Nahariya
Nahariya
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| Hebrew transcription(s) | ||
| • ISO 259 | Nahriya | |
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 Nahariya
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| Coordinates: 33°00′21″N 35°05′56″E / 33.00583°N 35.09889°ECoordinates: 33°00′21″N 35°05′56″E / 33.00583°N 35.09889°E | ||
| District | Northern | |
| Sub-district | Acre | |
| Founded | 1935 | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | City (from 1961) | |
| • Mayor | Jacky Sabag | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 10,233 dunams (10.233 km2 or 3.951 sq mi) | |
| Population (2015) | ||
| • Total | 54,305 | |
Nahariya (Hebrew: נַהֲרִיָּה) is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. In 2015 it had a population of 54,305.
Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton (river is nahar in Hebrew), which bisects it.
The ruins of a 3,400-year-old Bronze Age citadel were found in the coastal city of Nahariya near the beach on Balfour Street, at a site known to archaeologists as Khirbet Kabarsa. The citadel was an administrative center serving the mariners who sailed along the Mediterranean coast. There are evidence of commercial and cultural relations with Cyprus and the rest of the Mediterranean region. The fortress was destroyed four times by conflagration and rebuilt each time.
A church from the Byzantine period, dedicated to St. Lazarus, was excavated in the 1970s. It was destroyed by fire, probably at the time of the Persian invasion in 614.
In the years 1934/35 Nahariya was founded as an agricultural village by a company limited by shares and headed by the agronomist Dr. Selig Eugen Soskin (1873-1959), the civil engineer Joseph Loewy (1885-1949), the financial expert Heinrich Cohn (1895-1976) and the engineer Simon Reich (1883-1941). The company acquired an area of land by purchase from the Arab landowner family Toueini. After ameliorisation and parcelling the plots have been offered to new German Jewish immigrants who had escaped from Nazi persecution. The first two families permanently settled in Nahariya on February 10, 1935, which is now considered the official founding date of Nahariya. After an accumulation of economic, financial and climatic problems the residents soon realized that agriculture was impractical and chose to focus on tourism, taking advantage of the natural surroundings and beaches. During the British Mandate of Palestine, many British officers coming from Khartoum stopped in Nahariya.
Nahariya became a development town in the 1950s after the nearby ma'abara was integrated. The town hence become a home to many Jewish refugees from North Africa, the Middle East and Europe. During the 1990s, the city absorbed a significant number of immigrants from the former Soviet Union and Ethiopia. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nahariya experienced a construction boom.
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Wikipedia