HAIFA

Major city in northwestern historic Palestine and, after May 1948, Israel.

Established in the late Bronze Age on the edge of the Bay of Haifa on the Mediterranean coast, Haifa was part of the Ottoman Empire, which ruled Palestine from 1516 until the winter of 1917/18. Haifa's population was predominantly made up of Muslim and Christian Palestinians until Jews began to settle in the city in the late nineteenth century. A number of factors contributed to its economic revival: the Egyptian conquest and reforms of the mid-nineteenth century, which inaugurated modernization in Palestine; the arrival of European steamboats, which began to visit Haifa as their port of call; the immigration in 1868 of German Templars and, after 1880, of European Jews, both of whom introduced modern economic practices and machinery; and the extension of the Hejaz Railway to Haifa in 1905.

The British ruled Palestine from 1917 to 1948. During these thirty years, Haifa experienced expansion and population growth, especially after a deep-water port was opened in 1933. The 1922 census recorded 25,000 people, of whom 6,000 were Jews and 18,000 were Palestinians. As a result of growth and increased Jewish immigration, by 1944 Haifa had about 66,000 Jews and 62,000 Palestinians. It also had a small community of Bahais, who established their religious center at Mount Carmel. During the Arab–Israel War of 1948, Arab and Jewish forces fought for control of Haifa. Of the city's Palestinian population, only 3,000 remained after the war; the rest were expelled by Jewish forces or fled to Lebanon.

Haifa is now Israel's third largest city as well as its principal port and industrial and commercial center. The city's industries include oil refining, cement, chemicals, electronics, and steel. The city is composed of three sections: port facilities and warehouses at the bottom of Mount Carmel; the business district at the slopes of the mountain; and houses, apartment buildings, and parks on top of the mountain. It also has a maritime museum and two universities. Its 2001 population was over 270,000, of whom 10 percent were Palestinian.

See also arab–israel war (1948); haifa university; israel; mandate system; ottoman empire; palestine; palestinian citizens of israel.

Bibliography

Herbert, Gilbert, and Sosnovsky, Silvina. Bauhaus on the Carmel and the Crossroads of Empire: Architecture and Planning in Haifa during the British Mandate. Jerusalem: Yad Izhaq Ben-Zvi, 1993.

Seikaly, May. Haifa: Transformation of an Arab Society, 1918–1939. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1995.

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