Tel Aviv-Yafo

I

Introduction

Tel Aviv-Yafo, also Tel Aviv-Jaffa, city in Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea, south of the mouth of the Yarqon River. Tel Aviv-Yafo is Israel's second-largest city after Jerusalem and is the country's main commercial, financial, and manufacturing centre. Population 368,635 (2004 estimate).

II

Economy

Among Tel Aviv-Yafo’s diverse industries are processed food, textiles, clothing, chemicals, metal and wood items, motor vehicles, and electrical and electronic equipment. Also important are diamond cutting, and printing and publishing. Periodicals and newspapers are published here in a number of languages. The city, which enjoys a warm climate and is almost entirely fronted by beaches, has numerous hotels and is an important tourist centre.

III

Places of Interest

The municipality consists of two distinct centres: historic Jaffa to the south, and modern Tel Aviv stretching to the north and east. Jaffa (ancient Joppa) is a former Arab town of old buildings and winding streets, while Tel Aviv has wide avenues lined with trees and modern apartment houses. Tel Aviv’s “White City” architecture, based on the designs of Scottish urban planner Sir Patrick Geddes, is an excellent example of new town planning in the early 20th century, and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. The city is a major centre of Israeli cultural life. Its facilities include several museums and music and arts centres; the city is the home of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and other performing-arts groups. The Habimah National Theatre, the world’s first professional Hebrew theatre company founded in Moscow in 1917, was established in Tel-Aviv Yafo in 1931 and became Israel’s national theatre in 1958. Histadrut, the Israeli general federation of labour, has its headquarters in Tel Aviv-Yafo. Tel Aviv University was founded in the city in 1953. Bar-Ilan University (1955) is in the suburb of Ramat Gan.

IV

History

A

Founding of Jaffa

The site of Jaffa, a small promontory jutting into the Mediterranean Sea, has been occupied for nearly 4,000 years. In antiquity it was besieged by the Egyptians, Persians, and Greeks. It was destroyed by the Romans during the Jewish war of ad 68. Jaffa was captured by Crusaders in 1126 and again in 1191, and in each case was re-conquered by the Muslims.