Known in the 3rd century CE as a dye making center, the city is today home to a mixed population of Jews and Arabs, as well as to the Bahá'í World Centre, and two world-class academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. High tech companies such as Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, and Google have opened R&D facilities in Haifa in recent years.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 Early history
3 Modern Haifa
4 Religious sites
5 Demographics
6 Politics
6.1 Mayors of Haifa
7 Economy
8 Transportation
8.1 International
8.2 Rail
8.3 Bus
8.4 Underground
8.5 Other
9 Culture and Art
10 Education
10.1 Colleges
11 Tourism
12 Climate
13 Sports
14 Sister cities
15 Neighborhoods
16 Famous residents
17 References
18 External links
18.1 City and universities
18.2 Bahá'í
18.3 Monastery
18.4 Travel
[edit] Etymology
An aerial view of Haifa Bay and the cityThe city's official romanization Haifa and common English pronunciation /ˈhaɪ.fə/ are based on the Arabic name Ḥayfā, although the Standard Hebrew name is Ḥefa. The local Hebrew pronunciation is /xei.ˈfa/.[5]
The origin of the name Haifa is unclear. Some believe it comes from the Hebrew word חוֹף (hof), meaning "beach", or חוֹף יָפֶה (hof yafe), meaning "beautiful beach". Some say it comes from the Hebrew verb root חפה (hafa), meaning "to cover or hide". Christian pilgrims of the Middle Ages (and later the Crusaders) called the town Caiphas or Caifa. Christians believe the name derives from Caiaphas, the High Priest of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus, or from the Aramaic name of Saint Peter, Cephas or Kepah (כפא). Another explanation is that name originates from the words חַי-פֹּה ("hai-po"), meaning "lives here", which is to say, "God lives here".
[edit] Early history
Haifa is first mentioned in Talmudic literature around the 3rd century CE, as a small town near Shikmona, the main Jewish town in the area at that time and a center for making the traditional Tekhelet dye used for Jewish Priests' temple cloth. The archaeological site of Shikmona lies southwest of the modern Bat Galim neighborhood. The Byzantine ruled there until the 7th century, when the city was conquered — first by the Persians, then by the Arabs. In 1100, it was conquered again by the crusaders, after a fierce battle with its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants.[6] Under crusader rule, the city was a part of the Principality of Galilee until the Muslim Mameluks captured it in 1265.
In 1761 Daher El-Omar, Bedouin ruler of Acre and Galilee, destroyed and rebuilt the town in a new location, surrounding it with a wall[7]. This event is marked as the beginning of the town's modern era. After El-Omar's death in 1775, the town remained under Ottoman rule until 1918, except for two brief periods: in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Haifa as part of his unsuccessful campaign to conquer Palestine and Syria, but withdrew the same year[8]; and between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy Mehemet Ali governed, after his son Ibrahim Pasha wrested control from the Ottomans.
[edit] Modern Haifa
The Oil Refineries, HaifaIn the years following the Egyptian occupation, Haifa grew in population and importance while Acre suffered a decline. The arrival of the German Templers in 1868, who settled in what is now known as the German Colony of Haifa, was a turning point in Haifa's development. The Templers played a major role in commerce and industry, and helped to modernize the city.
Haifa's population increased from 1,000 in 1800 to 2,000 by 1840, 6000 in 1880, 20,000 in 1914 and 24,600 in 1922.[9].
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Haifa had emerged as an industrial port city and growing population center, reflected by the establishment of facilities like the Hejaz railway and the Technion. At that time, the Haifa District (which included a number of Arab locales surrounding the city of Haifa itself) was home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants, comprised of 82% Muslim Arab, 14% Christian Arabs, and 4% Jewish residents. Jewish population increased steadily with immigration primarily from Europe, so that by 1945 the population had shifted to 33% Muslim, 20% Christian and 47% Jewish.[10] In 1947 its population was estimated to consist of 41,000 Muslims, 74,230 Jews and 29,910 Christians. The Christian community was composed mostly of Greek Orthodox Church (Arab Orthodox).
Haifa is located in the northernmost reach of the coastal plain designated as Jewish territory in the 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing mandatory Palestine, and was not excepted to the violence following that plan and culminating in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. On 30 December 1947 members of the Jewish militant group Irgun hurled two bombs into a crowd of Arabs who were waiting for construction jobs outside the gates of the Consolidated Refineries in Haifa, killing 6 and injuring 42, whereupon 2,000 Arab employees rioted and killed 39 Jewish employees in what has become known as the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre. Jewish forces retaliated by raiding the Arab village of Balad al-Shaykh on December 31, 1947. Jewish forces deemed control of Haifa a critical objective in the ensuing 1948 Arab-Israeli War, as it was the major industrial and oil refinery port in Palestine. The British withdrew from Haifa on the 21st of April, 1948. The city was captured on April 23, 1948 by the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah who were ordered into action by Mordechai Maklef at 10:30am on the 21st of April following three months of unsuccessful attacks by Arab forces. The majority of the Muslim population fled through the British-controlled port. However as many as 2,000 Christians remained in the city by June of 1948 and there were an additional 1,300 Muslims remaining as well.
Haifa was the target of many Hezbollah rockets during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, which caused suffering for Jews and Arabs alike.
[edit] Religious sites
View of the Bahá'í Gardens from above.Haifa, home to Jews, Muslim and Christian Arabs, Ahmadis (in Kababir), Druze (in Daliyat al-Carmel), and Bahá'ís, is often portrayed as a mosaic of peaceful coexistence.
Mount Carmel (Hebrew: God's vinyard) and Kishon River are both mentioned in the Bible. Mount Carmel is riddled with caves, and one of those near Haifa is traditionally known as the "Cave of Elijah", and considered by many Jews to have been the home of the Jewish biblical Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha. The highest peak of the Mount Carmel range is named El-Muhrrakah, an Arabic term meaning the burning, named on account of the belief that this was the exact spot of Elijah's biblical confrontation with hundreds of priests of a Baal; the Baal in question was probably Melqart[11].
The Carmelites were founded at, and named after, Mount Carmel, in the 12th century. Since that time, at the peak of the Mount near Haifa, there has historically been a building that has variously been a mosque, monastery, and hospital; in the 19th century it was reconstructed as a Carmelite monastery, and a cave located there, which functions as the monastery's crypt, was treated as having once been Elijah's cave. It is now a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination. [citation needed]
Haifa is also cherished by members of the Bahá'í Faith as it is an important site of worship, pilgrimage and administration for the members of the religion. The Bahá'í World Centre (comprising the Shrine of the Báb, terraced gardens and administrative buildings) are all on Mount Carmel's northern slope. The location of the Bahá'í holy places in Haifa has its roots to the imprisonment of the religion's founder, Bahá'u'lláh, near Haifa by the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Palestine. The Bahá'í holy places are also the most visited tourist attraction of the city.
The ruins of Shikmona, at the foot of Mount Carmel, is also considered historically important by Jews[citation needed]. Shikmona is also mentioned in the Talmud as the coastal town in which the blue dye for the Jewish prayer shawl Talit (the Techelet thread) was extracted from sea-snails.
The Cave of Elijah - Elijah is considered a prophet by Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. The Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. According to tradition Elijah lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel during the reign of King Ahab.
Stella Maris is a French Carmelite church, monastery and hospice. The Carmelite Order, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, was named after this location, where it was founded. Located atop Mount Carmel, there is a hiking trail connecting it to the Cave of Elijah below.[12]
[edit] Demographics
The city has a population of about 267,800 people. 90% of the population are Israeli-Jews with some "others". The latter group consists Israelis without religious classification, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from mixed-marriage families. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Israeli-Arabs constitute 9% of Haifa's population, the majority living in Wadi Nisnas, Abbas and Halisa neighborhoods.[13]
[edit] Politics
As an industrial port city, Haifa has traditionally been a Labor party stronghold. The strong presence of dock workers and trade unions earned it the nickname 'Red Haifa.' In addition, many prominent Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party, among them Tewfiq Toubi, Emile Habibi, Zaki Karkabi, Bulus Farah and Emili Toma, were all from Haifa. In recent years, there has been a drift toward the center.[14][15][16] In the 2006 legislative elections, the Kadima party received about 28.9% of the votes in Haifa, while Labor lagged behind with 16.9%.[17]
[edit] Mayors of Haifa
Abba Hushi, mayor of HaifaNajib Effendi al-Yasin (1873-1877)
Akhmad Effendi Jalabi (1878-1881)
Mustafa Bey al-Salih (1881-1884)
Mustafa Pasha al-Khalil (1885-1903)
Jamil Sadiq (1904-1910)
Rif'at al-Salah (1910-1911)
Ibrahim al-Khalil (1911-1913)
Abd al-Rahman al-Haj (1920-1927)
Hasan Bey Shukri (1914-1920, 1927-1940)
Shabtai Levy (1940-1951)
Abba Hushi (1951–1969)
Moshe Flimann (1969–1973)
Yosef Almogi (1974–1975)
Yeruham Zeisel (1975–1978)
Arie Gur'el (1978–1993)
Amram Mitzna (1993–2003)
Giora Fisher (interim mayor, 2003)
Yona Yahav (2003–)
[edit] Economy
View across Haifa Bay from Mt. Carmel.The industrial region of Haifa is north of the city, near the Kishon River. Haifa is home to one of the two oil refineries in Israel (the other located in Ashdod). The refinery in Haifa is capable of processing about 9 million tons (66 million barrels) of crude oil a year and is the center of a wide array of petrochemical industries located in and around Haifa. [citation needed] Its twin 76-meter cooling towers, built in the 1930s, have long symbolized the city of Haifa. [citation needed]
Matam (Merkaz Ta'asiya v'Meida/Scientific Industries Center), the largest and oldest business park in Israel, is located at the southern entrance to the city, hosting manufacturing and R&D facilities for a large number of Israeli and international hi-tech companies, such as Intel, Elbit, Zoran, Microsoft, Philips, Google and Amdocs. The campus of the University of Haifa is also home to IBM Haifa Labs.[7]
The Port of Haifa is the leader in passenger traffic among Israeli ports,[8] and is also a major cargo harbor, though deregulation has seen its dominance challenged by the port of Ashdod.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] International
Flights to Cyprus depart from Haifa Airport, and international cruise ships call at Haifa port.
[edit] Rail
For intercity transport, there are six Israel Railways railroad stations and three "central" bus stations. The Nahariya-Tel Aviv main line railway runs along the Gulf of Haifa; stations within the municipal boundaries of Haifa, from the direction Tel Aviv, are:
Hof HaCarmel Railway Station near Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station
Haifa Bat-Galim Railway Station near Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station
Haifa Merkaz (Central) near Haifa Seaport
Lev HaMifratz Railway Station near Lev HaMifratz Mall and Mifratz Central Bus Station
Hutzot HaMifratz Railway Station in the Hutzot HaMifratz Shopping Center
Kiryat Haim Railway Station
A seventh stop is in nearby Kiryat Motzkin (Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station), a Northern suburb. Haifa Mizrach (Haifa East) now out of passenger use, houses the Israel Railway Museum. The railway lines also serve a metropolitan train with 7 stops only, called the Parvarit.
[edit] Bus
The bus stations, from Tel Aviv northwards, are: Hof HaCarmel, Bat Galim, and Merkazit HaMifratz. All of these stations are served by Egged city, suburban, and intercity buses.
In 2006, Haifa also implemented a trial network of neighborhood mini-buses - named "Shchunatit" run by Egged.
Haifa is the only city in Israel where buses operate on Shabbat.
In 2008, Haifa and the Krayot region will also be linked via Metronit - a bus rapid transit/light rail system.
[edit] Underground
Main article: Carmelit
Haifa is the home to Israel's only subway system. It is called Carmelit (Hebrew: כרמלית) and is implemented as an underground funicular.
It runs from downtown Paris square to Gan HaEm (Mother's Park) on Mount Carmel. With a single track, six stations and two trains, it is listed in the Guinness World Records as world's shortest metro line.
[edit] Other
The Stella Maris gondola lift cable car, consisting of 6 cabins, connects Bat Galim on the coast to the Stella Maris observation deck and monastery atop Mount Carmel; it is chiefly a tourist attraction.
[edit] Culture and Art
Haifa is the cultural capital of northern Israel, but being just an hour away from Tel-Aviv, and being mostly seen as an industrial city, it has always struggled to maintain a lively cultural scene. During the 1950s, mayor Abba Hushi made a special effort to encourage authors and poets to move to Haifa. Hushi also founded Haifa Theatre, a repertory theater based in the city.
Haifa also has an orchestra, the New Haifa Symphony Orchestra, originally founded in 1950 [18]. The Haifa Cinematheque, founded in 1975, hosts the annual Haifa International Film Festival during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday.
[edit] Education
Haifa University, The Eshkol TowerHaifa is home to two internationally acclaimed universities and several colleges. The University of Haifa, founded in 1963, is located at the top of Mt. Carmel. The campus was designed by the architect of Brasilia and United Nations Headquarters in New York, Oscar Niemeyer. More buildings have been added since then. The top floor of the 30-story Eshkol Tower provides a panoramic view of northern Israel. The Hecht Museum, with important archeology and art collections, is located on the campus of Haifa University. The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, described as Israel's MIT, was founded in 1924. It has 18 faculties and 42 research institutes. The original building is now home to the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space. The first technological high school in Israel, Basmat, was established in Haifa in 1933. [19]
[edit] Colleges
Colleges in Haifa include:
Gordon College of Education
WIZO Design Academy
Michlala Leminhal College of Management, Haifa branch
Open University of Israel - Haifa branch
Tiltan College of Design
Nursing College
Sha'anan Religious Teachers' College
P.E.T Practical Engineering School
[edit] Tourism
Haifa bayThe city of Haifa is divided into three topographical levels. The lower city is the commercial center with modern port facilities. The middle level is an older residential zone and the upper level consists of modern neighborhoods, overlooking the sandy beaches of Haifa Bay. The Carmelit connects the upper and lower city, and many neighborhoods are connected by long flights of stairs.
The Bahá'í World Centre, with the golden Shrine of the Báb and the surrounding gardens, is the main tourist attraction of Haifa. The restored German Colony, founded by the Templers, Stella Maris and the Carmelite monastery are also popular tourist sites.
In Haifa area, the artist's village of Ein Hod attracts many tourists. It was established in 1953 by Marcel Janco, a leading artist of the Dada movement, and it overlooks the Mediterranean coast and the Crusader castle of Atlit. Today, ninety artists and craftsmen have studios there and exhibit their work in the main gallery and other art spaces. [20]
In Mount Carmel national park, visitors can see the caves where Neanderthal and early Homo Sapiens remains were found, and the location where tradition places Elijah's confrontation with the Ba'al prophets, and where now another Carmelite monastery is located. The Carmel is also a popular hiking area.
Haifa has a wide variety of malls and shopping centers, the largest being Hutsot Hamifratz, Horev Center Mall, Panorama Center, Castra Center, Colony Center (Lev HaMoshava), Hanevi'im Tower Mall, Kenyon Haifa, Lev Hamifratz Mall and Grand Kenyon.
[edit] Climate
Haifa has a Mediterranean climate with hot, humid summers and cool, rainy winters. The average temperature in summer is 26 °C and in winter, 12 °C. Snow is rare in Haifa, but temperatures around 6 °C can sometimes occur, usually in the early morning. The wet season is from October to April.
[edit] Sports
Kiryat Eliezer stadium, HaifaThe city has eight football (soccer) clubs, the two first are in the major leagues in Israel:
Maccabi Haifa
Hapoel Haifa
Beitar Haifa
Akhva Haifa
Spartak Haifa
Neve Yosef
Bnei Kababir
Hapoel Neve Sha'anan
Maccabi Haifa is one of the most successful football clubs in Israel nowadays, with 10 championships, 5 cups and 3 League cups. Both Hapoel and Maccabi have football schools in Haifa suburbs and other villages (including Arab and Druze villages) in the northern part of Israel. Haifa also has basketball, volleyball, tennis, and handball clubs.
The city boasts some of the best surfing beaches in the country near Bat Galim, with kite surfing and sailing clubs. The Haifa Tennis Club located nearby the south-west entrance is one of the largest in Israel.
The main stadiums are Kiryat Eliezer, seating 14,000, and Kiryat Haim. The main basketball arena is Romema Sports Arena, seating 2,000; Neve Sha'anan Athletic seats 1,000. A UEFA-approved stadium is planned for south-west Haifa. It will seat 30,000 people.
[edit] Sister cities
Haifa has Sister Cities all over the world. The year in parentheses indicates the year in which the agreement was made.
Aalborg, Denmark (1973)
Antwerp, Belgium (1986)
Boston, Massachusetts, United States (1999)
Bremen, Germany (1978)
Cape Town, South Africa (1975)
Düsseldorf, Germany (1988)
Erfurt, Germany (2005)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States (2002)
Hackney, London, United Kingdom (1968)
Limassol, Cyprus (2000)
Mainz, Germany (1987)
Mannheim, Germany (2005)
Manila, Philippines (1971)
Marrakech, Morocco
Marseille, France (1962)
Newcastle, United Kingdom
Odessa, Ukraine (1992)
Portsmouth, United Kingdom (1962)
Rosario, Argentina (1988)
San Fransisco, California, United States (1973)
Shanghai, China (1994)
[edit] Neighborhoods
Bat Galim
Kiryat Eliezer
Kiryat Eliyahu
Hadar (Hadar HaCarmel)
Hadar Elyon
Ahuza (Horev)
Merkaz Ha-Carmel ("Carmel Center")
Shprintzak
Carmel Ma'aravi (Western Carmel)
Hof Hacarmel (Carmel Beach)
Carmeliya
Carmel Tzarfati (French Carmel)
Ramat HaTishbi
Stella Maris
Neve Sha'anan
Neve Yosef
Vardiya
Ramot Sapir
Ramat Chen
Ramat Almogi
Ramat Alon
Ramat Alon South
Ramat Golda
Ramat Remez
Ramat Haviv
Ramat Hadar
Ramat Denia
Ein HaYam
Ramat Begin (Soroka)
Ramat Eshkol
Halisa
Wadi Nisnas
Wadi Salib
German Colony
HaMifratz (Haifa Bay Gulf of Haifa)
Kiryat Haim
Kiryat Shmuel
Kababir
Romema
Shambur
Neve Paz
Kiryat Rabin (Government District)
[edit] Famous residents
Abed Abdi (painter, sculptor)
Reuven Atar (footballer)
Ralph Bakshi (animator and director)
Tal Banin (footballer)
Arik Benado (footballer)
Mike Brant (pop star)
David Broza (musician)
Aaron Ciechanover (Biologist, 2004 Nobel Prize, Chemistry)
Yaakov Dorchin {painter)
Amos Gitai (film director)
Ivry Gitlis (violinist)
Amir Gutfreund (author}
Emile Habibi (author)
Zevulun Hammer (politician)
Abba Hushi (Mayor of Haifa)
Moshe Kahlon (politician)
Uzi Landau (politician)
Avi Lerner (movie executive)
Ari Libsker (journalist)
Uri Lupolianski (Mayor of Jerusalem)
Shiri Maimon (pop singer)
Sami Michael (author)
Izidore Musallam (film director)
Noam Okun (tennis player)
Yehuda Poliker (singer)
Galila Ron-Feder Amit (author)
Moshe Safdie (architect)
Simon Shaheen (musician-Oud Player)
Ehud Shani (general)
Ahlam Shibli (photographer)
Gene Simmons (musician Kiss)
Hillel Slovak (musician Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Daniel Salomon (musician)
David Tartakover (artist)
Emile Toma (politician)
Tewfik Toubi (politician)
Dan Tichon (politician)
Eithan Urbach (swimmer)
Delilah (fictional character from John Rain series)
Yochanan Vollach (footballer, president of Maccabi Haifa)
Yona Yahav (Mayor of Haifa)
Haifa is built on the slopes of the historic Mount Carmel. Known in the 3rd century CE as a dye making center, the city is today home to a mixed population of Jews and Arabs, as well as to the Bahá'í World Centre, and two world-class academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. High tech companies such as Intel, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, and Google have opened R&D facilities in Haifa in recent years.
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 Early history
3 Modern Haifa
4 Religious sites
5 Demographics
6 Politics
6.1 Mayors of Haifa
7 Economy
8 Transportation
8.1 International
8.2 Rail
8.3 Bus
8.4 Underground
8.5 Other
9 Culture and Art
10 Education
10.1 Colleges
11 Tourism
12 Climate
13 Sports
14 Sister cities
15 Neighborhoods
16 Famous residents
17 References
18 External links
18.1 City and universities
18.2 Bahá'í
18.3 Monastery
18.4 Travel
[edit] Etymology
An aerial view of Haifa Bay and the cityThe city's official romanization Haifa and common English pronunciation /ˈhaɪ.fə/ are based on the Arabic name Ḥayfā, although the Standard Hebrew name is Ḥefa. The local Hebrew pronunciation is /xei.ˈfa/.[5]
The origin of the name Haifa is unclear. Some believe it comes from the Hebrew word חוֹף (hof), meaning "beach", or חוֹף יָפֶה (hof yafe), meaning "beautiful beach". Some say it comes from the Hebrew verb root חפה (hafa), meaning "to cover or hide". Christian pilgrims of the Middle Ages (and later the Crusaders) called the town Caiphas or Caifa. Christians believe the name derives from Caiaphas, the High Priest of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus, or from the Aramaic name of Saint Peter, Cephas or Kepah (כפא). Another explanation is that name originates from the words חַי-פֹּה ("hai-po"), meaning "lives here", which is to say, "God lives here".
[edit] Early history
Haifa is first mentioned in Talmudic literature around the 3rd century CE, as a small town near Shikmona, the main Jewish town in the area at that time and a center for making the traditional Tekhelet dye used for Jewish Priests' temple cloth. The archaeological site of Shikmona lies southwest of the modern Bat Galim neighborhood. The Byzantine ruled there until the 7th century, when the city was conquered — first by the Persians, then by the Arabs. In 1100, it was conquered again by the crusaders, after a fierce battle with its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants.[6] Under crusader rule, the city was a part of the Principality of Galilee until the Muslim Mameluks captured it in 1265.
In 1761 Daher El-Omar, Bedouin ruler of Acre and Galilee, destroyed and rebuilt the town in a new location, surrounding it with a wall[7]. This event is marked as the beginning of the town's modern era. After El-Omar's death in 1775, the town remained under Ottoman rule until 1918, except for two brief periods: in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Haifa as part of his unsuccessful campaign to conquer Palestine and Syria, but withdrew the same year[8]; and between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy Mehemet Ali governed, after his son Ibrahim Pasha wrested control from the Ottomans.
[edit] Modern Haifa
The Oil Refineries, HaifaIn the years following the Egyptian occupation, Haifa grew in population and importance while Acre suffered a decline. The arrival of the German Templers in 1868, who settled in what is now known as the German Colony of Haifa, was a turning point in Haifa's development. The Templers played a major role in commerce and industry, and helped to modernize the city.
Haifa's population increased from 1,000 in 1800 to 2,000 by 1840, 6000 in 1880, 20,000 in 1914 and 24,600 in 1922.[9].
At the beginning of the 20th Century, Haifa had emerged as an industrial port city and growing population center, reflected by the establishment of facilities like the Hejaz railway and the Technion. At that time, the Haifa District (which included a number of Arab locales surrounding the city of Haifa itself) was home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants, comprised of 82% Muslim Arab, 14% Christian Arabs, and 4% Jewish residents. Jewish population increased steadily with immigration primarily from Europe, so that by 1945 the population had shifted to 33% Muslim, 20% Christian and 47% Jewish.[10] In 1947 its population was estimated to consist of 41,000 Muslims, 74,230 Jews and 29,910 Christians. The Christian community was composed mostly of Greek Orthodox Church (Arab Orthodox).
Haifa is located in the northernmost reach of the coastal plain designated as Jewish territory in the 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing mandatory Palestine, and was not excepted to the violence following that plan and culminating in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. On 30 December 1947 members of the Jewish militant group Irgun hurled two bombs into a crowd of Arabs who were waiting for construction jobs outside the gates of the Consolidated Refineries in Haifa, killing 6 and injuring 42, whereupon 2,000 Arab employees rioted and killed 39 Jewish employees in what has become known as the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre. Jewish forces retaliated by raiding the Arab village of Balad al-Shaykh on December 31, 1947. Jewish forces deemed control of Haifa a critical objective in the ensuing 1948 Arab-Israeli War, as it was the major industrial and oil refinery port in Palestine. The British withdrew from Haifa on the 21st of April, 1948. The city was captured on April 23, 1948 by the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah who were ordered into action by Mordechai Maklef at 10:30am on the 21st of April following three months of unsuccessful attacks by Arab forces. The majority of the Muslim population fled through the British-controlled port. However as many as 2,000 Christians remained in the city by June of 1948 and there were an additional 1,300 Muslims remaining as well.
Haifa was the target of many Hezbollah rockets during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, which caused suffering for Jews and Arabs alike.
[edit] Religious sites
View of the Bahá'í Gardens from above.Haifa, home to Jews, Muslim and Christian Arabs, Ahmadis (in Kababir), Druze (in Daliyat al-Carmel), and Bahá'ís, is often portrayed as a mosaic of peaceful coexistence.
Mount Carmel (Hebrew: God's vinyard) and Kishon River are both mentioned in the Bible. Mount Carmel is riddled with caves, and one of those near Haifa is traditionally known as the "Cave of Elijah", and considered by many Jews to have been the home of the Jewish biblical Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha. The highest peak of the Mount Carmel range is named El-Muhrrakah, an Arabic term meaning the burning, named on account of the belief that this was the exact spot of Elijah's biblical confrontation with hundreds of priests of a Baal; the Baal in question was probably Melqart[11].
The Carmelites were founded at, and named after, Mount Carmel, in the 12th century. Since that time, at the peak of the Mount near Haifa, there has historically been a building that has variously been a mosque, monastery, and hospital; in the 19th century it was reconstructed as a Carmelite monastery, and a cave located there, which functions as the monastery's crypt, was treated as having once been Elijah's cave. It is now a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination. [citation needed]
Haifa is also cherished by members of the Bahá'í Faith as it is an important site of worship, pilgrimage and administration for the members of the religion. The Bahá'í World Centre (comprising the Shrine of the Báb, terraced gardens and administrative buildings) are all on Mount Carmel's northern slope. The location of the Bahá'í holy places in Haifa has its roots to the imprisonment of the religion's founder, Bahá'u'lláh, near Haifa by the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Palestine. The Bahá'í holy places are also the most visited tourist attraction of the city.
The ruins of Shikmona, at the foot of Mount Carmel, is also considered historically important by Jews[citation needed]. Shikmona is also mentioned in the Talmud as the coastal town in which the blue dye for the Jewish prayer shawl Talit (the Techelet thread) was extracted from sea-snails.
The Cave of Elijah - Elijah is considered a prophet by Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. The Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. According to tradition Elijah lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel during the reign of King Ahab.
Stella Maris is a French Carmelite church, monastery and hospice. The Carmelite Order, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, was named after this location, where it was founded. Located atop Mount Carmel, there is a hiking trail connecting it to the Cave of Elijah below.[12]
[edit] Demographics
The city has a population of about 267,800 people. 90% of the population are Israeli-Jews with some "others". The latter group consists Israelis without religious classification, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from mixed-marriage families. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Israeli-Arabs constitute 9% of Haifa's population, the majority living in Wadi Nisnas, Abbas and Halisa neighborhoods.[13]
[edit] Politics
As an industrial port city, Haifa has traditionally been a Labor party stronghold. The strong presence of dock workers and trade unions earned it the nickname 'Red Haifa.' In addition, many prominent Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party, among them Tewfiq Toubi, Emile Habibi, Zaki Karkabi, Bulus Farah and Emili Toma, were all from Haifa. In recent years, there has been a drift toward the center.[14][15][16] In the 2006 legislative elections, the Kadima party received about 28.9% of the votes in Haifa, while Labor lagged behind with 16.9%.[17]
[edit] Mayors of Haifa
Abba Hushi, mayor of HaifaNajib Effendi al-Yasin (1873-1877)
Akhmad Effendi Jalabi (1878-1881)
Mustafa Bey al-Salih (1881-1884)
Mustafa Pasha al-Khalil (1885-1903)
Jamil Sadiq (1904-1910)
Rif'at al-Salah (1910-1911)
Ibrahim al-Khalil (1911-1913)
Abd al-Rahman al-Haj (1920-1927)
Hasan Bey Shukri (1914-1920, 1927-1940)
Shabtai Levy (1940-1951)
Abba Hushi (1951–1969)
Moshe Flimann (1969–1973)
Yosef Almogi (1974–1975)
Yeruham Zeisel (1975–1978)
Arie Gur'el (1978–1993)
Amram Mitzna (1993–2003)
Giora Fisher (interim mayor, 2003)
Yona Yahav (2003–)
[edit] Economy
View across Haifa Bay from Mt. Carmel.The industrial region of Haifa is north of the city, near the Kishon River. Haifa is home to one of the two oil refineries in Israel (the other located in Ashdod). The refinery in Haifa is capable of processing about 9 million tons (66 million barrels) of crude oil a year and is the center of a wide array of petrochemical industries located in and around Haifa. [citation needed] Its twin 76-meter cooling towers, built in the 1930s, have long symbolized the city of Haifa. [citation needed]
Matam (Merkaz Ta'asiya v'Meida/Scientific Industries Center), the largest and oldest business park in Israel, is located at the southern entrance to the city, hosting manufacturing and R&D facilities for a large number of Israeli and international hi-tech companies, such as Intel, Elbit, Zoran, Microsoft, Philips, Google and Amdocs. The campus of the University of Haifa is also home to IBM Haifa Labs.[7]
The Port of Haifa is the leader in passenger traffic among Israeli ports,[8] and is also a major cargo harbor, though deregulation has seen its dominance challenged by the port of Ashdod.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] International
Flights to Cyprus depart from Haifa Airport, and international cruise ships call at Haifa port.
[edit] Rail
For intercity transport, there are six Israel Railways railroad stations and three "central" bus stations. The Nahariya-Tel Aviv main line railway runs along the Gulf of Haifa; stations within the municipal boundaries of Haifa, from the direction Tel Aviv, are:
Hof HaCarmel Railway Station near Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station
Haifa Bat-Galim Railway Station near Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station
Haifa Merkaz (Central) near Haifa Seaport
Lev HaMifratz Railway Station near Lev HaMifratz Mall and Mifratz Central Bus Station
Hutzot HaMifratz Railway Station in the Hutzot HaMifratz Shopping Center
Kiryat Haim Railway Station
A seventh stop is in nearby Kiryat Motzkin (Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station), a Northern suburb. Haifa Mizrach (Haifa East) now out of passenger use, houses the Israel Railway Museum. The railway lines also serve a metropolitan train with 7 stops only, called the Parvarit.
[edit] Bus
The bus stations, from Tel Aviv northwards, are: Hof HaCarmel, Bat Galim, and Merkazit HaMifratz. All of these stations are served by Egged city, suburban, and intercity buses.
In 2006, Haifa also implemented a trial network of neighborhood mini-buses - named "Shchunatit" run by Egged.
Haifa is the only city in Israel where buses operate on Shabbat.
In 2008, Haifa and the Krayot region will also be linked via Metronit - a bus rapid transit/light rail system.
[edit] Underground
Main article: Carmelit
Haifa is the home to Israel's only subway system. It is called Carmelit (Hebrew: כרמלית) and is implemented as an underground funicular.
It runs from downtown Paris square to Gan HaEm (Mother's Park) on Mount Carmel. With a single track, six stations and two trains, it is listed in the Guinness World Records as world's shortest metro line.
[edit] Other
The Stella Maris gondola lift cable car, consisting of 6 cabins, connects Bat Galim on the coast to the Stella Maris observation deck and monastery atop Mount Carmel; it is chiefly a tourist attraction.
[edit] Culture and Art
Haifa is the cultural capital of northern Israel, but being just an hour away from Tel-Aviv, and being mostly seen as an industrial city, it has always struggled to maintain a lively cultural scene. During the 1950s, mayor Abba Hushi made a special effort to encourage authors and poets to move to Haifa. Hushi also founded Haifa Theatre, a repertory theater based in the city.
Haifa also has an orchestra, the New Haifa Symphony Orchestra, originally founded in 1950 [18]. The Haifa Cinematheque, founded in 1975, hosts the annual Haifa International Film Festival during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday.
[edit] Education
Haifa University, The Eshkol TowerHaifa is home to two internationally acclaimed universities and several colleges. The University of Haifa, founded in 1963, is located at the top of Mt. Carmel. The campus was designed by the architect of Brasilia and United Nations Headquarters in New York, Oscar Niemeyer. More buildings have been added since then. The top floor of the 30-story Eshkol Tower provides a panoramic view of northern Israel. The Hecht Museum, with important archeology and art collections, is located on the campus of Haifa University. The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, described as Israel's MIT, was founded in 1924. It has 18 faculties and 42 research institutes. The original building is now home to the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space. The first technological high school in Israel, Basmat, was established in Haifa in 1933. [19]
[edit] Colleges
Colleges in Haifa include:
Gordon College of Education
WIZO Design Academy
Michlala Leminhal College of Management, Haifa branch
Open University of Israel - Haifa branch
Tiltan College of Design
Nursing College
Sha'anan Religious Teachers' College
P.E.T Practical Engineering School
[edit] Tourism
Haifa bayThe city of Haifa is divided into three topographical levels. The lower city is the commercial center with modern port facilities. The middle level is an older residential zone and the upper level consists of modern neighborhoods, overlooking the sandy beaches of Haifa Bay. The Carmelit connects the upper and lower city, and many neighborhoods are connected by long flights of stairs.
The Bahá'í World Centre, with the golden Shrine of the Báb and the surrounding gardens, is the main tourist attraction of Haifa. The restored German Colony, founded by the Templers, Stella Maris and the Carmelite monastery are also popular tourist sites.
In Haifa area, the artist's village of Ein Hod attracts many tourists. It was established in 1953 by Marcel Janco, a leading artist of the Dada movement, and it overlooks the Mediterranean coast and the Crusader castle of Atlit. Today, ninety artists and craftsmen have studios there and exhibit their work in the main gallery and other art spaces. [20]
In Mount Carmel national park, visitors can see the caves where Neanderthal and early Homo Sapiens remains were found, and the location where tradition places Elijah's confrontation with the Ba'al prophets, and where now another Carmelite monastery is located. The Carmel is also a popular hiking area.
Haifa has a wide variety of malls and shopping centers, the largest being Hutsot Hamifratz, Horev Center Mall, Panorama Center, Castra Center, Colony Center (Lev HaMoshava), Hanevi'im Tower Mall, Kenyon Haifa, Lev Hamifratz Mall and Grand Kenyon.
[edit] Climate
Haifa has a Mediterranean climate with hot, humid summers and cool, rainy winters. The average temperature in summer is 26 °C and in winter, 12 °C. Snow is rare in Haifa, but temperatures around 6 °C can sometimes occur, usually in the early morning. The wet season is from October to April.
[edit] Sports
Kiryat Eliezer stadium, HaifaThe city has eight football (soccer) clubs, the two first are in the major leagues in Israel:
Maccabi Haifa
Hapoel Haifa
Beitar Haifa
Akhva Haifa
Spartak Haifa
Neve Yosef
Bnei Kababir
Hapoel Neve Sha'anan
Maccabi Haifa is one of the most successful football clubs in Israel nowadays, with 10 championships, 5 cups and 3 League cups. Both Hapoel and Maccabi have football schools in Haifa suburbs and other villages (including Arab and Druze villages) in the northern part of Israel. Haifa also has basketball, volleyball, tennis, and handball clubs.
The city boasts some of the best surfing beaches in the country near Bat Galim, with kite surfing and sailing clubs. The Haifa Tennis Club located nearby the south-west entrance is one of the largest in Israel.
The main stadiums are Kiryat Eliezer, seating 14,000, and Kiryat Haim. The main basketball arena is Romema Sports Arena, seating 2,000; Neve Sha'anan Athletic seats 1,000. A UEFA-approved stadium is planned for south-west Haifa. It will seat 30,000 people.
[edit] Sister cities
Haifa has Sister Cities all over the world. The year in parentheses indicates the year in which the agreement was made.
Aalborg, Denmark (1973)
Antwerp, Belgium (1986)
Boston, Massachusetts, United States (1999)
Bremen, Germany (1978)
Cape Town, South Africa (1975)
Düsseldorf, Germany (1988)
Erfurt, Germany (2005)
Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States (2002)
Hackney, London, United Kingdom (1968)
Limassol, Cyprus (2000)
Mainz, Germany (1987)
Mannheim, Germany (2005)
Manila, Philippines (1971)
Marrakech, Morocco
Marseille, France (1962)
Newcastle, United Kingdom
Odessa, Ukraine (1992)
Portsmouth, United Kingdom (1962)
Rosario, Argentina (1988)
San Fransisco, California, United States (1973)
Shanghai, China (1994)
[edit] Neighborhoods
Bat Galim
Kiryat Eliezer
Kiryat Eliyahu
Hadar (Hadar HaCarmel)
Hadar Elyon
Ahuza (Horev)
Merkaz Ha-Carmel ("Carmel Center")
Shprintzak
Carmel Ma'aravi (Western Carmel)
Hof Hacarmel (Carmel Beach)
Carmeliya
Carmel Tzarfati (French Carmel)
Ramat HaTishbi
Stella Maris
Neve Sha'anan
Neve Yosef
Vardiya
Ramot Sapir
Ramat Chen
Ramat Almogi
Ramat Alon
Ramat Alon South
Ramat Golda
Ramat Remez
Ramat Haviv
Ramat Hadar
Ramat Denia
Ein HaYam
Ramat Begin (Soroka)
Ramat Eshkol
Halisa
Wadi Nisnas
Wadi Salib
German Colony
HaMifratz (Haifa Bay Gulf of Haifa)
Kiryat Haim
Kiryat Shmuel
Kababir
Romema
Shambur
Neve Paz
Kiryat Rabin (Government District)
[edit] Famous residents
Abed Abdi (painter, sculptor)
Reuven Atar (footballer)
Ralph Bakshi (animator and director)
Tal Banin (footballer)
Arik Benado (footballer)
Mike Brant (pop star)
David Broza (musician)
Aaron Ciechanover (Biologist, 2004 Nobel Prize, Chemistry)
Yaakov Dorchin {painter)
Amos Gitai (film director)
Ivry Gitlis (violinist)
Amir Gutfreund (author}
Emile Habibi (author)
Zevulun Hammer (politician)
Abba Hushi (Mayor of Haifa)
Moshe Kahlon (politician)
Uzi Landau (politician)
Avi Lerner (movie executive)
Ari Libsker (journalist)
Uri Lupolianski (Mayor of Jerusalem)
Shiri Maimon (pop singer)
Sami Michael (author)
Izidore Musallam (film director)
Noam Okun (tennis player)
Yehuda Poliker (singer)
Galila Ron-Feder Amit (author)
Moshe Safdie (architect)
Simon Shaheen (musician-Oud Player)
Ehud Shani (general)
Ahlam Shibli (photographer)
Gene Simmons (musician Kiss)
Hillel Slovak (musician Red Hot Chili Peppers)
Daniel Salomon (musician)
David Tartakover (artist)
Emile Toma (politician)
Tewfik Toubi (politician)
Dan Tichon (politician)
Eithan Urbach (swimmer)
Delilah (fictional character from John Rain series)
Yochanan Vollach (footballer, president of Maccabi Haifa)
Yona Yahav (Mayor of Haifa)
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (Hebrew: יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (help·info), Yerushaláyim; Arabic: القُدس (help·info), al-Quds)[ii] is the capital and largest city of Israel[2] in both population and area,[3] with 732,100 residents in an area of 126 square kilometers (49 sq mi).[1] Located in the Judean Mountains, between the Mediterranean Sea and the northern tip of the Dead Sea, the city has a history that goes back as far as the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.[4] Jerusalem has been the holiest city in Judaism and the spiritual center of the Jewish people since the 10th century BCE.[5] The city contains a number of significant ancient Christian sites and is considered the third-holiest city in Islam.[6]
The walled area of Jerusalem, which constituted the entire city until the 1860s, is now called the Old City, and was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger in 1982.[7] The Old City has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were only introduced in the early 19th century.[8] Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile),[9] the Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.
Modern Jerusalem has grown up around the Old City, with its civic and cultural hub extending westward toward Israel's urban center in Gush Dan. The Arab population resides in clusters in the North, East and South. Today, Jerusalem remains a bone of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem (captured in the 1967 Six-Day War) has been particularly controversial, as Palestinians view this part of the city as the capital of a potential Palestinian state.[10][11] The status of a "united Jerusalem" as Israel's "eternal capital"[12][13] has not been officially recognized by most of the international community, and nearly all countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv.[14]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Temple periods
2.2 Shifts in control
2.3 State of Israel
3 Geography
3.1 Climate
4 Demographics
5 Local government
6 Capital of Israel
6.1 Palestinian claims
7 Culture
7.1 Religious significance
7.2 Sports
8 Economy
9 Transportation
10 Education
11 See also
11.1 Sister cities
12 Endnotes
12.1 References
12.2 Other resources
13 External links
13.1 Maps
13.2 Media
[edit] Etymology
Jerusalem
Names
History
Timeline
Sites
Old City
Buildings
Demographics
Mayors
Religions
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Mandaeism
Positions
Transportation
Education
v • d • e
Further information: Names of Jerusalem
Although the precise origin of the Hebrew name for Jerusalem, Yerushalayim remains uncertain, scholars have come up with a variety of interpretations. Some say it means "legacy of peace" — a portmanteau of yerusha (legacy) and shalom (peace). "Shalom" is a cognate of the Hebrew name "Shlomo," i.e., King Solomon," the builder of the First Temple.[15][16] Alternatively, the second part of the portmanteau could be Salem (Shalem literally "whole" or "in harmony"), an early name for Jerusalem[17] that appears in the Book of Genesis.[18] Others cite the Amarna letters, where the Akkadian name of the city appears as Urušalim, a cognate of the Hebrew Ir Shalem. Some believe there is a connection to Shalim, the beneficent deity known from Ugaritic myths as the personification of dusk.[19]
A Midrashic interpretation in Genesis Rabba explains that Abraham came to the city that was then called Shalem after rescuing Lot.[20] Upon arrival, he asked the king and high priest Melchizedek to bless him, and Melchizedek did so in the name of God (indicating that he, like Abraham, was a monotheist). This encounter between Melchizedek and Abraham was commemorated by renaming the city in their honor: the name Yeru (derived from Yireh, the name Abraham gave to the Temple Mount) was combined with Shalem,[20] producing Yeru-Shalem, meaning the "city of Shalem," or "founded by Shalem." If shalem means "complete," or "without defect, " Yerushalayim would mean the "perfect city," or "the city of he who is perfect".[21] The ending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual, leading to an interpretation of the name as representing two facets of the city, such as two hills.[22][23] The pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint.
[edit] History
Main article: History of Jerusalem
See also: History of ancient Israel and Judah, History of Palestine, and Timeline of Jerusalem
Ceramic evidence indicates the occupation of Ophel, within present-day Jerusalem, as far back as the Copper Age, c. 4th millennium BCE,[24][4] with evidence of a permanent settlement during the early centuries of the Early Bronze Age, c. 3000-2800 BCE.[24] Ann Killebrew has shown how Jerusalem was a large and important walled city in the MB IIB and IA IIC (ca. 1800-1550 and 720-586 BCE), during the intervening Late Bronze (LB) and IA I and IIA/B Ages Jerusalem was a small and relatively insignificant and unfortified town.[25] The earliest written references to the city are probably in the Berlin and Brussels groups of Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE) (which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen)[24] and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE).[26][27] Some archaeologists, including Kathleen Kenyon, believe Jerusalem as a city was founded by West Semitic people with organized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to tradition the city was founded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. The Biblical account portrays the Jebusites as having control of the city, inhabiting the area around the present-day city until the late 11th century BCE when David is said to have invaded and conquered their city, Jebus, and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah (c. 1000s BCE).[28][29][iv] Recent excavations of a large stone structure are interpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative.
[edit] Temple periods
Artist's depiction of the First Temple, according to Biblical descriptionsAccording to the Hebrew Bible, David reigned until 970 BCE, when his son Solomon became king of Israel.[30] Within a decade, Solomon began to build the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah inside the city. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish and Christian history as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.[31] The next four centuries, up until the destruction of Solomon's Temple (c. 586 BCE), are known in history as the First Temple Period.[32] Upon Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.[33] When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon's Temple.[33] However, since most claims of the Fall of Jerusalem are gathered from the Ptolemaic records, which some dates have been found to be erroneous; Some point to the Destruction of Jerusalem occurring in 607 BCE. This would be about 70 years prior to 538-537 dates of the conquest of Babylon from the Persians and hence the Restoration of the Jews.
In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great permitted the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and their holy temple. Construction of the Second Temple, was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple.[34][35] Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship. When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea fell under Hellenistic Greek control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized polis came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias the High Priest and his five sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.[36]
The Tower of David as seen from the Hinnom ValleyAs Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.[37][38][30] In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding area, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province[39] and Herod's descendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of Judea until 96 CE. Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the first Jewish-Roman war, the Great Jewish Revolt, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. In 130 CE Hadrian attempted to Romanize the city, and renamed it Aelia Capitolina.[40] Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year rebellion known as the Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans succeeded in recapturing the city in 135 CE and as a punitive measure Hadrian banned the Jews from entering it. Hadrian proceeded to rename the entire Iudaea Province to Syria Palaestina after the Biblical Philistines in an attempt to thwart future rebellion and to de-Judaize Judea.[41][42]
[edit] Shifts in control
Capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, 1099 (from a medieval manuscript)In the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman then Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period: The city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of 200,000[43][41] From the days of Constantine until the Arab conquest in 638, Jews were banned from Jerusalem,[44] but were allowed back into the city by Muslim rulers.[45] By the end of the 7th century, an Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik had commissioned and completed the construction of the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone.[46] In the four hundred years that followed, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.[47]
In 1099, Jerusalem was besieged by the First Crusaders, who killed most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, apart from many Christians.[48] That would be the first of several conquests to take place over the next four hundred years. In 1187, the city was taken from the Crusaders by Saladin.[49] Between 1228 and 1244, it was given by Saladin's descendant al-Kamil to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Jerusalem fell again in 1244 to the Khawarizmi Turks, who were later, in 1260, replaced by the Mamelukes. In 1517, Jerusalem and its environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who would maintain control of the city until the 20th century.[49] This era saw the first expansion outside the Old City walls, as new neighborhoods were established to relieve the overcrowding that had become so prevalent. The first of these new neighborhoods included the Russian Compound and the Jewish Mishkenot Sha'ananim, both founded in 1860.[50]
General Edmund Allenby enters the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 1917In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city.[51] The League of Nations, through its 1922 ratification of the Balfour Declaration, entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate of Palestine and help establish a Jewish state in the region.[52] The period of the Mandate saw the construction of new garden suburbs in the western and northern parts of the city[53][54] and the establishment of institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University, founded in 1925.[55]
[edit] State of Israel
See also: UN General Assembly Resolution 194
As the British Mandate of Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan (Part III) recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the United Nations."[56] However, this plan was never implemented and at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem found itself divided between Israel and Jordan (then known as Transjordan). The ceasefire line established through the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Israel and Jordan, cut through the center of the city from 1949 until 1967, during which time West Jerusalem was part of Israel and East Jerusalem was part of Jordan. In 1949, Israel designated West Jerusalem as its capital. Contrary to the terms of the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Jordan and Israel, Israelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated, and only allowed extremely limited access to Christian holy sites.[57][58]
Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel captured East Jerusalem, asserted sovereignty over the entire city, and later in 1980 declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", to be the capital of Israel.[59] However, East Jerusalem has been seen by the Palestinian Arabs as a possible capital of a proposed Palestinian state.[60][61] They also refer to Security Council resolution 252, which considers invalid expropriation of land and other actions that tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem.[62] The status of the city and of its holy places remains disputed to this day.
[edit] Geography
Ein Karem in the hills of southwest JerusalemJerusalem is situated around 31°47′N, 35°13′E on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus (North East). The elevation of the Old City is approximately 760 metres (2,500 ft).[63] The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds (wadis), although those to the north are less pronounced than those on the other sides.
Three of the most prominent valleys in the region, the Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoeon Valleys, intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem.[64] The Kidron Valley runs just to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, a steep ravine associated in Biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or hell.[65] A third valley commenced in the northwest near the present-day location of Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west (the lower and the upper cities described by Josephus). Today, this valley, the Tyropoeon Valley, is mostly hidden from view due to the amount of debris that has accumulated within the ravine over the past few millennia.[64]
Jerusalem is 60 kilometers (37 mi)[66] east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite side of the city, approximately 35 kilometers (22 mi)[67] away, is the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighboring cities and towns include Bethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, Abu Dis and Ma'ale Adumim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv'at Ze'ev to the north.[68][69][70]
[edit] Climate
The city is characterized by a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers, and cold, wet winters. Snowfall occurs every couple of winters. January is the coldest month of the year, with an average temperature of 8 °C (46 °F). July and August are the hottest months, with an average temperature of 23 °C (73 °F).[71] Temperatures vary widely from day to night, and Jerusalem evenings are typically cool even in summer. The average annual precipitation is close to 590 millimetres (23 in) with rain occurring usually from October to May.[71]
[hide]Weather averages for Jerusalem
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high °C (°F) 12 (53) 13 (56) 16 (61) 21 (70) 25 (77) 28 (82) 29 (84) 29 (84) 28 (82) 25 (77) 19 (66) 14 (57)
Average low °C (°F) 4 (39) 4 (40) 6 (43) 9 (49) 12 (54) 15 (59) 17 (63) 17 (63) 16 (61) 14 (57) 9 (49) 6 (42)
Precipitation mm (inch) 142.2 (5.6) 114.3 (4.5) 99.1 (3.9) 30.5 (1.2) 2.5 (0.1) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.0 (0.0) 22.9 (0.9) 68.8 (2.7) 109.2 (4.3)
Source: The Weather Channel[72]
Most of the air pollution in Jerusalem comes from vehicular traffic, especially in East Jerusalem.[73] Many main streets in Jerusalem were not built to accommodate such a large volume of traffic, leading to traffic congestion and more carbon monoxide released into the air. Industrial pollution inside the city is sparse, but emissions from factories on the Israeli Mediterranean coast can travel eastward and settle over the city.[73][74]
[edit] Demographics
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v • d • e
Population of Jerusalem Year Total
1844 15,510
1876 25,030
1896 45,420
1922 62,578
1931 90,053
1944 157,000
1948 165,000
1967 263,307
1980 407,100
1985 457,700
1990 524,400
1995 617,000
2000 657,500
2005 706,400
Main article: Demographics of Jerusalem
In May 2006, Jerusalem had a population of 724,000, of whom 65% were Jewish, 32% were Muslim, and 2% were Christian, and a population density of 5,750.4 inhabitants per square kilometer (14,893.5/sq mi).[3][75] In 2005, Jerusalem received 2,450 immigrants, with nearly three quarters of them arriving from the United States, France, and former members of the Soviet Union. Within Israel, emigrants from Jerusalem outnumber immigrants to the city. In 2005, over ten thousand Israelis migrated to Jerusalem while over sixteen thousand left the city.[3] The population of Jerusalem, however, continues to rise due to high birth rates, especially among the Arab and Haredi Jewish communities (whose birth rates are higher than the Israeli national average). Consequently, the total fertility rate in Jerusalem (4.02) is far higher than those of comparable cities in the region such as Tel Aviv (1.98) and well above the national average of 2.90. Similarly, the average size of Jerusalem's 180,000 households is 3.8 people.[3]
In 2005, the total number of residents in Jerusalem grew by approximately thirteen thousand (1.8%) — also well above the Israeli national average. However, as the city has continued to grow, the religious and ethnic composition of Jerusalem has proceeded to shift. Although Jews account for the majority of people in Jerusalem, they only account for thirty-one percent of the children under age fifteen.[3] This recent data corroborates the observation that the Jewish population of Jerusalem has been declining over the past four decades. In 1967, the year of the Six-Day War, Jews accounted for seventy-four percent of the population, which is nine percent more than their share of the population in 2006.[76] Explanations for this decline are the soaring cost of housing in Jerusalem, the smaller job market and the growing religious character of the city. Many young people are moving to the suburbs and coastal cities in search of cheaper housing and the more secular lifestyle offered by other cities.[77]
Demographics and the Jewish-Arab population split continue to play a major role in carving the outcome of the dispute over Jerusalem. In 1998, the chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority even proposed expanding city limits to the west so as to include more areas heavily populated with Jews.[78]
[edit] Local government
Kikar Safra, Jerusalem City HallThe Jerusalem City Council has thirty-one elected members, one of whom is the mayor. The mayor serves a five-year term and appoints six deputies. The current mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski was elected in 2003.[79] Apart from the mayor and his deputies, City Council members receive no salaries and work on a voluntary basis. The longest-serving Jerusalem mayor was Teddy Kollek, who spent twenty-eight years — six consecutive terms — in office. Most of the meetings of the Jerusalem City Council are private, but each month, it holds a session that is open to the public.[79] Within the city council, religious political parties form an especially powerful faction, accounting for the majority of its seats.[80] The headquarters of the Jerusalem Municipality and the mayor's office are at Safra Square (Kikar Safra) on Jaffa Road. The new municipal complex, comprising two modern buildings and ten renovated historic buildings surrounding a large plaza, opened in 1993.[81] The city falls under the Jerusalem District, with Jerusalem as the district's capital.
[edit] Capital of Israel
Further information: Positions on Jerusalem
See also: Politics of Israel
On December 5, 1949, the State of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's capital[13] and since then all branches of the Israeli government — legislative, judicial, and executive — have resided there.[82] At the time of the proclamation, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and thus only West Jerusalem was considered Israel's capital. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, however, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, making it a de facto part of the Israeli capital. Israel enshrined the status of the "complete and united" Jerusalem — west and east — as its capital, in the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.[59]
The Knesset Building in Jerusalem, home to the legislative branch of the Israeli governmentThe non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, passed on August 20, 1980, declared that this law was "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith." Member states were advised to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city as a punitive measure. Most of the remaining countries with embassies in Jerusalem complied with the resolution by relocating them to Tel Aviv, where many embassies already resided prior to Resolution 478. Currently there are no embassies located within the city limits of Jerusalem, although there are embassies in Mevasseret Zion, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and four consulates in the city itself.[83] In 1995, the United States Congress had planned to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with the passage of the Jerusalem Embassy Act.[84] However, U.S. presidents, including President Bush and President Clinton, have argued that Congressional resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem are merely advisory. The Constitution reserves foreign relations as an executive power, and as such, the US embassy is still in Tel Aviv.[85] Israel's most prominent governmental institutions, including the Knesset,[86] the Supreme Court,[87] and the official residences of the President and Prime Minister, are located in Jerusalem.
[edit] Palestinian claims
Further information: Positions on Jerusalem (Palestinian)
Prior to the creation of the State of Israel, Jerusalem served as the administrative capital of the British Mandate of Palestine, which included present-day Israel and Jordan.[88] From 1949 until 1967, West Jerusalem served as Israel's capital but was not recognized internationally as Israel's capital, because UN General Assembly Resolution 194 ruled Jerusalem an international city. As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, the whole of Jerusalem came under Israeli control. According to the Oslo Accords, the final status of Jerusalem should be determined by peaceful negotiations, as the Palestinian National Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.[10] Orient House was the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1980s and 1990s, but is currently closed.[89]
[edit] Culture
The Shrine of the Book, housing the Dead Sea Scrolls, at the Israel Museum
Outside the Children's Memorial at Yad VashemAlthough Jerusalem is known around the world for its religious significance, the city is also home to many artistic and cultural venues. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem's premier art museum, annually attracts nearly one million visitors, approximately one-third of them visitors from overseas.[90] The twenty-acre museum complex comprises several buildings featuring special exhibits and extensive collections of Judaica, archeological findings, and Israeli and European art. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered in the mid-twentieth century in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea, are housed in the Museum's Shrine of the Book.[91] The Youth Wing, which mounts changing exhibits and runs an extensive art education program, is visited by 100,000 children a year. The museum has a large outdoor sculpture garden, and a scale-model of the Second Temple was recently moved from the Holyland Hotel to a new location on the museum grounds.[90] Other museums affiliated with the Israel Museum are the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, Ticho House, and the Paley Center of Art. The Rockefeller Museum, located in East Jerusalem, was the first archeological museum in the Middle East. It was built in 1938 during the British Mandate.[92][93] Ticho House, in downtown Jerusalem, houses the paintings of Anna Ticho and the Judaica collections of her husband, an ophthalmologist who opened Jerusalem's first eye clinic in this building in 1912.[94]
Another prominent cultural institution in Jerusalem is Yad Vashem, Israel's national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem houses the world's largest[95] library of Holocaust-related information, with an estimated 100,000 books and articles.[96] The complex contains a state-of-the-art museum that explores the genocide of the Jews through exhibits that focus on the personal stories of individuals and families whose lives were torn asunder, and a gallery displaying permanent and changing exhibits of work by artists who died in the Holocaust.[96] Another memorial at Yad Vashem commemorates the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished at the hands of the Nazis. Yad Vashem operates as both a research and educational institution.
The Jerusalem Theater at nightOne of the city's foremost orchestras is the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, which has been operating since the 1940s.[97] The Orchestra has held performances in cities around the world, including Vienna, Frankfurt, and New York City.[97] Within walking distance of the Old City is a cultural district which includes the Khan Theatre, the only repertoire theater in the city,[98] and the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The Jerusalem Theater, located in the Komemiyut (Talbiya) neighborhood, hosts over 150 concerts a year, as well as theater and dance companies and performing artists from overseas.[99] Other prominent facilities for the performing arts include the International Convention Center (Binyanei HaUma) near the entrance to city, where the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra plays, the Gerard Behar Center in downtown Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Music Center in Yemin Moshe,[100] and the Targ Music Center in Ein Kerem. The Palestinian National Theatre, founded in 1984 and once the only center for art and culture in East Jerusalem,[101] today presents art from the Palestinian perspective.[102] The Israel Festival,[103] featuring local and international vocal artists, concerts, plays and street theater, has been held annually since 1961. For the past 25 years, Jerusalem has been the major organizer of this event, which takes place in May-June, and most of the performances take place at venues around the city.[104]
[edit] Religious significance
Main article: Religious significance of Jerusalem
Jerusalem plays an important role in the three monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The 2000 Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem lists 1204 synagogues, 158 churches, and 73 mosques within the city.[105] Despite efforts to maintain peaceful religious coexistence, some sites, such as the Temple Mount, have been a continuous source of friction and controversy.
The Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in JudaismJerusalem has been sacred to the Jews since the 10th century BCE,[5] as the site of Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple. It is mentioned in the Bible 632 times. Today, the Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple, is a holy site for Jews, second only to the Temple Mount itself.[106] Synagogues around the world are traditionally built with the Holy Ark facing Jerusalem,[107] and Arks within Jerusalem face the "Holy of Holies".[108] As prescribed in the Mishna and codified in the Shulchan Aruch, daily prayers are recited while facing towards Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Many Jews have "Mizrach" plaques hung on a wall of their homes to indicate the direction of prayer.[108][109]
The main entrance to the Church of the Holy SepulchreChristianity reveres Jerusalem not only for its role in the Old Testament but also for its significance in the life of Jesus. According to Biblical accounts, Jesus was brought to the city of Jerusalem not long after his birth[110] and later in his life cleansed the Second Temple.[111] The Cenacle, believed to be the site of Jesus' Last Supper, is located on Mount Zion in the same building that houses the Tomb of King David.[112][113] Another prominent Christian site in Jerusalem is Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. The Gospel of John describes it as being located outside Jerusalem,[114] but recent archaeological evidence suggests Golgotha is a short distance from the Old City walls, within the present-day confines of the city.[115] The land currently occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered one of the top candidates for Golgotha and thus has been a Christian pilgrimage site for the past two thousand years.[115][116][117]
Dome of the Rock viewed through the Temple Mount's Cotton Gate (Bab al-Qattanin)According to tradition, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city in Islam.[6] Before it was permanently switched to the Kabaa in Mecca, the qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims was Jerusalem.[118] The city's lasting place in Islam, however, is primarily due to Muhammad's Night of Ascension (c. 620 CE). Muslims believe Muhammad was miraculously transported one night from Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whereupon he ascended to Heaven to meet previous prophets of Islam.[119][120] The first verse in the Qur'an's Surat al-Isra notes the destination of Muhammad's journey as al-Aqsa (the farthest) mosque,[121] in reference to the location in Jerusalem. Today, the Temple Mount is topped by two Islamic landmarks intended to commemorate the event — al-Aqsa Mosque, derived from the name mentioned in the Qur'an, and the Dome of the Rock, which stands over the Foundation Stone, from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to Heaven.[122]
[edit] Sports
The two most popular sports in Jerusalem, and Israel as a whole, are football (soccer) and basketball.[123] Beitar Jerusalem Football Club is one of the most popular teams in Israel. Fans include several former and current political figures who make a point of attending its games.[124] Jerusalem's other major football team, and one of Beitar's top rivals, is Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club. Whereas Beitar has been Israel State Cup champion five times,[125] Hapoel has only won the Cup once. Also, Beitar plays in the more prestigious premier league, while Hapoel is in the third division national league.
In basketball, Hapoel Jerusalem is higher up on the scale. In a league dominated by Maccabi Tel Aviv it has yet to win a championship, but it has won the Israeli Cup three times, and it took the European ULEB Cup in 2004.[126] Since its opening in 1992, Teddy Kollek Stadium has been Jerusalem's primary football stadium, with a capacity of 21,000.[127]
[edit] Economy
Kanyon Hadar shopping mall in Talpiot
Ben Yehuda Street on Shabbat, when businesses are closedHistorically, Jerusalem's economy was supported almost exclusively by religious pilgrims, as it was located far from the major ports of Jaffa and Gaza.[128] Jerusalem's religious landmarks today remain the top draw for foreign visitors, with the majority of tourists visiting the Western Wall and the Old City,[3] but in the past half-century it has become increasingly clear that Jerusalem's providence cannot solely be sustained by its religious significance.[128]
Although many statistics indicate economic growth in the city, since 1967 East Jerusalem has lagged behind the development of West Jerusalem.[128] Nevertheless, the percentage of households with employed persons is higher for Arab households (76.1%) than for Jewish households (66.8%). The unemployment rate in Jerusalem (8.3%) is slightly better than the national average (9.0%), although the civilian labor force accounted for less than half of all persons fifteen years or older — lower in comparison to that of Tel Aviv (58.0%) and Haifa (52.4%).[3] Poverty in the city has increased dramatically in recent years; between 2001 and 2007, the number of people below the poverty threshold increased by forty percent.[129] In 2006, the average monthly income for a worker in Jerusalem was NIS5,940 (US$1,410), NIS1,350 less than that for a worker in Tel Aviv.[129]
During the British Mandate, a law was passed requiring all buildings to be constructed of Jerusalem stone in order to preserve the unique historic and aesthetic character of the city.[54] Complementing this building code, which is still in force, is the discouragement of heavy industry in Jerusalem; only about 2.2% of Jerusalem's land is zoned for "industry and infrastructure." By comparison, the percentage of land in Tel Aviv zoned for industry and infrastructure is twice as high, and in Haifa, seven times as high.[3] Only 8.5% of the Jerusalem District work force is employed in the manufacturing sector, which is half the national average (15.8%). Higher than average percentages are employed in education (17.9% vs. 12.7%); health and welfare (12.6% vs. 10.7%); community and social services (6.4% vs. 4.7%); hotels and restaurants (6.1% vs. 4.7%); and public administration (8.2% vs. 4.7%).[130] Although Tel Aviv remains Israel's financial center, a growing number of high tech companies are moving to Jerusalem, providing 12,000 jobs in 2006.[131] Northern Jerusalem's Har Hotzvim industrial park is home to some of Israel's major corporations, among them Intel, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and ECI Telecom. Expansion plans for the park envision one hundred businesses, a fire station, and a school, covering an area of 530,000 m² (130 acres).[132]
Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the national government has remained a major player in Jerusalem's economy. The government, centered in Jerusalem, not only generates a large number of jobs, but also offers subsidies and incentives for new business initiatives and start-ups.[128]
[edit] Transportation
Main article: Transport in Jerusalem
Jerusalem's Central Bus StationThe airport nearest to Jerusalem is Atarot Airport, which was used for domestic flights only until its closure in 2001. Since then it has been under the control of the Israel Defense Forces due to disturbances in Ramallah and the West Bank. All air traffic from Atarot was rerouted to Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel's largest and busiest airport, which serves nine million passengers annually.[133]
The Egged Bus Cooperative, the second-largest bus company in the world,[134] handles most of the local and intercity bus service out of the city's Central Bus Station on Jaffa Road near the entrance to Jerusalem. Israel Railways, which hopes to transport forty million passengers annually by 2010,[135] runs a limited rail service to Malha train station, at the terminus of an Israel Railways line from Tel Aviv.[136][137]
Begin Expressway is one of Jerusalem's major north-south thoroughfares; it runs on the western side of the city until its northern end merges with Route 443, which continues toward Tel Aviv. Route 60 runs through the center of the city near the Green Line that, de facto, separates East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem. Construction is progressing on parts of a 35-kilometer (22-mile) ring road around the city, fostering faster connection between the suburbs.[138][139] The eastern half of the project was conceptualized decades ago, but reaction to the proposed highway is still mixed.[138]
As of 2007, Egged buses, taxicabs and private cars are the only transportation options in Jerusalem. However, this will change with the completion of the Jerusalem Light Rail, a new rail-based transit system currently under construction. A rail-based system was first envisioned in 1995; since then, a light rail system has been chosen over a subway or monorail design due to its cheaper cost, minimal disruption, and preservation of the city center's aesthetics.[140] The rail system will be capable of transporting an estimated 200,000 people daily. It will have twenty four stops, and is scheduled for completion in January 2009.[141]
In addition,[141] the new high-speed rail line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will, when completed in 2011, terminate at an underground station serving the national Convention centre and the Central Bus Station,[142] and is planned to be extended eventually to Malha station.
[edit] Education
The campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem atop Mount ScopusJerusalem is home to several prestigious universities, with courses offered in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Founded in 1925, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem[143] is one of the most respected institutions of higher learning in Israel. The Board of Governors has included such prominent Jewish intellectuals as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud.[55] The university has produced several Nobel laureates; recent winners associated with Hebrew University include Avram Hershko,[144] David Gross,[145] and Daniel Kahneman.[146] One of the university's major assets is the Jewish National and University Library, which houses over five million books.[147] The library opened in 1892, over three decades before the university was established, and is one of the world's largest repositories of books on Jewish subjects. Today it is both the central library of the university and the national library of Israel.[148] The Hebrew University operates three campuses in Jerusalem, on Mount Scopus, on Giv'at Ram and a medical campus at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.
Al-Quds University was established in 1984,[149] to serve as a flagship university for the Arab and Palestinian peoples. It describes itself as the "only Arab university in Jerusalem".[150] Al-Quds University resides southeast of the city proper on a campus encompassing 190,000 square metres (47 acres).[149] Other institutions of higher learning in Jerusalem are the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance[151] and Bezalel Academy of Art and Design,[152] whose buildings are located on the campuses of the Hebrew University.
The Jerusalem College of Technology, founded in 1969, combines training in engineering and other high-tech industries with a Jewish studies program.[153] It is one of many schools in Jerusalem, from elementary school and up, that combine secular and religious studies. Numerous religious educational institutions and Yeshivot are based in the city, with the Mir yeshiva claiming to be the largest.[154] There were nearly 8,000 twelfth-grade students in Hebrew-language schools during the 2003–2004 school year.[3] However, due to the large portion of students in Haredi Jewish frameworks, only fifty-five percent of twelfth graders took matriculation exams (Bagrut) and only thirty-seven percent were eligible to graduate. Unlike public schools, many Haredi schools do not prepare students to take standardized tests.[3] To attract more university students to Jerusalem, the city has begaun to offer a special package of financial incentives and housing subsidies to students who rent apartments in downtown Jerusalem.[155]
Schools for Arabs in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel have been criticized for offering a lower quality education than those catering to Israeli Jewish students.[156] While many schools in the heavily Arab East Jerusalem are filled to capacity and there have been complaints of overcrowding, the Jerusalem Municipality is currently building over a dozen new schools within the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah, Issawiya, Sur Baher, Umm Lison, Beit Hanina, and Wadi Joz. In March 2007, the Israeli government approved a 5-year plan to build 8,000 new classrooms in the city, 40 percent in the Arab sector and 28 percent in the Haredi sector. A budget of 4.6 billion shekels was allocated for this project.[157] Because Arab high school students take the Bagrut matriculation exams, much of their curriculum parallels that of other Israeli high schools, including certain Jewish subjects.[156]
[edit] See also
Jerusalem Day
List of places in Jerusalem
Jerusalem Light Rail
Uri Lupolianski, current mayor of Jerusalem
International Day of Quds
[edit] Sister cities
New York City, USA (1993)[158]
[edit] Endnotes
i. ^ The website for Jerusalem is available in three languages — Hebrew, English, and Arabic.
ii. ^ Jerusalem in other languages: Arabic Bibles use أورشليم Ûrshalîm (Ûrushalîm); official Arabic in Israel: أورشليم القدس, Ûrshalîm-al-Quds (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names)
iii. ^ Jerusalem is the capital under Israeli law. The presidential residence, government offices, supreme court and parliament (Knesset) are located there. The Palestinian Authority foresees East Jerusalem as the capital of its future state. The United Nations and most countries do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, arguing that the final status of Jerusalem is pending future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Most countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv (see CIA Factbook and Map of IsraelPDF (319 KiB)) See Positions on Jerusalem for more information.
iv. ^ a b Much of the information regarding King David's conquest of Jerusalem comes from Biblical accounts, but modern-day historians have begun to give them credit due to a 1993 excavation.[159]
v. ^ Statistics regarding the demographics of Jerusalem refer to the unified and expanded Israeli municipality, which includes the pre-1967 Israeli and Jordanian municipalities as well as several additional Palestinian villages and neighborhoods to the northeast. Some of the Palestinian villages and neighborhoods have been relinquished to the West Bank de facto by way of the Israeli West Bank barrier,[160] but their legal statuses have not been reverted.
vi. ^ Sources disagree on the timing of the creation of the Pact of Umar (Omar). Whereas some say the Pact originated during Umar's lifetime but was later expanded,[161][162] others say the Pact was created after his death and retroactively attributed to him.[163] Further still, other historians believe the ideas in the Pact pre-date Islam and Umar entirely.[164]
[edit] References
The walled area of Jerusalem, which constituted the entire city until the 1860s, is now called the Old City, and was added to the List of World Heritage Sites in danger in 1982.[7] The Old City has been traditionally divided into four quarters, although the names used today—the Armenian, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters—were only introduced in the early 19th century.[8] Despite having an area of only 0.9 square kilometer (0.35 square mile),[9] the Old City is home to several sites of key religious importance: the Temple Mount and its Western Wall for Jews, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.
Modern Jerusalem has grown up around the Old City, with its civic and cultural hub extending westward toward Israel's urban center in Gush Dan. The Arab population resides in clusters in the North, East and South. Today, Jerusalem remains a bone of contention in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem (captured in the 1967 Six-Day War) has been particularly controversial, as Palestinians view this part of the city as the capital of a potential Palestinian state.[10][11] The status of a "united Jerusalem" as Israel's "eternal capital"[12][13] has not been officially recognized by most of the international community, and nearly all countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv.[14]
Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
2.1 Temple periods
2.2 Shifts in control
2.3 State of Israel
3 Geography
3.1 Climate
4 Demographics
5 Local government
6 Capital of Israel
6.1 Palestinian claims
7 Culture
7.1 Religious significance
7.2 Sports
8 Economy
9 Transportation
10 Education
11 See also
11.1 Sister cities
12 Endnotes
12.1 References
12.2 Other resources
13 External links
13.1 Maps
13.2 Media
[edit] Etymology
Jerusalem
Names
History
Timeline
Sites
Old City
Buildings
Demographics
Mayors
Religions
Christianity
Islam
Judaism
Mandaeism
Positions
Transportation
Education
v • d • e
Further information: Names of Jerusalem
Although the precise origin of the Hebrew name for Jerusalem, Yerushalayim remains uncertain, scholars have come up with a variety of interpretations. Some say it means "legacy of peace" — a portmanteau of yerusha (legacy) and shalom (peace). "Shalom" is a cognate of the Hebrew name "Shlomo," i.e., King Solomon," the builder of the First Temple.[15][16] Alternatively, the second part of the portmanteau could be Salem (Shalem literally "whole" or "in harmony"), an early name for Jerusalem[17] that appears in the Book of Genesis.[18] Others cite the Amarna letters, where the Akkadian name of the city appears as Urušalim, a cognate of the Hebrew Ir Shalem. Some believe there is a connection to Shalim, the beneficent deity known from Ugaritic myths as the personification of dusk.[19]
A Midrashic interpretation in Genesis Rabba explains that Abraham came to the city that was then called Shalem after rescuing Lot.[20] Upon arrival, he asked the king and high priest Melchizedek to bless him, and Melchizedek did so in the name of God (indicating that he, like Abraham, was a monotheist). This encounter between Melchizedek and Abraham was commemorated by renaming the city in their honor: the name Yeru (derived from Yireh, the name Abraham gave to the Temple Mount) was combined with Shalem,[20] producing Yeru-Shalem, meaning the "city of Shalem," or "founded by Shalem." If shalem means "complete," or "without defect, " Yerushalayim would mean the "perfect city," or "the city of he who is perfect".[21] The ending -im indicates the plural in Hebrew grammar and -ayim the dual, leading to an interpretation of the name as representing two facets of the city, such as two hills.[22][23] The pronunciation of the last syllable as -ayim appears to be a late development, which had not yet appeared at the time of the Septuagint.
[edit] History
Main article: History of Jerusalem
See also: History of ancient Israel and Judah, History of Palestine, and Timeline of Jerusalem
Ceramic evidence indicates the occupation of Ophel, within present-day Jerusalem, as far back as the Copper Age, c. 4th millennium BCE,[24][4] with evidence of a permanent settlement during the early centuries of the Early Bronze Age, c. 3000-2800 BCE.[24] Ann Killebrew has shown how Jerusalem was a large and important walled city in the MB IIB and IA IIC (ca. 1800-1550 and 720-586 BCE), during the intervening Late Bronze (LB) and IA I and IIA/B Ages Jerusalem was a small and relatively insignificant and unfortified town.[25] The earliest written references to the city are probably in the Berlin and Brussels groups of Execration Texts (c. 19th century BCE) (which refer to a city called Roshlamem or Rosh-ramen)[24] and the Amarna letters (c. 14th century BCE).[26][27] Some archaeologists, including Kathleen Kenyon, believe Jerusalem as a city was founded by West Semitic people with organized settlements from around 2600 BCE. According to tradition the city was founded by Shem and Eber, ancestors of Abraham. The Biblical account portrays the Jebusites as having control of the city, inhabiting the area around the present-day city until the late 11th century BCE when David is said to have invaded and conquered their city, Jebus, and established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah (c. 1000s BCE).[28][29][iv] Recent excavations of a large stone structure are interpreted by some archaeologists as lending credence to the biblical narrative.
[edit] Temple periods
Artist's depiction of the First Temple, according to Biblical descriptionsAccording to the Hebrew Bible, David reigned until 970 BCE, when his son Solomon became king of Israel.[30] Within a decade, Solomon began to build the Holy Temple on Mount Moriah inside the city. Solomon's Temple (later known as the First Temple), went on to play a pivotal role in Jewish and Christian history as the repository of the Ark of the Covenant.[31] The next four centuries, up until the destruction of Solomon's Temple (c. 586 BCE), are known in history as the First Temple Period.[32] Upon Solomon's death (c. 930 BCE), the ten northern tribes split off to form the Kingdom of Israel. Under the leadership of the House of David and Solomon, Jerusalem remained the capital of the Kingdom of Judah.[33] When the Assyrians conquered the Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE, Jerusalem was strengthened by a great influx of refugees from the northern kingdom. The First Temple period ended around 586 BCE, as the Babylonians conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and laid waste to Solomon's Temple.[33] However, since most claims of the Fall of Jerusalem are gathered from the Ptolemaic records, which some dates have been found to be erroneous; Some point to the Destruction of Jerusalem occurring in 607 BCE. This would be about 70 years prior to 538-537 dates of the conquest of Babylon from the Persians and hence the Restoration of the Jews.
In 538 BCE, after fifty years of Babylonian captivity, Persian King Cyrus the Great permitted the Jews to return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and their holy temple. Construction of the Second Temple, was completed in 516 BCE, during the reign of Darius the Great, seventy years after the destruction of the First Temple.[34][35] Jerusalem resumed its role as capital of Judah and center of Jewish worship. When Alexander the Great conquered the Persian Empire, Jerusalem and Judea fell under Hellenistic Greek control, eventually falling to the Ptolemaic dynasty under Ptolemy I. In 198 BCE, Ptolemy V lost Jerusalem and Judea to the Seleucids under Antiochus III. The Seleucid attempt to recast Jerusalem as a Hellenized polis came to a head in 168 BCE with the successful Maccabean revolt of Mattathias the High Priest and his five sons against Antiochus Epiphanes, and their establishment of the Hasmonean Kingdom in 152 BCE with Jerusalem again as its capital.[36]
The Tower of David as seen from the Hinnom ValleyAs Rome became stronger it installed Herod as a Jewish client king. Herod the Great, as he was known, devoted himself to developing and beautifying the city. He built walls, towers and palaces, and expanded the Temple Mount, buttressing the courtyard with blocks of stone weighing up to 100 tons. Under Herod, the area of the Temple Mount doubled in size.[37][38][30] In 6 CE, the city, as well as much of the surrounding area, came under direct Roman rule as the Iudaea Province[39] and Herod's descendants through Agrippa II remained client kings of Judea until 96 CE. Roman rule over Jerusalem and the region began to be challenged with the first Jewish-Roman war, the Great Jewish Revolt, which resulted in the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. In 130 CE Hadrian attempted to Romanize the city, and renamed it Aelia Capitolina.[40] Jerusalem once again served as the capital of Judea during the three-year rebellion known as the Bar Kochba revolt. The Romans succeeded in recapturing the city in 135 CE and as a punitive measure Hadrian banned the Jews from entering it. Hadrian proceeded to rename the entire Iudaea Province to Syria Palaestina after the Biblical Philistines in an attempt to thwart future rebellion and to de-Judaize Judea.[41][42]
[edit] Shifts in control
Capture of Jerusalem during the First Crusade, 1099 (from a medieval manuscript)In the five centuries following the Bar Kokhba revolt, the city remained under Roman then Byzantine rule. During the 4th century, the Roman Emperor Constantine I constructed Christian sites in Jerusalem such as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerusalem reached a peak in size and population at the end of the Second Temple Period: The city covered two square kilometers (0.8 sq mi.) and had a population of 200,000[43][41] From the days of Constantine until the Arab conquest in 638, Jews were banned from Jerusalem,[44] but were allowed back into the city by Muslim rulers.[45] By the end of the 7th century, an Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik had commissioned and completed the construction of the Dome of the Rock over the Foundation Stone.[46] In the four hundred years that followed, Jerusalem's prominence diminished as Arab powers in the region jockeyed for control.[47]
In 1099, Jerusalem was besieged by the First Crusaders, who killed most of its Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, apart from many Christians.[48] That would be the first of several conquests to take place over the next four hundred years. In 1187, the city was taken from the Crusaders by Saladin.[49] Between 1228 and 1244, it was given by Saladin's descendant al-Kamil to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II. Jerusalem fell again in 1244 to the Khawarizmi Turks, who were later, in 1260, replaced by the Mamelukes. In 1517, Jerusalem and its environs fell to the Ottoman Turks, who would maintain control of the city until the 20th century.[49] This era saw the first expansion outside the Old City walls, as new neighborhoods were established to relieve the overcrowding that had become so prevalent. The first of these new neighborhoods included the Russian Compound and the Jewish Mishkenot Sha'ananim, both founded in 1860.[50]
General Edmund Allenby enters the Jaffa Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem on December 11, 1917In 1917 after the Battle of Jerusalem, the British Army, led by General Edmund Allenby, captured the city.[51] The League of Nations, through its 1922 ratification of the Balfour Declaration, entrusted the United Kingdom to administer the Mandate of Palestine and help establish a Jewish state in the region.[52] The period of the Mandate saw the construction of new garden suburbs in the western and northern parts of the city[53][54] and the establishment of institutions of higher learning such as the Hebrew University, founded in 1925.[55]
[edit] State of Israel
See also: UN General Assembly Resolution 194
As the British Mandate of Palestine was expiring, the 1947 UN Partition Plan (Part III) recommended "the creation of a special international regime in the City of Jerusalem, constituting it as a corpus separatum under the administration of the United Nations."[56] However, this plan was never implemented and at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Jerusalem found itself divided between Israel and Jordan (then known as Transjordan). The ceasefire line established through the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Israel and Jordan, cut through the center of the city from 1949 until 1967, during which time West Jerusalem was part of Israel and East Jerusalem was part of Jordan. In 1949, Israel designated West Jerusalem as its capital. Contrary to the terms of the Armistice Agreement of 1949 between Jordan and Israel, Israelis were denied access to Jewish holy sites, many of which were desecrated, and only allowed extremely limited access to Christian holy sites.[57][58]
Following the 1967 Six-Day War Israel captured East Jerusalem, asserted sovereignty over the entire city, and later in 1980 declared Jerusalem, "complete and united", to be the capital of Israel.[59] However, East Jerusalem has been seen by the Palestinian Arabs as a possible capital of a proposed Palestinian state.[60][61] They also refer to Security Council resolution 252, which considers invalid expropriation of land and other actions that tend to change the legal status of Jerusalem.[62] The status of the city and of its holy places remains disputed to this day.
[edit] Geography
Ein Karem in the hills of southwest JerusalemJerusalem is situated around 31°47′N, 35°13′E on the southern spur of a plateau in the Judean Mountains, which include the Mount of Olives (East) and Mount Scopus (North East). The elevation of the Old City is approximately 760 metres (2,500 ft).[63] The whole of Jerusalem is surrounded by valleys and dry riverbeds (wadis), although those to the north are less pronounced than those on the other sides.
Three of the most prominent valleys in the region, the Kidron, Hinnom, and Tyropoeon Valleys, intersect in an area just south of the Old City of Jerusalem.[64] The Kidron Valley runs just to the east of the Old City and separates the Mount of Olives from the city proper. Along the southern side of old Jerusalem is the Valley of Hinnom, a steep ravine associated in Biblical eschatology with the concept of Gehenna or hell.[65] A third valley commenced in the northwest near the present-day location of Damascus Gate, ran south-southeasterly through the center of the Old City down to the Pool of Siloam, and divided the lower part into two hills, the Temple Mount to the east, and the rest of the city to the west (the lower and the upper cities described by Josephus). Today, this valley, the Tyropoeon Valley, is mostly hidden from view due to the amount of debris that has accumulated within the ravine over the past few millennia.[64]
Jerusalem is 60 kilometers (37 mi)[66] east of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea. On the opposite side of the city, approximately 35 kilometers (22 mi)[67] away, is the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on Earth. Neighboring cities and towns include Bethlehem and Beit Jala to the south, Abu Dis and Ma'ale Adumim to the east, Mevaseret Zion to the west, and Ramallah and Giv'at Ze'ev to the north.[68][69][70]
[edit] Climate
The city is characterized by a Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers, and cold, wet winters. Snowfall occurs every couple of winters. January is the coldest month of the year, with an average temperature of 8 °C (46 °F). July and August are the hottest months, with an average temperature of 23 °C (73 °F).[71] Temperatures vary widely from day to night, and Jerusalem evenings are typically cool even in summer. The average annual precipitation is close to 590 millimetres (23 in) with rain occurring usually from October to May.[71]
[hide]Weather averages for Jerusalem
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high °C (°F) 12 (53) 13 (56) 16 (61) 21 (70) 25 (77) 28 (82) 29 (84) 29 (84) 28 (82) 25 (77) 19 (66) 14 (57)
Average low °C (°F) 4 (39) 4 (40) 6 (43) 9 (49) 12 (54) 15 (59) 17 (63) 17 (63) 16 (61) 14 (57) 9 (49) 6 (42)
Precipitation mm (inch) 142.2 (5.6) 114.3 (4.5) 99.1 (3.9) 30.5 (1.2) 2.5 (0.1) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0.0 (0.0) 22.9 (0.9) 68.8 (2.7) 109.2 (4.3)
Source: The Weather Channel[72]
Most of the air pollution in Jerusalem comes from vehicular traffic, especially in East Jerusalem.[73] Many main streets in Jerusalem were not built to accommodate such a large volume of traffic, leading to traffic congestion and more carbon monoxide released into the air. Industrial pollution inside the city is sparse, but emissions from factories on the Israeli Mediterranean coast can travel eastward and settle over the city.[73][74]
[edit] Demographics
State of Israel
Geography
Land of Israel · Districts · Cities
Transport · Mediterranean · Red Sea
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Jewish history · Timeline · Zionism · Aliyah
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v • d • e
Population of Jerusalem Year Total
1844 15,510
1876 25,030
1896 45,420
1922 62,578
1931 90,053
1944 157,000
1948 165,000
1967 263,307
1980 407,100
1985 457,700
1990 524,400
1995 617,000
2000 657,500
2005 706,400
Main article: Demographics of Jerusalem
In May 2006, Jerusalem had a population of 724,000, of whom 65% were Jewish, 32% were Muslim, and 2% were Christian, and a population density of 5,750.4 inhabitants per square kilometer (14,893.5/sq mi).[3][75] In 2005, Jerusalem received 2,450 immigrants, with nearly three quarters of them arriving from the United States, France, and former members of the Soviet Union. Within Israel, emigrants from Jerusalem outnumber immigrants to the city. In 2005, over ten thousand Israelis migrated to Jerusalem while over sixteen thousand left the city.[3] The population of Jerusalem, however, continues to rise due to high birth rates, especially among the Arab and Haredi Jewish communities (whose birth rates are higher than the Israeli national average). Consequently, the total fertility rate in Jerusalem (4.02) is far higher than those of comparable cities in the region such as Tel Aviv (1.98) and well above the national average of 2.90. Similarly, the average size of Jerusalem's 180,000 households is 3.8 people.[3]
In 2005, the total number of residents in Jerusalem grew by approximately thirteen thousand (1.8%) — also well above the Israeli national average. However, as the city has continued to grow, the religious and ethnic composition of Jerusalem has proceeded to shift. Although Jews account for the majority of people in Jerusalem, they only account for thirty-one percent of the children under age fifteen.[3] This recent data corroborates the observation that the Jewish population of Jerusalem has been declining over the past four decades. In 1967, the year of the Six-Day War, Jews accounted for seventy-four percent of the population, which is nine percent more than their share of the population in 2006.[76] Explanations for this decline are the soaring cost of housing in Jerusalem, the smaller job market and the growing religious character of the city. Many young people are moving to the suburbs and coastal cities in search of cheaper housing and the more secular lifestyle offered by other cities.[77]
Demographics and the Jewish-Arab population split continue to play a major role in carving the outcome of the dispute over Jerusalem. In 1998, the chairman of the Jerusalem Development Authority even proposed expanding city limits to the west so as to include more areas heavily populated with Jews.[78]
[edit] Local government
Kikar Safra, Jerusalem City HallThe Jerusalem City Council has thirty-one elected members, one of whom is the mayor. The mayor serves a five-year term and appoints six deputies. The current mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lupolianski was elected in 2003.[79] Apart from the mayor and his deputies, City Council members receive no salaries and work on a voluntary basis. The longest-serving Jerusalem mayor was Teddy Kollek, who spent twenty-eight years — six consecutive terms — in office. Most of the meetings of the Jerusalem City Council are private, but each month, it holds a session that is open to the public.[79] Within the city council, religious political parties form an especially powerful faction, accounting for the majority of its seats.[80] The headquarters of the Jerusalem Municipality and the mayor's office are at Safra Square (Kikar Safra) on Jaffa Road. The new municipal complex, comprising two modern buildings and ten renovated historic buildings surrounding a large plaza, opened in 1993.[81] The city falls under the Jerusalem District, with Jerusalem as the district's capital.
[edit] Capital of Israel
Further information: Positions on Jerusalem
See also: Politics of Israel
On December 5, 1949, the State of Israel's first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, proclaimed Jerusalem as Israel's capital[13] and since then all branches of the Israeli government — legislative, judicial, and executive — have resided there.[82] At the time of the proclamation, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan and thus only West Jerusalem was considered Israel's capital. Immediately after the 1967 Six-Day War, however, Israel annexed East Jerusalem, making it a de facto part of the Israeli capital. Israel enshrined the status of the "complete and united" Jerusalem — west and east — as its capital, in the 1980 Basic Law: Jerusalem, Capital of Israel.[59]
The Knesset Building in Jerusalem, home to the legislative branch of the Israeli governmentThe non-binding United Nations Security Council Resolution 478, passed on August 20, 1980, declared that this law was "null and void and must be rescinded forthwith." Member states were advised to withdraw their diplomatic representation from the city as a punitive measure. Most of the remaining countries with embassies in Jerusalem complied with the resolution by relocating them to Tel Aviv, where many embassies already resided prior to Resolution 478. Currently there are no embassies located within the city limits of Jerusalem, although there are embassies in Mevasseret Zion, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, and four consulates in the city itself.[83] In 1995, the United States Congress had planned to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem with the passage of the Jerusalem Embassy Act.[84] However, U.S. presidents, including President Bush and President Clinton, have argued that Congressional resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem are merely advisory. The Constitution reserves foreign relations as an executive power, and as such, the US embassy is still in Tel Aviv.[85] Israel's most prominent governmental institutions, including the Knesset,[86] the Supreme Court,[87] and the official residences of the President and Prime Minister, are located in Jerusalem.
[edit] Palestinian claims
Further information: Positions on Jerusalem (Palestinian)
Prior to the creation of the State of Israel, Jerusalem served as the administrative capital of the British Mandate of Palestine, which included present-day Israel and Jordan.[88] From 1949 until 1967, West Jerusalem served as Israel's capital but was not recognized internationally as Israel's capital, because UN General Assembly Resolution 194 ruled Jerusalem an international city. As a result of the Six-Day War in 1967, the whole of Jerusalem came under Israeli control. According to the Oslo Accords, the final status of Jerusalem should be determined by peaceful negotiations, as the Palestinian National Authority sees East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.[10] Orient House was the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1980s and 1990s, but is currently closed.[89]
[edit] Culture
The Shrine of the Book, housing the Dead Sea Scrolls, at the Israel Museum
Outside the Children's Memorial at Yad VashemAlthough Jerusalem is known around the world for its religious significance, the city is also home to many artistic and cultural venues. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem's premier art museum, annually attracts nearly one million visitors, approximately one-third of them visitors from overseas.[90] The twenty-acre museum complex comprises several buildings featuring special exhibits and extensive collections of Judaica, archeological findings, and Israeli and European art. The Dead Sea scrolls, discovered in the mid-twentieth century in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea, are housed in the Museum's Shrine of the Book.[91] The Youth Wing, which mounts changing exhibits and runs an extensive art education program, is visited by 100,000 children a year. The museum has a large outdoor sculpture garden, and a scale-model of the Second Temple was recently moved from the Holyland Hotel to a new location on the museum grounds.[90] Other museums affiliated with the Israel Museum are the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum, Ticho House, and the Paley Center of Art. The Rockefeller Museum, located in East Jerusalem, was the first archeological museum in the Middle East. It was built in 1938 during the British Mandate.[92][93] Ticho House, in downtown Jerusalem, houses the paintings of Anna Ticho and the Judaica collections of her husband, an ophthalmologist who opened Jerusalem's first eye clinic in this building in 1912.[94]
Another prominent cultural institution in Jerusalem is Yad Vashem, Israel's national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. Yad Vashem houses the world's largest[95] library of Holocaust-related information, with an estimated 100,000 books and articles.[96] The complex contains a state-of-the-art museum that explores the genocide of the Jews through exhibits that focus on the personal stories of individuals and families whose lives were torn asunder, and a gallery displaying permanent and changing exhibits of work by artists who died in the Holocaust.[96] Another memorial at Yad Vashem commemorates the 1.5 million Jewish children who perished at the hands of the Nazis. Yad Vashem operates as both a research and educational institution.
The Jerusalem Theater at nightOne of the city's foremost orchestras is the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, which has been operating since the 1940s.[97] The Orchestra has held performances in cities around the world, including Vienna, Frankfurt, and New York City.[97] Within walking distance of the Old City is a cultural district which includes the Khan Theatre, the only repertoire theater in the city,[98] and the Jerusalem Cinematheque. The Jerusalem Theater, located in the Komemiyut (Talbiya) neighborhood, hosts over 150 concerts a year, as well as theater and dance companies and performing artists from overseas.[99] Other prominent facilities for the performing arts include the International Convention Center (Binyanei HaUma) near the entrance to city, where the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra plays, the Gerard Behar Center in downtown Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Music Center in Yemin Moshe,[100] and the Targ Music Center in Ein Kerem. The Palestinian National Theatre, founded in 1984 and once the only center for art and culture in East Jerusalem,[101] today presents art from the Palestinian perspective.[102] The Israel Festival,[103] featuring local and international vocal artists, concerts, plays and street theater, has been held annually since 1961. For the past 25 years, Jerusalem has been the major organizer of this event, which takes place in May-June, and most of the performances take place at venues around the city.[104]
[edit] Religious significance
Main article: Religious significance of Jerusalem
Jerusalem plays an important role in the three monotheistic religions — Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The 2000 Statistical Yearbook of Jerusalem lists 1204 synagogues, 158 churches, and 73 mosques within the city.[105] Despite efforts to maintain peaceful religious coexistence, some sites, such as the Temple Mount, have been a continuous source of friction and controversy.
The Western Wall, one of the holiest sites in JudaismJerusalem has been sacred to the Jews since the 10th century BCE,[5] as the site of Solomon's Temple and the Second Temple. It is mentioned in the Bible 632 times. Today, the Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Temple, is a holy site for Jews, second only to the Temple Mount itself.[106] Synagogues around the world are traditionally built with the Holy Ark facing Jerusalem,[107] and Arks within Jerusalem face the "Holy of Holies".[108] As prescribed in the Mishna and codified in the Shulchan Aruch, daily prayers are recited while facing towards Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Many Jews have "Mizrach" plaques hung on a wall of their homes to indicate the direction of prayer.[108][109]
The main entrance to the Church of the Holy SepulchreChristianity reveres Jerusalem not only for its role in the Old Testament but also for its significance in the life of Jesus. According to Biblical accounts, Jesus was brought to the city of Jerusalem not long after his birth[110] and later in his life cleansed the Second Temple.[111] The Cenacle, believed to be the site of Jesus' Last Supper, is located on Mount Zion in the same building that houses the Tomb of King David.[112][113] Another prominent Christian site in Jerusalem is Golgotha, the site of the crucifixion. The Gospel of John describes it as being located outside Jerusalem,[114] but recent archaeological evidence suggests Golgotha is a short distance from the Old City walls, within the present-day confines of the city.[115] The land currently occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is considered one of the top candidates for Golgotha and thus has been a Christian pilgrimage site for the past two thousand years.[115][116][117]
Dome of the Rock viewed through the Temple Mount's Cotton Gate (Bab al-Qattanin)According to tradition, Jerusalem is the third-holiest city in Islam.[6] Before it was permanently switched to the Kabaa in Mecca, the qibla (direction of prayer) for Muslims was Jerusalem.[118] The city's lasting place in Islam, however, is primarily due to Muhammad's Night of Ascension (c. 620 CE). Muslims believe Muhammad was miraculously transported one night from Mecca to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, whereupon he ascended to Heaven to meet previous prophets of Islam.[119][120] The first verse in the Qur'an's Surat al-Isra notes the destination of Muhammad's journey as al-Aqsa (the farthest) mosque,[121] in reference to the location in Jerusalem. Today, the Temple Mount is topped by two Islamic landmarks intended to commemorate the event — al-Aqsa Mosque, derived from the name mentioned in the Qur'an, and the Dome of the Rock, which stands over the Foundation Stone, from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to Heaven.[122]
[edit] Sports
The two most popular sports in Jerusalem, and Israel as a whole, are football (soccer) and basketball.[123] Beitar Jerusalem Football Club is one of the most popular teams in Israel. Fans include several former and current political figures who make a point of attending its games.[124] Jerusalem's other major football team, and one of Beitar's top rivals, is Hapoel Jerusalem Football Club. Whereas Beitar has been Israel State Cup champion five times,[125] Hapoel has only won the Cup once. Also, Beitar plays in the more prestigious premier league, while Hapoel is in the third division national league.
In basketball, Hapoel Jerusalem is higher up on the scale. In a league dominated by Maccabi Tel Aviv it has yet to win a championship, but it has won the Israeli Cup three times, and it took the European ULEB Cup in 2004.[126] Since its opening in 1992, Teddy Kollek Stadium has been Jerusalem's primary football stadium, with a capacity of 21,000.[127]
[edit] Economy
Kanyon Hadar shopping mall in Talpiot
Ben Yehuda Street on Shabbat, when businesses are closedHistorically, Jerusalem's economy was supported almost exclusively by religious pilgrims, as it was located far from the major ports of Jaffa and Gaza.[128] Jerusalem's religious landmarks today remain the top draw for foreign visitors, with the majority of tourists visiting the Western Wall and the Old City,[3] but in the past half-century it has become increasingly clear that Jerusalem's providence cannot solely be sustained by its religious significance.[128]
Although many statistics indicate economic growth in the city, since 1967 East Jerusalem has lagged behind the development of West Jerusalem.[128] Nevertheless, the percentage of households with employed persons is higher for Arab households (76.1%) than for Jewish households (66.8%). The unemployment rate in Jerusalem (8.3%) is slightly better than the national average (9.0%), although the civilian labor force accounted for less than half of all persons fifteen years or older — lower in comparison to that of Tel Aviv (58.0%) and Haifa (52.4%).[3] Poverty in the city has increased dramatically in recent years; between 2001 and 2007, the number of people below the poverty threshold increased by forty percent.[129] In 2006, the average monthly income for a worker in Jerusalem was NIS5,940 (US$1,410), NIS1,350 less than that for a worker in Tel Aviv.[129]
During the British Mandate, a law was passed requiring all buildings to be constructed of Jerusalem stone in order to preserve the unique historic and aesthetic character of the city.[54] Complementing this building code, which is still in force, is the discouragement of heavy industry in Jerusalem; only about 2.2% of Jerusalem's land is zoned for "industry and infrastructure." By comparison, the percentage of land in Tel Aviv zoned for industry and infrastructure is twice as high, and in Haifa, seven times as high.[3] Only 8.5% of the Jerusalem District work force is employed in the manufacturing sector, which is half the national average (15.8%). Higher than average percentages are employed in education (17.9% vs. 12.7%); health and welfare (12.6% vs. 10.7%); community and social services (6.4% vs. 4.7%); hotels and restaurants (6.1% vs. 4.7%); and public administration (8.2% vs. 4.7%).[130] Although Tel Aviv remains Israel's financial center, a growing number of high tech companies are moving to Jerusalem, providing 12,000 jobs in 2006.[131] Northern Jerusalem's Har Hotzvim industrial park is home to some of Israel's major corporations, among them Intel, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, and ECI Telecom. Expansion plans for the park envision one hundred businesses, a fire station, and a school, covering an area of 530,000 m² (130 acres).[132]
Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the national government has remained a major player in Jerusalem's economy. The government, centered in Jerusalem, not only generates a large number of jobs, but also offers subsidies and incentives for new business initiatives and start-ups.[128]
[edit] Transportation
Main article: Transport in Jerusalem
Jerusalem's Central Bus StationThe airport nearest to Jerusalem is Atarot Airport, which was used for domestic flights only until its closure in 2001. Since then it has been under the control of the Israel Defense Forces due to disturbances in Ramallah and the West Bank. All air traffic from Atarot was rerouted to Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel's largest and busiest airport, which serves nine million passengers annually.[133]
The Egged Bus Cooperative, the second-largest bus company in the world,[134] handles most of the local and intercity bus service out of the city's Central Bus Station on Jaffa Road near the entrance to Jerusalem. Israel Railways, which hopes to transport forty million passengers annually by 2010,[135] runs a limited rail service to Malha train station, at the terminus of an Israel Railways line from Tel Aviv.[136][137]
Begin Expressway is one of Jerusalem's major north-south thoroughfares; it runs on the western side of the city until its northern end merges with Route 443, which continues toward Tel Aviv. Route 60 runs through the center of the city near the Green Line that, de facto, separates East Jerusalem from West Jerusalem. Construction is progressing on parts of a 35-kilometer (22-mile) ring road around the city, fostering faster connection between the suburbs.[138][139] The eastern half of the project was conceptualized decades ago, but reaction to the proposed highway is still mixed.[138]
As of 2007, Egged buses, taxicabs and private cars are the only transportation options in Jerusalem. However, this will change with the completion of the Jerusalem Light Rail, a new rail-based transit system currently under construction. A rail-based system was first envisioned in 1995; since then, a light rail system has been chosen over a subway or monorail design due to its cheaper cost, minimal disruption, and preservation of the city center's aesthetics.[140] The rail system will be capable of transporting an estimated 200,000 people daily. It will have twenty four stops, and is scheduled for completion in January 2009.[141]
In addition,[141] the new high-speed rail line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will, when completed in 2011, terminate at an underground station serving the national Convention centre and the Central Bus Station,[142] and is planned to be extended eventually to Malha station.
[edit] Education
The campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem atop Mount ScopusJerusalem is home to several prestigious universities, with courses offered in Hebrew, Arabic, and English. Founded in 1925, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem[143] is one of the most respected institutions of higher learning in Israel. The Board of Governors has included such prominent Jewish intellectuals as Albert Einstein and Sigmund Freud.[55] The university has produced several Nobel laureates; recent winners associated with Hebrew University include Avram Hershko,[144] David Gross,[145] and Daniel Kahneman.[146] One of the university's major assets is the Jewish National and University Library, which houses over five million books.[147] The library opened in 1892, over three decades before the university was established, and is one of the world's largest repositories of books on Jewish subjects. Today it is both the central library of the university and the national library of Israel.[148] The Hebrew University operates three campuses in Jerusalem, on Mount Scopus, on Giv'at Ram and a medical campus at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital.
Al-Quds University was established in 1984,[149] to serve as a flagship university for the Arab and Palestinian peoples. It describes itself as the "only Arab university in Jerusalem".[150] Al-Quds University resides southeast of the city proper on a campus encompassing 190,000 square metres (47 acres).[149] Other institutions of higher learning in Jerusalem are the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance[151] and Bezalel Academy of Art and Design,[152] whose buildings are located on the campuses of the Hebrew University.
The Jerusalem College of Technology, founded in 1969, combines training in engineering and other high-tech industries with a Jewish studies program.[153] It is one of many schools in Jerusalem, from elementary school and up, that combine secular and religious studies. Numerous religious educational institutions and Yeshivot are based in the city, with the Mir yeshiva claiming to be the largest.[154] There were nearly 8,000 twelfth-grade students in Hebrew-language schools during the 2003–2004 school year.[3] However, due to the large portion of students in Haredi Jewish frameworks, only fifty-five percent of twelfth graders took matriculation exams (Bagrut) and only thirty-seven percent were eligible to graduate. Unlike public schools, many Haredi schools do not prepare students to take standardized tests.[3] To attract more university students to Jerusalem, the city has begaun to offer a special package of financial incentives and housing subsidies to students who rent apartments in downtown Jerusalem.[155]
Schools for Arabs in Jerusalem and other parts of Israel have been criticized for offering a lower quality education than those catering to Israeli Jewish students.[156] While many schools in the heavily Arab East Jerusalem are filled to capacity and there have been complaints of overcrowding, the Jerusalem Municipality is currently building over a dozen new schools within the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Sheikh Jarrah, Issawiya, Sur Baher, Umm Lison, Beit Hanina, and Wadi Joz. In March 2007, the Israeli government approved a 5-year plan to build 8,000 new classrooms in the city, 40 percent in the Arab sector and 28 percent in the Haredi sector. A budget of 4.6 billion shekels was allocated for this project.[157] Because Arab high school students take the Bagrut matriculation exams, much of their curriculum parallels that of other Israeli high schools, including certain Jewish subjects.[156]
[edit] See also
Jerusalem Day
List of places in Jerusalem
Jerusalem Light Rail
Uri Lupolianski, current mayor of Jerusalem
International Day of Quds
[edit] Sister cities
New York City, USA (1993)[158]
[edit] Endnotes
i. ^ The website for Jerusalem is available in three languages — Hebrew, English, and Arabic.
ii. ^ Jerusalem in other languages: Arabic Bibles use أورشليم Ûrshalîm (Ûrushalîm); official Arabic in Israel: أورشليم القدس, Ûrshalîm-al-Quds (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names)
iii. ^ Jerusalem is the capital under Israeli law. The presidential residence, government offices, supreme court and parliament (Knesset) are located there. The Palestinian Authority foresees East Jerusalem as the capital of its future state. The United Nations and most countries do not recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, arguing that the final status of Jerusalem is pending future negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Most countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv (see CIA Factbook and Map of IsraelPDF (319 KiB)) See Positions on Jerusalem for more information.
iv. ^ a b Much of the information regarding King David's conquest of Jerusalem comes from Biblical accounts, but modern-day historians have begun to give them credit due to a 1993 excavation.[159]
v. ^ Statistics regarding the demographics of Jerusalem refer to the unified and expanded Israeli municipality, which includes the pre-1967 Israeli and Jordanian municipalities as well as several additional Palestinian villages and neighborhoods to the northeast. Some of the Palestinian villages and neighborhoods have been relinquished to the West Bank de facto by way of the Israeli West Bank barrier,[160] but their legal statuses have not been reverted.
vi. ^ Sources disagree on the timing of the creation of the Pact of Umar (Omar). Whereas some say the Pact originated during Umar's lifetime but was later expanded,[161][162] others say the Pact was created after his death and retroactively attributed to him.[163] Further still, other historians believe the ideas in the Pact pre-date Islam and Umar entirely.[164]
[edit] References
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