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Tel Aviv - History |
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City (1989 est. pop. 330,000),
W central Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is Israel's second largest
city, its financial and commercial centre, and a major diamond-processing centre.
The city is also a tourist resort with wide, attractive beaches. Tel Aviv
was founded (1909) by Jews from Jaffa, a major Arab population centre, and
its population grew dramatically after 1920. It was Israel's first capital
(1948-49) and many foreign embassies are still located in the city. A
cultural centre, it is the site of many theatres, leading museums, and
several musical organizations, including the Israel Philharmonic. Tel Aviv
and Jaffa were merged in 1950. During the Persian Gulf War the city was
subjected to Iraqi missile attacks.
Jan.-Feb. 1991, armed conflict
resulting from Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. In Aug. 1990 Iraq invaded and
annexed Kuwait, which it had long claimed. The UN Security Council called
for Iraq to withdraw and subsequently embargoed most trade with Iraq. On
Jan. 17, 1991, a U.S.-led coalition that included Britain, Egypt, France,
Saudi Arabia, and other nations began a massive air war to destroy Iraq's
forces and military and civil infrastructure. Iraq called for terrorist
attacks against the coalition and launched missiles at Israel (in an
unsuccessful attempt to widen the war and break up the coalition) and at
Saudi Arabia. The main coalition forces invaded Kuwait and S Iraq on Feb.
24 and, over the next four days, encircled and defeated the Iraqis and
liberated Kuwait. Kuwait and Iraq suffered enormous property damage, and
the war led to unrest among Kurds and Shiites in Iraq. Iraq agreed to
coalition peace terms but subsequently sought to frustrate the carrying
out of the terms, particularly UN weapons inspections. In 1993 the U.S.,
France, and Britain launched several air strikes and a cruise missile
strike at Iraq in response to provocations, including an Iraqi plan to
assassinate former U.S. Pres. Bush. An Iraqi troop build-up near Kuwait in
1994 led the U.S. send forces to Kuwait and nearby areas.
Tel Aviv is either 90 years
old or 112, depending on who’s doing the counting. The romantic story,
which places it at 90, has 66 families venturing out of Jaffa to the sand
dunes for the "seashell lottery" -- the seashells being used as
lots for the allocation of plots of land. This led to the construction of
the neighbourhood initially known as Ahuzat Bayit, which ostensibly grew
into Tel Aviv. This story doesn’t account, however, for Neve Tzedek,
construction of which had commenced in 1887. At that time, the initiative
of Simon Rokach, a young man of 23, was truly revolutionary -- venturing
beyond Jaffa onto the sand dunes north of it, to start the first Jewish
neighbourhood.
By the time the worthies of
Ahuzat Bayit were holding their lottery, Neve Tzedek and neighbouring Neve
Shalom already had a population of some 3000 and an infrastructure which
included schools, parks, shops, and even a bank. The special attraction of
Ahuzat Bayit was the prospect of larger plots of land on which more
luxurious homes could be built. It also had the likes of Meir Dizengoff
among its leadership. The fact that he went on to become Tel Aviv’s
first mayor likely plays no small role in dating the city. So, officially,
the city is currently 90 years old.
Irrespective of its precise
age, Tel Aviv’s growth to its current population of some 400,000 is
remarkable. In the early 1950s, Jaffa, from which it grew, was
incorporated into the municipal boundaries and administration. Thus, the
city’s official name is Tel Aviv-Yafo (Jaffa). This technically makes it
over 4000 years old -- but then the rest doesn’t sound quite so
impressive ...
The larger metropolitan area
comprises a number of separate municipalities, which have expanded and
grown into a great urban bloc with Tel Aviv. Over 1 million people live in
this spread - about 1/6 of the total population of Israel. [Immediately to
the south are Bat Yam and Holon. Along the eastern flank are Ramat Gan and
Givatayim, followed by Bnei Brak and Petach Tikva. To the north are Ramat
Hasharon and Herzlia, with Tel Aviv bus service extending to Raanana and
Rosh Ha’ayin.]
In many ways, Tel Aviv has
fulfilled the text of the promotional brochure for building Ahuzat Bayit:
"We must occupy a decent
stretch of land on which to build ourselves houses. It should be situated
near Jaffa, and will constitute the first Hebrew town, which will be one
hundred percent Jewish populated, where Hebrew will be spoken, and purity
and cleanliness maintained; and we shall not walk in the ways of the
nations, and just as the town of New York symbolizes the gateway to
America, so must we improve our town, until someday it becomes the New
York of Eretz Israel... In this town, we will set out streets having roads
and sidewalks, with electric lighting. Entering into every house will be
water from the wellsprings of salvation that shall flow to us by means of
pipes, as in every modern town in Europe and also canalisation will be
arranged for the health of the town and its inhabitants..."
Clearly, many bought into the idea and the project, which
ultimately was renamed Tel Aviv. This first neighbourhood mushroomed, and,
for decades to come, Tel Aviv was in a great rush to be built -- eyes
focused on the new and back turned to the old. Within 15 years, it had
grown into a full-fledged town, and, by 1939, its population totalled
160,000.
Now, less than a century after
the Jewish residents of Jaffa were exhorted to the concept of "New
York on the Mediterranean," it can be said that the vision of the
founders has been fulfilled (we’re still working on "purity and
cleanliness"). Though considerably smaller than other world
metropolises, the first "Hebrew city" is, indeed, the cultural,
financial, and commercial heart of Israel.
One of the factors in this is
that Tel Aviv is one of the top ten cities in the world to which young
people migrate, according to the magazine. "Tel Aviv, the country's
most expensive city, has become the whirring centre of high-tech growth
almost by default - it is the only Israeli metropolis that operates on the
same 24-hour schedule as the tech industry."
During its short history, Tel
Aviv has not only grown, burgeoning to the point that the Jaffa from which
it originated is now incorporated into the city. What is important is that
it has come of age; not only embracing the new, but also no longer
neglecting the old.
One of the early residents of
the Neve Tzedek neighbourhood, denouncing the opening of the
"cinematograph," as the first movie theatre was known, wrote:
"It will be most harmful to us, also in a material sense, because
thieves will find the right answer, for they will find a man lying in wait
at the threshold of his house, saying - ‘to the cinematograph I go.’
And if I am wrong, no matter, and also in a moral sense, for who will
guarantee that women and virgins shall not be taken by surprise, and you
know how the common people are."
Jaffa
The colourful southern quarter
of Tel Aviv combines the vibrancy of Israel's cultural and commercial
centre with the exotica and history of thousands of years. With its port
and ancient quarter, it is the second-oldest of the walled cities cited in
the Bible and even figures in Greek mythology, Mishnaic history, and
through to the present day.
Jaffa is mentioned as far back
as the 16th century BCE, referred to as Yapou in an Egyptian source. It
was probably Phoenician in origin, and Pliny attributed its name to Joppa,
the daughter of Aliolos, about 4000 BCE. Jewish tradition, however, holds
that Yafet, one of the sons of Noah, founded it after the flood. This
gives it the name of Yafo, "the beautiful," while it also has
been known, variously as Joppe (Greek), Joppa (Roman) and Yafa (Arabic).
During the First-Temple
Period, Jaffa was a vibrant Jewish centre. Its port, via which Jonah fled
from his obligations to God, was the gateway through which the cedars of
Lebanon passed, on their way to become part of the First Temple in
Jerusalem, and the area was renowned for the fabulous vineyards of King
Solomon. During the rebellion against the Romans, however, the Jewish
population was largely wiped out, and many peoples, filled its consequent
history from the Crusaders to Napoleon, followed by the Egyptians, the
Turks, and the British.
Through the Talmudic and
Mishnaic periods, notable sages made Jaffa their home. For years, though,
the only Jewish presence in the city primarily consisted of those landing
at the port, passing through it on their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1820,
however, with the construction of a new Sephardic synagogue, a Jewish
community was re-established in the city. Eventually, this led to the
establishment of the Neve Tzedek neighbourhood in the late 1800s, which
included the construction of schools and a hospital.
The Jaffa quarter is a popular tourist destination, thanks to the refurbished Old City, archaeological sites, a famous flea market, myriad restaurants, and places of entertainment. Now, it also is becoming one of the most desirable areas of the city, with many moneyed professionals setting their sights on it and purchasing into the new apartment complexes under construction. They will be rounding out the rich human mosaic of Jaffa, which is home to veteran Jewish immigrants from Bulgaria, recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, veteran Israelis who, in recent years, have moved into old homes, remodelling them into beautiful new forms, and Israeli Arabs, both Moslem and Christian. |
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In fact, it is considered so
dynamic by international standards that Newsweek magazine recently
cited it as being one of only three
"hot new tech cities" outside the United States (the other two
being Cambridge, England, and Bangalore, India): "And some say that
the Silicon Valley's most serious global competitor is the mini-sprawl
around Tel Aviv. ‘High-tech start-ups are the new Zionism,’ says Yossi
Sela, head of a $150 million venture-capital fund in the suburb of
Herzliya."
