Haïfa

Haïfa ( חיפה in Hebrew; حيفا - Arab Ḥayfā in ) is a coastal town of Israel located on the edges of the Mediterranean.

Geography

Located at north of the country and in the district which bears its name, Haïfa is the third city of the country and account a population of: 270500 habitants. Following the example Acre and of Jerusalem, it shelters important a community Arab-Israeli (19% of the population of the Hebrew State and 10% of its electorate in 2004).

Placed downwards like on the heights of the Mount Carmel, it is one of the most important port cities of the country and shelters in its center the Université of Haïfa, whose research center Technion celebrates it (Israeli Institute of Technologies).

History

The name of this city is mentioned in the Talmud with before the Christian era. It is then about a village located around Shikmona, the Jewish main city of the area. Conquered and integrated into the Byzantine Empire, it was then successively placed under the domination of the Perses and the Arab empire. In 1100, the Croisés make the seat of the city before integrating it in the Principauté of Galileo. In fact the Mamelouks took again the places in 1265 before she is gradually deserted and given up until the 17th century.

In 1761, the Bedouin sovereign Daher El-Omar rebuilt the city by girdling it of a wall. However, the new city was moved of its place of origin and was located in a narrow place between the sea and the heights of the Mont Carmel. Except for short periods marked by the supervisions of Napoleon (1799) and of Mehemet Ali (1831), Viceroy of Egypt, the Othoman supervision will perdurera until the dismemberment of the empire in 1918 (consequences of the First World War on the geography of the the Middle East).

In 1868, the arrival of the members of the Tempelgesellschaft (Company of the Temple) profited much with the urban development. These German immigrants built their houses in what is now known like the “German colony”. The templiers contributed largely to the industry and the trade of Haïfa, and played a big role in its modernization.

Placed under supervision of the British mandate to Palestine, it will be integrated later on into the territory of Israel at the time of its independence. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was already an important industrial port with a population of: 20000 inhabitants, including 84% of Moslems and 4% of Jews. However, have regard in particular to the successive waves of the Jewish immigration in Palestine, the proportion of Moslems decreased (38% per 47% of Jews). This situation knew a turning at the time of the war of independence of Israel, when some: 60000 Arab citizens fled the area, whose Leïla Khaled celebrates it.

Today, Haïfa is a multi-cultural and multi-denominational city, where peacefully coexist of the Israeli citizens Juifs, Musulmans, Chrétiens and Druzes. It shelters also the World center bahá' í (including/understanding the Mausolée of Báb, the gardens in terraces and of the administrative buildings on the northern side of the Carmel mount), which is an administrative site and of important pilgrimage for the followers of the Bahaïsme, as well as a visited tourist attraction.

The small cemetery of Haïfa also shelters fall it from Mike Brant this singer of variety to the gold voice which made short but fulgurating career in France in the beginning of the Années 1970. To the despair of its many fans, it put an end to its days the April 25th 1975.

Economy

Except its industrial port, the town of Haïfa is also the terminal of the Oléoduc of Eilat (annual treatment of 9 million tons of crude in its refineries) as well as an essential component of the Israeli economy because of Technion whose research tasks feed the Start-up and the technological parks distributed in the periphery of Tel Aviv until the Galileo. It also constitutes a center of regional and international communication on the plan of air transport (Eilat), truck driver, railway (Tel-Aviv) and maritime (Cyprus).

Transport

A curiosity of Haïfa is the Carmelit, an underground line underground designed like a funicular. This one climbs the slopes of the Carmel Mount.

Policy and defense

The municipality is managed by the member of the Labor Party Yonah Yahav since 2003. He was elected like candidate of a list supported by the parties Shinouï, the Greens and Ishud Haschchunot. On the military level, the city also shelters an important naval base of Tsahal for its operations at sea the Mediterranean. The strategic fleet new Sous-marins of class Dolfin finds there its Home port.

Famous people born in Haïfa

Yochanan Vollach (1945).
Gene Simmons (1949).

Twinnings

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See too

the High-speed motorboats of Cherbourg (1969)

External bonds

on Youtube: World center bahá' í - the Pilgrimage, a crowned experiment
the Monastery of Notre-Dame of the Mount-Carmel

Be-X-old: Хайфа

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