Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv at night

Allenby Street

Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew תֶּל אָבִיב-יָפוֹ; Arabic تَلْ اَبِيبْ-يَافَا Tal Abīb-Yāfā) is an Israeli city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Tel Aviv is also part of a major metropolitan area in Israel, known as Gush Dan ("Dan Aggregate"). Tel Aviv is located at 32°5' North, 34°48' East (32.08333, 34.8). [1] (http://earth-info.nga.mil/gns/html/cntry_files.html)

The larger metropolitan area comprises a number of separate municipalities with around 1.1 million people living in the 14 km sprawl along the Mediterranean coast and around 365,000 in Tel Aviv-Yafo itself, making it the second largest city in Israel. Bat Yam, Holon, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Bnei Brak, Petah Tikva, Rishon LeZion, Ramat Ha-Sharon and Herzliya are the other major cities in the area known as Gush Dan¹.

Origin of name

The name Tel Aviv in Hebrew means "Hill (tell) [of] Spring (aviv)", the title given by Nahum Sokolov to a Hebrew translation which he made of Theodor Herzl's book Altneuland, whose title means "Old-new-land". The Hebrew word aviv means the season called Spring, not source of water.

There is an account that Sokolov designed the book title Tel Aviv to suggest the destruction of the ancient Jewish state and the hoped-for restoration of a new Jewish state: aviv = "the season of Spring" to symbolize the renewal; and tel to symbolize the destruction of the ancient state, following not the usual Hebrew meaning of the word "tel" but a modern European meaning "mound of accumulated ruins" extracted by archaeologists from Arabic placenames of excavation sites in the Middle East.

Tel Aviv (place in Babylonia mentioned in the Bible)

The name "Tel Aviv" was taken by Nahum Sokolov 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 place called Tel Aviv in the Hebrew Bible is usually spelt Tel-abib or similarly in Bible translations. The Aviv referred to may have been the season of Spring directly, or it may have referred to a god or goddess who (in Mesopotamian belief of the time) caused Spring to come.

History

The settlement in the area of modern southern Tel Aviv (the neighbourhoods of Neve Shalom and Neve Tsedek) was started in the 1880s as a substitute for the rather expensive Arab neighbourhoods of Jaffa. However the city of Tel Aviv itself was established only in 1909 as Ahuzat Bayit and was later renamed to Tel Aviv. At its founding, Tel Aviv was intended only to be a suburb, a bedroom community, with the workers commuting to Jaffa. However, a dispute broke out between the Jews of Tel Aviv and the Arabs of Jaffa in 1921 or thereabouts, and this led the denizens of Tel Aviv to create a new central business district. 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, and it remains so to this day. In 1950 Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united in a single municipality - Tel Aviv-Yafo.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, for a period of eight months (May-December 1948) during the Arab blockade of Jerusalem it also served as the temporary de facto capital of Israel. Though Israel subsequently designated Jerusalem to be its capital, that designation was regarded by most countries as a breach of international law and not accepted by them. This includes international state organisations, all of whom continue to regard Tel Aviv as the de jure Israeli capital. However, many countries held their embassies in Jerusalem up until early 1980s, when the Knesset passed the basic law "Jerusalem - Capital of Israel" which defines Jerusalem as the indivisible capital of Israel. This finally led to the moving of most embassies out of Jerusalem to other Israeli cities (among them Tel Aviv). This act was done as a protest, in co-operation with the UN resolution, and does not imply change in recognition of Israel's capital. The Congress of the United States recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, but the president was given permission to prevent the moving of the US embassy from Tel Aviv. ²

Culture

Tel Aviv University (TAU), the largest university in Israel, is located in north Tel Aviv (in a neighborhood called Ramat Aviv (Hebrew for "Spring Heights")). TAU has an excellent reputation internationally, mostly famous for its physics, computer technology, and Chemistry departments.

There are many cultural centers in Tel Aviv, including the Opera House and the "Culture Hall" (with a 3,000 seat concert hall). Tel Aviv also has many theatre companies and theatre halls, the HaBima ("The Stage") is the most recognized.

Tel Aviv has many museums and art galleries. The Eretz Israel Museum is known for its rich collection of archeology and history exhibits. The major art museum in Israel is the Tel Aviv Arts Museum. Batey Haosef Museum is a museum for the military history of the Israel Defense Forces. It is regarded by many experts and arms collectors as a real jewel, containing rare exhibits and authentic pieces from Israel's history as well as a wide variety of firearms and pictures. The Palmach Museum near Tel Aviv University offers a unique multimedia experience, 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, Israel there is a small museum for the Etzel, who conquered Jaffa in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. Located on the campus of TAU is the Diaspora Museum, dedicated to Jewish history throughout the world. It explains through historical documentation and art how Jews have both prospered and been persecuted for centuries while away from their homeland.

In July 2003, Tel Aviv's White City was announced unanimously by the UNESCO council as a World Heritage Site, due to its massive assemblage of the Bauhaus International Style buildings, the city's most precious architectural style.

Sports

Tel Aviv holds some of the top sports teams in Israel, and in one case even in the world:

The Maccabi Tel Aviv Sports Club was founded in 1906 and houses over 10 sport branches, such as the Maccabi Tel-Aviv asketball club (43 times Israeli champion, 33 times Israeli cup holder and 5 times European Champions cup holder), the Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC soccer club (18 times Israeli champion, 21 times Israeli cup holder, twice Israeli Toto cup holder and twice Asia cup holder), and a Judo club (Yael Arad of Maccabi Tel-Aviv won a silver medal in the 1992 Olympic Games).

Hapoel Tel Aviv's basketball club (5 Israeli championships, 4 Israeli cups) and soccer club (13 Israeli championships, 10 Israeli cups, one Toto cup and once Asia champion) have always been amongst the top Israeli clubs.

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv's soccer club (once Israeli champion, twice Israeli cup holder and twice Israeli Toto cup holder) is the only Israeli soccer team on the highest Israeli soccer league (Ligat Ha'al) that represents only a neighbourhood - Shechunat Hatikva ("The Hope Neighborhood") in Tel Aviv - and not an entire city.

Other minor soccer clubs of mainly historical importance include Shimshon Tel Aviv and Beitar Tel Aviv.

Transportation

The main access route of Tel Aviv is the Ayalon Highway, which goes through the city - north to south - on the Ayalon River route, which had been ordered between the 2 lanes.

Tel Aviv has 4 railroad stations along the Ayalon Highway. The stops are from north to south: Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Mercaz [Tel Aviv Central Train Station (Near the Masof 2000 Bus Depot.)], Tel Aviv HaShalom (At the Azrieli Center.), and Tel Aviv HaHaganah (Near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station). It is estimated that about 1 million people use the train from Rishon LeZion, Rehovot, and Petah Tikva to Tel Aviv and back, per month.

The Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, the largest central bus station in the world, is located in the south. The main bus network in Tel Aviv belongs to the Dan Bus Cooperative. The Israeli Egged Bus Cooperative, the world's second-largest bus company, also has a bus network in the city.

Tel Aviv's airport is Dov Hoz Airport Sde Dov (code: SDV), located at the north of the city and serves as a major airport for domestic flights.

Ben Gurion International Airport (code:TLV), which is Israel's main international airport and also serves the city, is located 15 km southeast of Tel Aviv near the city of Lod.

Lists and tables

Mayors of Tel Aviv

• Meir Dizengoff (1921–1925)
• David Bloch (1925–1927)
• Meir Dizengoff (1928–1936)
• Israel Rokach (1936–1952)
• Chaim Levanon (1953–1959)
• Mordechai Namir (1959–1969)
• Yehoshua Rabinowitz (1969–1974)
• Shlomo Lahat (1974–1993)
• Ronnie Milo (1993–1998)
• Ron Huldai (1998–)

Footnote

¹ Ramat Hasharon and Herzliya, though neighbouring Tel Aviv, are not considered part of Gush Dan, but rather of an area named Sharon.

² Jerusalem is fully accepted as Israel's capital by three countries, the United States of America, Costa Rica and El Salvador. Many other countries recognize Israel's right to decide its capital, but are not fully accepting any designation until further Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. However, these countries do not recognize Tel Aviv or any other city as Israel's capital instead.

External links

• Tel Aviv official website (English) (http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english/index.htm) (Hebrew) (http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/)
• Interactive detailed city map (Hebrew) (http://194.90.126.5/iview/viewer.htm)
• Tel Aviv University (http://www.tau.ac.il/)
• TimeOut Tel Aviv (Hebrew) (http://www.timeout.co.il)
• Ben Gurion International Airport (http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/Airports/BenGurion/)
• Dov Hoz Airport (Sde Dov) (http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/Airports/SdeDov/)
• Tel Aviv Marina (http://www.telaviv-marina.co.il/)da:Tel Aviv

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