Haifa

Haifa, its district and metropolitan area's location within Israel

For other uses, see Haifa (disambiguation).

Haifa (Template:Lang-he-n ; Template:Lang-ar ) is the largest city in Northern Israel, and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of about 266,300. The city is a seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa covering 63.7 square kilometres (24.6 sq mi). It is located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) north of Tel Aviv and is the major regional center of the north of Israel. The city is governed by the Haifa Municipality, headed by mayor Yona Yahav.

Haifa has a long history dating back to Biblical times. Built on the slopes of the historic Mount Carmel, the city was known in the 3rd century CE as a dye making center. Over time, it has fallen under the rule of the Byzantines, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, Egyptians, and the British and today is home to a mixed population of Jews and Arabs, as well as to the Bahá'í World Centre. The city also has a restored German Colony built by Templers who arrived in 1868.

The city has two world-class academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion, and now plays an important role in Israel's hi-tech industry with a number of hi-tech parks, including the oldest and largest in the country. Traditionally, however, the city was an industrial center based around the port and oil refinery, the towers of which long symbolised the city.

Etymology

Some say that the city's official romanization Haifa and common English pronunciation /ˈhaɪ.fə/ is based on the Arabic name Ḥayfā, although the Standard Hebrew name is Ḥefa. The local Hebrew pronunciation is /xei.ˈfa/. In fact, the origin of the name Haifa is unclear. According to historian Alex Carmel, it may come from the Hebrew verb root חפה (hafa), meaning 'to cover or hide', i.e. Mount Carmel covers Haifa. Others see resemblance to the Hebrew word חוֹף (hof), meaning beach, or חוֹף יָפֶה (hof yafe), meaning beautiful beach. Some Christians believe that the town was named after the high priest Caiaphas, or Saint Peter (Keiphah [in Aramaic]).

Another possible origin of the name came from the Arabic word حفَّ ("haffa") which means "beach", or the word حيفة meaning the "suburb" or "side of the city".

History

Early history

The early origins of Haifa are uncertain. The city is first mentioned in Talmudic literature around the 3rd century CE, as a small town with a Jewish community. It was described as being near the town of 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 today's Bat Galim neighborhood. Furthermore, Mount Carmel and the Kishon River are also mentioned in the Bible. Mount Carmel is riddled with caves, one of which 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. Furthermore, 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.

Early Haifa is believed to have been located in an area that extends from the present-day Rambam Hospital to the Jewish Cemetery on Yafo Street. The inhabitants engaged in fishing and agriculture.

Byzantine and Crusader rule

Under Byzantine rule, Haifa continued to flourish, although never grew to great importance due to its proximity to Acre. The Byzantine ruled the settlement until the 7th century, when the city was conquered – first by the Persians, and then by the Arabs. In 1100, it was conquered again by the crusaders, after a fierce battle with its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants. Under crusader rule, the city was a part of the Principality of Galilee until the Muslim Mameluks captured it in 1265.

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.

Mameluke, Ottoman and Egyptian control

In 1265, the army of Baibars the Mameluke captured Haifa, destroying its fortifications, which were recently rebuilt by King Louis of France, as well as the majority of the city's homes in order to prevent the return of Christian groups from Europe from re-invading. As such, for much of their rule, the city was desolate for much of the Mameluke period of governance between the 13th and 16th centuries. Information from this period is very scarce.

View towards Haifa Bay,1898

The German Colony of Haifa

In 1761 Dhaher al-Omar, Bedouin ruler of Acre and Galilee, destroyed and rebuilt the town in a new location, surrounding it with a wall. 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 in the same year; and between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy Mehemet Ali governed, after his son Ibrahim Pasha wrested control from the Ottomans.

In 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 built and operated a steam-based power station, opened factories and inaugurated carriage service to Acre, Nazareth and Tiberias, playing a key role in modernizing the city.

Under the British Mandate

File:Haifa 1915.JPG

Haifa in 1915

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, comprising 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. 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).

It was in the late 19th century that the area rose to importance in the Bahá'í Faith as the remains of the Báb were moved to Acre and on, in 1909, to Haifa where a special tomb was erected for this purpose by `Abdu'l-Bahá, on Mount Carmel. Haifa remains 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.

Haifa is 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 December 30, 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 April 21, 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 10:30 am on April 21 following three months of unsuccessful attacks by Arab forces.

Haifa after 1948

The Sail Tower, an example of modern architecture in Haifa

Modern view across Haifa Bay from Mt. Carmel as seen at night

Following the Israeli War of Independence, the city played an important role as the gateway for immigration. Thousands of immigrants were absorbed into neighborhoods which were previously Arab, before new housing projects containing mostly blocks of flats, were built. These new neighborhoods include Kiryat Hayim, a municipal housing project, western Kiryat Hayim and Ramot Remez, Ramat Shaul and Kiryat Sprintzak, and Kiryat Eliezer. Schools and public institutions were built, among them Bnei Zion Hospital and the Central Synagogue. In 1953, a master plan was created for transportation and the future architectural layout.

File:Haifa apartment building after attack July 17 2006.jpg

An apartment building following a Hezbollah rocket attack in 2006, second Lebanon War

By the early 1970s, Haifa's population reached 200,000. Mass immigration to Israel from the former Soviet Union boosted the population by 35,000.

Haifa was hit by 93 Hezbollah rockets during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict killing eleven civilians in the city, and leading to half of the city's population fleeing after the first week of the war.

Demographics

Today, Haifa has a population of 266,300. Ninety percent of the population are Israeli Jews. The latter group consists of Israelis without religious classification, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from mixed-marriage families of Jewish origin. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Arabs constitute 9% of Haifa's population, the majority living in Wadi Nisnas, Abbas and Khalisa neighborhoods.

City of Haifa Population by year
1800	1,000
1840	2,000
1880	6,000
1914	20,000
1922	24,600
1947	145,140
1961	183,021
1972	219,559
1983	225,775
1995	255,914
2005	267,800

Haifa is Israel's third-largest city, consisting of 103,000 households. The population is divided between religions with 82% Jewish, 4% Muslim, and 14% Christian (both Arab and non-Arab). The greatest origin of immigrants to Haifa is from the former Soviet Union since 1989, who now make up 25% of the city's population. Despite this influx of immigrants, however, Haifa has seen a steady population decline, especially since 2001, and it is unclear what will happen to this in the future, with some arguing that the population will continue to decline, while others feel that, due to the performance of the hi-tech industry in the city, the negative immigration trend will end, or even be reversed in the future. Haifa has an ageing population compared to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem as younger people have moved away from the city for education and jobs in the central part of the country, and young families have migrated out to bedroom communities in the vicinity of Haifa. The changing demographics of the city are also affecting its religious split. In general, the Jewish residents of the city are ageing and the younger ones leaving, while the number of Christians and Muslims is growing. In 2006, 27% of the Arab population was age 0-14 compared to 17% in the Jewish and other population groups. This trend continues with 27% of Arabs aged 15-29, and 23% 30-44. The population of Jewish and other groups in these age groups are 22% and 18% respectively. 19% of the city's Jewish and other population is between 45 and 59 compared to 14% in the Arab population. This trend continues with 14% of Jews and others aged 60-74 and 10% over age 75, in comparison to 7% and just 2% respectively in the Arab population.

Many see Haifa as a model for coexistence in Israel as the relationships between the Arab and Jewish, and Muslim and Christian groups in Haifa are for the most part good. The local government is not influenced by the large-scale political divides between the groups in daily management of the city, for example. Despite the continued existence of distinctly Arab neighborhoods in Haifa, increasingly, wealthier Arabs are moving into affluent, Jewish neighborhoods.

By national standards, Haifa's Jewish population is relatively secular. In 2006, 2.9% of the Jews in the city were ultra-religious, compared to 7.5% on a national scale. 5.0% were classed as religious versus 9.8% nationally, and 6.7% were traditional but religious compared to 13.8% nationally, whilst 19.0% were traditional but not religious versus 25.1% nationally. Haifa makes up for this with a non-religious secular percentage of 66.6% versus the national average of 43.7%.

Geography

File:Nasahaifa.jpg

An aerial view of Haifa Bay and the city

Haifa is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain, the historic land bridge between Europe, Africa, and Asia. Located on Mount Carmel around Haifa Bay, the city is split over three tiers. The lowest is the center of commerce and industry including the Port of Haifa. The middle level is on the slopes of Mount Carmel and consists of older residential neighborhoods, while the upper level consists of modern neighborhoods looking over the lower tiers. From here views can be had across the Western Galilee region of Israel towards Rosh HaNikra and the Lebanese border. Haifa is about 90 kilometers (55.9 mi) north of the city of Tel Aviv, and has a large number of beaches on the Mediterranean.

Climate

Haifa has a mediterranean climate with hot, humid summers and cool, rainy winters (Köppen climate classification Csa). Spring arrives in March when temperatures begin to increase. By late May, the temperature has warmed up considerably to herald warm summer days. The average temperature in summer is 26 °C (79 °F) and in winter, 12 °C (54 °F). Snow is rare in Haifa, but temperatures around 6 °C (43 °F) can sometimes occur, usually in the early morning. Humidity tends to be high all year round, and rain usually occurs between October and April. Annual precipitation is approximately 524 millimeters (21 in).

Climate data for Haifa Bay
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Source 1: Temperature - Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
Source 2: Precipitation - BBC News

Neighborhoods

A restored templer building in Haifa

The Bat Galim neighborhood on the lowest tier of the city

The IEC Tower, Haifa's tallest building

Main article: Neighborhoods of Haifa

As of 2005, Haifa had 110,194 dwellings, the greatest numbers of which are in the Carmel neighborhoods (19,553), the Hadar neighborhoods (18,473), and the Western Haifa neighborhoods (17,700). The largest single neighborhoods in terms of residential units are Central and Western Carmel with 8,941, Bat Gallim and Qiryat Eliezer in Western Haifa with 8,661, and Shikmona Beach in Western Haifa with 8,538 units.

History

Haifa is made up of a large number of neighborhoods that have developed over time throughout its history. Haifa has developed in tiers, as a rule building upwards from the bottum to the top of Mount Carmel, and today each neighborhood in the city possesses individual architectural and demographic characteristics. The oldest neighborhood, at the bottom of Mount Carmel, is Wadi Salib, the Old City center near the port, which has been cut in half by a major road, half-demolished to make way for government buildings, and is today a crumbling neighborhood on the verge of disappearing. Wadi Salib stretches across to Wadi Nisnas, the center of Arab life in Haifa today. Later, during the last century of Ottoman Rule, a German Colony was constructed in the late nineteenth century, the first example of urban planning in Haifa. Today, it has a largely Arab Christian population and has recently been restored.

The first buildings in Haifa's old city center Hadar were constructed at the start of the 20th century. Hadar was Haifa's vital cultural center and marketplace throughout the 1920s and into the 1980s, nestled above and around the Haifa's Arab neighborhoods. Today Hadar stretches from the port area near the bay, approximately halfway up Mount Carmel, around the German Colony, Wadi Nisnas and Wadi Salib, and Hadar is a vibrant, though somewhat run-down, Jewish and Arab neighborhood. Hadar houses two commercial centers (one in the port area, and one midway up the mountain) surrounded by some of the city's older neighborhoods; the bustling business district midway up tends to service surrounding Jewish and Arab residents of one of Haifa's more densely-populated centers, while the commerical center near the port tends to service the municipal office workers of Haifa.

Above Hadar, Neve Sha'anan, a neighborhood located on the second tier of Mount Carmel, is home to a largely observant Jewish population as well as a sizeable Russian immigrant population. Founded in the 1920s almost all single-story houses here have been replaced with newer 4-story apartment buildings built starting in the 1950s.

Below, on the edges of Haifa from the port, westward, are the predominantly Jewish neighborhoods of Bat Gallim, Shikmona Beach, and Qiryat Eliezer, and the Arab neighborhoods of Abbas and Khalisa, built in the 1960s and 70s.

Above Hadar and Neve Sha'anan, on the third tier at the top of Mount Carmel, is the newest neighborhood of Haifa, the affluent, predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Carmel. Whilst there are general divisions between Arab and Jewish neighborhoods, there is an increasing trend for wealthy Arabs to move into affluent Jewish neighborhoods such as Carmel. Also at the top of Mount Carmel is Kababir, home of Israel’s only Ahmadi Muslim community,tops the Carmel, overlooking Haifa's stretch of beach.

Recent developments

Recently, residential construction has been concentrated around a number of neighborhoods in the city; Qiryat Hayyim and Qiryat Shemu'el, which between 2002 and 2004, saw approximately 75,000 sq m. of new residential construction, Carmel, which saw approximately 70,000 sq m, and Ramot Nawe Sha'anan also with approximately 70,000 sq m. The greatest concentrations of non-residential construction were in the Lower Town, where construction began on 90,000 sq m of non-residential space, in Haifa Bay where construction began on approximately 72,000 sq m over the period, and Ramot Nawe Sha'anan with 54,000 sq m. In 2004, 80% of construction in the city was private, with the remaining 20% publically initiated.

The neighborhood of Wadi Salib houses some of the only remaining Ottoman buildings in the city (as much as 500 years old), as well as an array of old Palestinian houses, most of which are due to be torn down to make way for office buildings. In Wadi Salib today, many of the buildings are empty, however some families still live in the crumbling buildings which remain, and a series of buildings have been transformed into dance clubs and a theater just off Shivat Zion Street. The Palace of the Pasha, a Turkish bathhouse, and a Middle Eastern music and dance club have been largely gutted. The Haifa Economic Corporation Ltd., is implementing plans to develop two 1,000 square meter lots for office and commercial use which will include Turkish and Arab "construction elements," and service a new government center planned for downtown Haifa. Another government center was built in the same general area in the early 1990s, and the project failed to boost the economy as expected; major portions of Haifa's Old City were demolished to make way for that project as well. The current project is controversial due to the eviction of families from the neighborhood, and the planned demolition of more historic buildings, including the Palestinian intelectual, Emil Touma's home.

Economy

The towers at Haifa Refinery

Microsoft R&D facilities in Haifa

The Louis Promenade at the top of Mount Carmel

The phrase "Haifa works, Jerusalem prays, and Tel Aviv plays" refers to the working nature of the city of Haifa. 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 Haifa refinery 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 in and around Haifa. Its twin 80-meter high cooling towers, built in the 1930s, have long symbolized the city of Haifa, and were the tallest buildings built in the British Mandate period. Each year, the refinery processes 66 million barrels of crude oil.

Mat'am (short for Merkaz Ta'asiya UMeida - Scientific Industries Center), the largest and oldest business park in Israel, is 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, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Google, Elbit, Zoran, Philips, and Amdocs. The campus of the University of Haifa is also home to IBM Haifa Labs.

The Port of Haifa is the leader in passenger traffic among Israeli ports, and is also a major cargo harbor, although deregulation has seen its dominance challenged by the port of Ashdod.

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.

Tourism

Due to its location on the Mediterranean and importance as the cultural capital of the north of Israel, Haifa is popular with tourists. The city has many museums and cultural centers, perhaps the most notable of which is the Bahá'í World Centre, as well as restored quarters, historic sites, and beaches. The area around the city also has a number of tourist attractions.

Shrine of the Bab and terraces on Mount Carmel

As of 2005, Haifa had 13 hotels offering 1,462 rooms. Furthermore, the city has 17 kilometres (11 mi) of beaches, 5 kilometres (3 mi) of which are organised, and on much of which watersports are offered. Haifa's main tourist attraction is the Bahá'í World Centre, with the golden Shrine of the Báb and the surrounding gardens. Between 2005 and 2006, 86,037 visited this attraction. The restored German Colony, founded by the Templers, is at the bottom of the Bahai Gardens and is popular with tourists, offering a wide range of restaurants. Furthermore, many tourists visit the Stella Maris and the Carmelite monastery.

The Haifa area also has a number of attractions popular with tourists. The artist's village of Ein Hod where more than 90 artists and craftsmen have studios and exhibitions. The Mount Carmel national park contains caves where Neanderthal and early Homo Sapiens remains were found, and was also the location of biblical events such as Elijah's confrontation with the Ba'al prophets, and where now another Carmelite monastery is located. The Carmel is also a popular hiking area.

In a 2007 report commissioned by the Haifa Municipality, Ernst & Young suggested that in order for Haifa to become a more major tourist attraction, more hotels should be constructed, a ferry line between Haifa, Acre and Caesarea should begin, the western anchorage in the port should be developed as a central recreation and entertainment area, the airport should be expanded into an international airport, and the city should become a major port for cruise ships.

Arts and culture

The Tikotim Museum of Japanese Art

National Museum of Science, Technology and Space in Haifa

Despite its image as a port and industrial city, Haifa is the cultural hub of northern Israel. During the 1950s, mayor Abba Hushi made a special effort to encourage authors and poets to move to the city, and founded the Haifa Theatre, a repertory theater, the first municipal theater founded in the country. The principal Arabic theater servicing the northern Arab population is the al-Midan Theater. Other theaters in the city include the Krieger Centre for the Performing Arts and the Rappaport Art and Culture Center. Furthermore, the Congress Center is a large tourist, commercial and leisure centre which hosts exhibitions and large scale concerts and events.

The New Haifa Symphony Orchestra was established in 1950 and is the focus for classical music of the north of the country, with more than 5,000 subscribers, and in 2004, 49,000 people watched their concerts. Furthermore, the Haifa Cinematheque, founded in 1975, hosts the annual Haifa International Film Festival during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday. The city has 29 cinema halls. Haifa's newspaper is Yediot Haifa, and Radio Haifa operates from the city.

Museums

Haifa has more than a dozen museums. The most popular museum is the National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space, which in 2004 received almost 150,000 visitors. The museum is located in an old Technion building in the Hadar neighborhood. The Haifa Museum of Art displays modern and classical artwork as well as information on the historic background of Haifa, while the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art which is the only museum in the Middle East dedicated entirely to displaying and conserving Japanese art works. Other museums in Haifa include the Museum of Prehistory, the National Maritime Museum and Haifa City Museum, the Hecht Museum, the Dagon Archeological Museum, the Railway Museum, the Clandestine Immigration and Navy Museum, the Israeli Oil Industry Museum, and Chagall Artists' House. As part of his campaign to bring culture to Haifa, Mayor Abba Hushi provided the artist Mane-Katz with a building on Mount Carmel to house his collection of Judaica, which is now a museum.

Sports

Kiryat Eliezer stadium, Haifa

Haifa has eight football (soccer) clubs, two of which, Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Haifa are in the major leagues in Israel. Other clubs include Beitar Haifa, Akhva Haifa, Hapoel Spartak Haifa, Sportek Haifa, Bnei Kababir and Hapoel Neve Sha'anan. Maccabi Haifa has won 10 championships, 5 cups and 3 League cups. Both Hapoel and Maccabi Haifa operate football schools in Haifa suburbs and other villages (including Arab villages) in northern Israel.

Haifa also has basketball, volleyball, tennis, and handball clubs, while surfing, kite surfing and sailing clubs operate on the beaches near Bat Galim offer clubs. In 1996, the city hosted the World Windsurfing Championship. The Haifa Tennis Club, near the southwest entrance to the city, is one of the largest in Israel.

The main stadiums in Haifa are the 14,000-seat Kiryat Eliezer Stadium and Thomas D'Alesandro Stadium. In addition, the Romema Basketball Arena seats 2,000 and the Neve Sha'anan Athletic Stadium seats 1,000. A UEFA-approved stadium to seat 30,000 is planned for south-west Haifa, due to be completed in 2009.

Government

The Courts Hall of Haifa

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 Tawfik Toubi, Emile Habibi, Zahi Karkabi, Bulus Farah and Emili Toma, were all from Haifa. In recent years, there has been a drift toward the center. This was best signified by, in the 2006 legislative elections, the Kadima party receiving about 28.9% of the votes in Haifa, and Labor lagging behind with 16.9%.

Before 1948, Haifa's Municipality was fairly unique as it developed cooperation between the mixed Arab and Jewish community in the city, with representatives of both groups involved in the city's management. Under mayor al-Haj, between 1920 and 1927, the city council had six Arab and two Jewish representatives, with the city run as a mixed municipality with overall Arab control. The city changed towards more of a mixed society under mayor Hasan Bey Shukri's second term (1927–40) in which cooperation between Jews and Arabs in the running of the city was encouraged. Whilst the two groups were treated differently in terms of needs, with Arabs coming before Jews, greater coexistence was fostered. The major change in the leadership of the city occurred in 1940, when the first Jewish mayor of the city, Shabtai Levy, was elected. Instantly, the Jews in the city were no longer treated behind the Arabs. Levy's two deputies were Arab (one Muslim, the other Christian), with the remainder of the council made up of four Jews and six Arabs.

Today, Haifa is governed by its 12th city council, headed by the mayor Yona Yahav. The results of municipal elections decide on the makeup of the council, similarly to the Knesset elections. The city council is the legislative council in the city, and has the authority to pass auxiliary laws. The 12th council, which was elected in 2003, has 31 members, with the liberal Shinui-Greens ticket holding the most seats (6), and Likud coming second with 5. Many of the decisions passed by the city council are results of recommendation made by the various municipal committees, which are committees where non-municipal organs meet with representatives from the city council. Some committees are spontaneous, but some are mandatory, such as the security committee, tender committee and financial committee.

Mayors of Haifa

Najib Effendi al-Yasin (1873–77) Ahmad Effendi Jalabi (1878–81) Mustafa Bey al-Salih (1881–84) Mustafa Pasha al-Khalil (1885–1903) Jamil Sadiq (1904–10) Rif'at al-Salah (1910–11) Ibrahim al-Khalil (1911–13) Abd al-Rahman al-Haj (1920–27) Hasan Bey Shukri (1914–20, 1927–40)

Shabtai Levy (1940–51) 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–)

Medical facilities

The Rambam Medican Center, Haifa

Between Haifa's medical facilities there are approximately 4,000 beds in hospitals across the city. The city's largest hospital is the government-operated Rambam Medical Center which has approximately 900 beds, and had approximately 78,000 admissions in 2004. The municipal Bnai Zion Hospital and health-service run Carmel Hospital each have approximately 400 beds and had 35,000 admissions in 2004. Other hospitals in the city include the Italian Hospital, a mission, and three private hospitals the Elisha Hospital with about 100 beds, and the Horev Medical Center and Ramat Marpe with 36 and 18 beds respectively. In the city's three largest hospitals, Rambam, Bnai Zion, and Carmel, the average length of stay was approximately four days. In 2004, the Rambam and Bnai Zion hospitals had bed occupancies of 96% and 94% respectively, whilst the Carmel hospital had occupancy of 104%. In 2005, Magen David Adom had 48,103 operational dispatches with approximately 180 a day. About 1,500 of these were false alarms. MDA intensive care units saw 16,097 dispatches over the same period. Furthermore, Haifa has 20 family health centers. In 2004, there were a total of 177,478 hospital admissions.

Rambam Medical Center was in the direct line of fire during the Second Lebanon War in 2006 and was forced to take special precautions to protect its patients. Whole wings of the hospital were moved to large underground shelters.

Education

The Technion is called "Israel's MIT"

The Rabin Building at Haifa University

Haifa is home to two internationally acclaimed universities and several colleges. The University of Haifa, founded in 1963, is 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 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.

Haifa is also home to several academic colleges. Two teaching colleges, the Gordon College of Education and Sha'anan Religious Teachers' College, operate from the city, and design colleges include the WIZO Design Academy and Tiltan College of Design. The Michlala Leminhal College of Management and Open University of Israel both have branches in Haifa. The city also has a nursing college and the P.E.T Practical Engineering School.

As of the 2006–07 education year, Haifa had 70 primary schools, 23 intermediate schools, 23 general secondary schools, 8 vocational secondary schools, and 5 comprehensive secondary schools. There were 5,133 pupils in municipal kindergartens, 20,081 in primary schools, 7,911 in intermediate schools, 8,072 in general secondary schools, 2,646 in vocational secondary schools, and 2,068 in comprehensive secondary schools. 86% of students were in Hebrew education with 14% in Arabic education. 5% were in special education.

As of 2004, Haifa had 16 municipal libraries stocking 367,323 books, lending on average 23,279 books per month. In this year, there were 14,012 members of libraries.

Transportation

The Carmelit, Israel's only subway

The Port of Haifa

Transportation is good both within Haifa and between Haifa and other cities in Israel and internationally. Buses run throughout the city, and Haifa is the home to Israel's only subway system. The Carmelit (Template:Lang-he) is actually a funicular, running 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 the world's shortest metro line. Furthermore, the Stella Maris gondola lift cable car, consists of six cabins and connects Bat Galim on the coast to the Stella Maris observation deck and monastery atop Mount Carmel; although mainly for tourism purposes. Proposals have also been made for a light rail between Haifa and Nazareth although it is unclear if these will ever materialise.

Haifa is the only city in Israel where buses operate on Shabbat. The bus stations, from the south northwards, are Hof HaCarmel, Bat Galim, and Merkazit HaMifratz. All these stations are served by Egged city, suburban, and intercity buses. In 2006, Haifa implemented a trial network of neighborhood mini-buses – named "Shchunatit" run by Egged. In 2008, Haifa and the Krayot will be linked by the Metronit, a Phileas concept bus rapid transit system. Haifa has six Israel Railways stations on the Nahariya-Tel Aviv main line railway that runs along the Gulf of Haifa. From south to north, these stations are Haifa Hof HaCarmel, Haifa Bat Galim, Haifa Merkaz (Central), Lev HaMifratz, Hutzot HaMifratz, and Kiryat Haim. A seventh stop is in the northern suburb Kiryat Motzkin. The railway stations also serve a metropolitan line with seven stops, called the Parvarit.

Travel between Haifa and the rest of the country is also possible by road with Highway 2, the main highway along the coastal plain, beginning at Tel Aviv and ending at Haifa. Furthermore, Highway 4 runs along the coast to the north of Haifa, as well as south, inland from Highway 2. In the past, traffic travelling along Highway 2 to the north of Haifa would have to pass through the downtown area of the city, however, the Carmel Tunnels, currently under construction will re-route this traffic through tunnels under Mount Carmel, cutting down on congestion in the down-town area of the city. Haifa Airport serves domestic flights to Tel Aviv and Eilat as well as international charters to Cyprus. There are currently plans to expand services from Haifa. Cruise ships previously operated from Haifa port to Greece and Cyrpus.

In the future, Haifa is planned to be connected to Beit She'an and Amman in Jordan by the reconstructed Jezreel Valley railway, with a possible extension to Nazareth.

Sister cities

Haifa has sister city agreements with the following cities:

Marseille, France (1962) Portsmouth, United Kingdom (1962) Hackney, London, United Kingdom (1968) Manila, Philippines (1971) San Francisco, California, United States (1973) Aalborg, Denmark (1973) Cape Town, South Africa (1975) Bremen, Germany (1978) Antwerp, Belgium (1986) Mainz, Germany (1987)

Düsseldorf, Germany (1988) Rosario, Argentina (1988) Odessa, Ukraine (1992) Shanghai, China (1994) Boston, Massachusetts, United States (1999) Limassol, Cyprus (2000) Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States (2002) Erfurt, Germany (2005) Mannheim, Germany (2005) Newcastle, United Kingdom

See also

• List of famous people from Haifa

Further reading

• Carmel, Alex (2002). The History of Haifa Under Turkish Rule (4th Edition ed.). Haifa: Pardes. ISBN 965-7171-05-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help) (in Hebrew)
• Shiller, Eli & Ben-Artzi, Yossi (1985). Haifa and its sites. Jerusalem: Ariel.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) (in Hebrew)
• Benny Morris, Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem
• Seth J. Frantzman The Strength of Weakness: The Arab Christians in Mandatory Palestine, unpublished M.A thesis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

External links

City and universities

• Haifa Municipality
• University of Haifa
• Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

Bahá'í

• Bahá'í World Centre, Haifa
• Photos of the Bahá'í Gardens in Haifa
• More photos of the Bahá'í Gardens
• Photos – The Baha'i Gardens in Haifa: the Shrine of the Bab Terraces & Gardens

Monastery

• Our Lady of Mount Carmel Monastery, Haifa, Israel

Travel

• The Carmelit subway and map of Haifa
• Wikitravel: Haifa
• Haifa city – the complete guide to haifa
• Photo gallery of tourist sites of Haifa

32°49′N 34°59′E