Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Haifa shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Haifa offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Haifa at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Haifa? Wrong! If the Haifa is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Haifa then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Haifa? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Haifa and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Haifa wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Haifa then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Haifa site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Haifa, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Haifa, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox Israel muni|name=Haifa|image=Haifa_coa.svg|imgsize=50px|caption=Emblem of Haifa|image3=Haifa Shrine and Port.jpg|imgsize3=250px|caption3=View from Carmel across the Bahá'í shrine, city of Haifa and Haifa Bay|arname=حَيْفَا|hebname=חֵיפָה|meaning=|founded=3rd century CE|type=city|typefrom=|stdHeb=|altOffSp=|altUnoSp=|district=haifa|population=267,0001,039,000 (metropolitan area)|popyear=|area=63,666|areakm=63.7|mayor=Yona Yahav and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of about 267,800. The city is a [Port of Haifa located on Israel's Israeli Coastal Plain coastline in the Haifa Bay, about 90 km north of Tel Aviv, and is one of the country's major industrial centers.

Haifa is built on the slopes of the historic Mount Carmel, Israel. It was known in the 3rd century CE as a dye making center. Today, the city is home to a mixed population of Jews and Arabs. The city is home to the Bahá'í World Centre (including the Bahá'í Gardens), as well as two world-class academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. High-tech companies such as Intel, IBM Haifa Labs, Microsoft, Motorola, and Google have opened branches in Haifa in recent years, and built R&D facilities there.

Etymology

The city's official romanization Haifa and common English language pronunciation are based on the Arabic name Ḥayfā, although the Standard Hebrew name is Ḥefa. The local Hebrew pronunciation is .

The origin of the name Haifa is unclear. Some believe it comes from the Hebrew word חוף (hof), meaning "beach"), or חוף יפה (hof yafe), meaning "beautiful beach". Some say it comes from the Hebrew verb root חפה (hafa, meaning "to cover or hide"). Christian pilgrims of the Middle Ages (and later the The Crusades) called the town Caiphas or Caifa. Christians believe the name derives from Caiaphas, the High Priest of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus, or from the Aramaic language name of Saint Peter, Cephas or Kepah (כפא). Another explanation is that name originates from the words חי-פה ("hai-po"), meaning "lives here," which is to say, God lives here.

Early history Haifa is first mentioned in Talmudic literature around the 3rd century CE, as a small town near Shikmona, the main Jewish town in the area at that time and a center for making the traditional Tzitzit#Tekhelet dye used for kohens' temple cloth. The archaeological site of Shikmona lies southwest of the modern Bat Galim neighborhood. The Byzantine Empire ruled there until the 7th century, when the city was conquered — first by the Sassanid dynasty, then by the History of Islam. In 1100, it was conquered again by the First Crusade, after a fierce battle with its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants. Under crusader rule, the city was a part of the Principality of Galilee until the Muslim Mameluks captured it in 1265.

In 1761 Daher El-Omar, Bedouin ruler of Akko and Galilee, destroyed and rebuilt the town in a new location, surrounding it with a wall. This event is marked as the beginning of the town's modern era. After El-Omar's death in 1775, the town remained under Ottoman Empire rule until 1918, except for two brief periods: in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Haifa as part of his unsuccessful campaign to conquer Palestine and Syria, but withdrew the same year ; and between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy Mehemet Ali governed, after his son Ibrahim Pasha wrested control from the Ottomans.

Modern Haifa

In the years following the Egyptian occupation, Haifa grew in population and importance while Acre, Israel suffered a decline. The arrival of the German Templers (religious believers) in 1868, who settled in what is now known as the German Colony, Haifa, was a turning point in Haifa's development. The Templers played a major role in commerce and industry, and helped to modernize the city.

Haifa's population increased from 1,000 in 1800 to 2,000 by 1840, 6000 in 1880, 20,000 in 1914 and 24,600 in 1922.Data based on Be-Arieh “Population of the Towns”, as reproduced in Ben-Arieh Jerusalem page 466.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Haifa had emerged as an industrial port city and growing population center, reflected by the establishment of facilities like the Hejaz railway and the Technion. At that time, the Haifa District (which included a number of Arab locales surrounding the city of Haifa itself) was home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants, comprised of 82% Muslim Arab, 14% Christian Arabs, and 4% Jewish residents. Jewish population increased steadily with Aliyah, so that by 1945 the population had shifted to 33% Muslim, 20% Christian and 47% Jewish.Supplement to a Survey of Palestine (p. 12-13) which was prepared by the British Mandate for the United Nations in 1946-7. In 1947 its population was estimated to consist of 41,000 Muslims, 74,230 Jews and 29,910 Christians. The Christian community was composed mostly of Greek Orthodox Church (Arab Orthodox).

Haifa is located in the northernmost reach of the Israeli Coastal Plain designated as Jewish territory in the 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing British Mandate of Palestine, and was not excepted to 1948 Arab-Israeli War#First phase: 29 November 1947–1 April 1948 that plan and culminating in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. On 30 December, 1947 members of the Jewish militant group Irgun hurled two bombs into a crowd of Arabs who were waiting for construction jobs outside the gates of the Consolidated Refineries in Haifa, killing 6 and injuring 42, whereupon 2,000 Arab employees rioted and killed 39 Jewish employees in what has become known as the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre. Jewish forces retaliated by raiding the Arab village of Balad al-Shaykh raid on December 31, 1947. Jewish forces deemed control of Haifa a critical objective in the ensuing 1948 Arab-Israeli War, as it was the major industrial and oil refinery port in Palestine. The British withdrew from Haifa on the 21st of April, 1948. The city Capture of Haifa in 1948 on April 23, 1948 by the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah who were ordered into action by Mordechai Maklef at 10:30am on the 21st of April following three months of unsuccessful attacks by Arab forces. The majority of the Muslim population fled through the British-controlled port. However as many as 2,000 Christians remained in the city by June of 1948 and there were an additional 1,300 Muslims remaining as well.

Haifa was the target of many Hezbollah rocket force during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, which caused suffering for Jews and Arabs alike.

Religious sites Haifa, home to Jews, Muslim and Christian Arab Arabs, Ahmadis (in Kababir), Druze (in Daliyat al-Carmel), and Bahá'í Faiths, is often portrayed as a mosaic of peaceful coexistence.

Mount Carmel (Hebrew: God's vinyard) and Kishon River are both mentioned in the Bible.Mount Carmel is riddled with caves, and one of those near Haifa is traditionally known as the "Cave of Elijah", and considered by many Jews to have been the home of the Jewish biblical Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha. The highest peak of the Mount Carmel range is named El-Muhrrakah, an Arabic term meaning the burning, named on account of the belief that this was the exact spot of Elijah's biblical confrontation with hundreds of priests of a Baal; the Baal in question was probably MelqartPeake's commentary on the Bible.

The Carmelites were founded at, and named after, Mount Carmel, in the 12th century. Since that time, at the peak of the Mount near Haifa, there has historically been a building that has variously been a mosque, monastery, and hospital; in the 19th century it was reconstructed as a Carmelite monastery, and a cave located there, which functions as the monastery's crypt, was treated as having once been Elijah's cave. It is now a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination.

Haifa is also cherished by members of the Bahá'í Faith as it is an important site of worship, Bahá'í pilgrimage and administration for the members of the religion. The Bahá'í World Centre (comprising the Shrine of the Báb, Terraces (Bahá'í) and The Arc (Bahá'í)) are all on Mount Carmel northern slope. The location of the Bahá'í holy places in Haifa has its roots to the imprisonment of the religion's founder, Bahá'u'lláh, near Haifa by the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Palestine. The Bahá'í holy places are also the most visited tourist attraction of the city.

The ruins of Shikmona, at the foot of Mount Carmel, is also considered historically important by Jews. Shikmona is also mentioned in the Talmud as the coastal town in which the blue dye for the Jewish prayer shawl Talit (the Techelet thread) was extracted from sea-snails.

The Cave of Elijah - Elijah is considered a prophet by Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. The Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. According to tradition Elijah lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel during the reign of King Ahab.

Stella Maris is a French Carmelite church, monastery and hospice. The Carmelite Order, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, was named after this location, where it was founded. Located atop Mount Carmel, there is a hiking trail connecting it to the Cave of Elijah below..

Demographics The city has a population of about 267,800 people. 90% of the population are Israeli-Jews with some "others". The latter group consists Israelis without religious classification, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from mixed-marriage families. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Arab citizens of Israel constitute 9% of Haifa's population, the majority living in Wadi Nisnas, Abbas and Halisa neighborhoods.

Politics As an industrial port city, Haifa has traditionally been a Labor party stronghold. The strong presence of dock workers and trade unions earned it the nickname 'Red Haifa.' In addition, many prominent Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party, among them Tewfiq Toubi, Emile Habibi, Zaki Karkabi, Bulus Farah and Emili Toma, were all from Haifa. In recent years, there has been a drift toward the center.http://mondediplo.com/2005/12/13haifahttp://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-20132871.htmlhttp://www.islamicpluralism.org/articles/2006a/mysteriessafed.htmIn Israel legislative election, 2006, the Kadima party received about 28.9% of the votes in Haifa, while Labor lagged behind with 16.9%.http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3233587,00.html

Mayors of Haifa

Economy .The industrial region of Haifa is north of the city, near the Kishon River. Haifa is home to one of the two oil refineries in Israel (the other located in Ashdod). The refinery in Haifa is capable of processing about 9 million tons (66 million barrels) of crude oil a year and is the center of a wide array of petrochemical industries located in and around Haifa. Its twin 76-meter cooling towers, built in the 1930s, have long symbolized the city of Haifa.

Matam (Merkaz Ta'asiya v'Meida/Scientific Industries Center), the largest and oldest business park in Israel, is located at the southern entrance to the city, hosting manufacturing and research and development facilities for a large number of Israeli and international hi-tech companies, such as Intel, Elbit, Zoran Corporation, Microsoft, Philips, Google and Amdocs. The campus of the University of Haifa is also home to IBM Haifa Labs.

The Port of Haifa is the leader in passenger traffic among Israeli ports, and is also a major cargo harbor, though deregulation has seen its dominance challenged by the port of Ashdod.

Transportation International Flights to Cyprus depart from Haifa Airport, and international cruise ships call at port of Haifa.

Rail For intercity transport, there are six Israel Railways railroad stations and three "central" bus stations. The Nahariya-Tel Aviv main line railway runs along the Gulf of Haifa; stations within the municipal boundaries of Haifa, from the direction Tel Aviv, are: A seventh stop is in nearby Kiryat Motzkin (Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station), a Northern suburb. Haifa Mizrach (Haifa East) now out of passenger use, houses the Israel Railway Museum. The railway lines also serve a metropolitan train with 7 stops only, called the Parvarit.

Bus The bus stations, from Tel Aviv northwards, are: Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station, Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station, and HaMifratz Central Bus Station. All of these stations are served by Egged Bus Cooperative city, suburban, and intercity buses.

In 2006, Haifa also implemented a trial network of neighborhood mini-buses - named "Shchunatit" run by Egged.

Haifa is the only city in Israel where buses operate on Shabbat.

In 2008, Haifa and the Krayot region will also be linked via Metronit - a bus rapid transit/light rail system.

Underground Haifa is the home to Israel's only subway (rail) system. It is called Carmelit (כרמלית) and is implemented as an underground funicular.

It runs from Kikar Paris downtown to Gan HaEm (Mother's Park) on Mount Carmel. With a single track, six stations and two trains, it is listed in the Guinness World Records as world's shortest metro line.

Other The Stella Maris gondola lift cable car, consisting of 6 cabins, connects Bat Galim on the coast to the Stella Maris observation deck and monastery atop Mount Carmel; it is chiefly a tourist attraction.

Culture and Art Haifa is the cultural capital of northern Israel, but being just an hour away from Tel-Aviv, and being mostly seen as an industrial city, it has always struggled to maintain a lively cultural scene. During the 1950s, mayor Abba Hushi made a special effort to encourage authors and poets to move to Haifa. Hushi also founded Haifa Theatre, a repertory theater based in the city.

Haifa also has an orchestra, the New Haifa Symphony Orchestra, originally founded in 1950 . The Haifa Cinematheque, founded in 1975, hosts the annual Haifa International Film Festival during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday.

Education

Haifa is home to two internationally acclaimed universities and several colleges. The University of Haifa, founded in 1963, is located at the top of Mt. Carmel. The campus was designed by the architect of Brasilia and United Nations Headquarters in New York, Oscar Niemeyer. More buildings have been added since then. The top floor of the 30-story Eshkol Tower provides a panoramic view of northern Israel. The Hecht Museum, with important archeology and art collections, is located on the campus of Haifa University. The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, described as Israel's Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was founded in 1924. It has 18 faculties and 42 research institutes. The original building is now home to the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space. The first technological high school in Israel, Basmat, was established in Haifa in 1933. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/894017.html

Colleges Colleges in Haifa include:

Tourism The city of Haifa is divided into three topographical levels. The lower city is the commercial center with modern port facilities. The middle level is an older residential zone and the upper level consists of modern neighborhoods, overlooking the sandy beaches of Haifa Bay. The Carmelit connects the upper and lower city, and many neighborhoods are connected by long flights of stairs.

The Bahá'í World Centre, with the golden Shrine of the Báb and the surrounding gardens, is the main tourist attraction of Haifa. The restored German Colony, founded by the Templers (religious believers), Stella Maris and the Carmelite monastery are also popular tourist sites.

In Haifa area, the artist's village of Ein Hod attracts many tourists. It was established in 1953 by Marcel Janco, a leading artist of the Dada movement, and it overlooks the Mediterranean coast and the Chateau Pelerin. Today, ninety artists and craftsmen have studios there and exhibit their work in the main gallery and other art spaces. .

In Mount Carmel national park, visitors can see the caves where Neanderthal and early Homo Sapiens remains were found, and the location where tradition places Elijah's confrontation with the Ba'al prophets, and where now another Carmelite monastery is located. The Carmel is also a popular hiking area.

Haifa has a wide variety of malls and shopping centers, the largest being Hutsot Hamifratz, Horev Center Mall, Panorama Center, Castra Center, Colony Center (Lev HaMoshava), Hanevi'im Tower Mall, Kenyon Haifa, Lev Hamifratz Mall and Grand Kenyon.

Climate Haifa has a Mediterranean climate with hot, humid summers and cool, rainy winters. The average temperature in summer is 26 °C and in winter, 12 °C. Snow is rare in Haifa, but temperatures around 6 °C can sometimes occur, usually in the early morning. The wet season is from October to April.

Sports

The city has eight football (soccer) clubs, the two first are in the major leagues in Israel:

Maccabi Haifa is one of the most successful football clubs today in Israel, with 10 Ligat ha'Al, 5 Israel State Cup and 3 Toto Cup. Both Hapoel and Maccabi have football schools in Haifa suburbs and other villages (including Arab and Druze villages) in the northern part of Israel.Haifa also has basketball, volleyball, tennis, and team handball clubs.

The city boasts some of the best surfing beaches in the country near Bat Galim, with kite surfing and sailing clubs. The Haifa Tennis Club located nearby the south-west entrance is one of the largest in Israel.

The main stadiums are Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, seating 14,000, and Thomas D'Alesandro Stadium. The main basketball arena is Romema Sports Arena, seating 2,000; Neve Sha'anan Athletic seats 1,000. A UEFA-approved stadium is planned for south-west Haifa. It will seat 30,000 people.

Sister cities Haifa has Town twinning all over the world. The year in parentheses indicates the year in which the agreement was made.{|style="width:80%"|-|width=45%| |width=45%| |}

Neighborhoods {|style="width:90%"|-|width=30%|

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Famous residents

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References



External links City and universities

Bahá'í

Monastery

Travel

{{Infobox Israel muni|name=Haifa|image=Haifa_coa.svg|imgsize=50px|caption=Emblem of Haifa|image3=Haifa Shrine and Port.jpg|imgsize3=250px|caption3=View from Carmel across the Bahá'í shrine, city of Haifa and Haifa Bay|arname=حَيْفَا|hebname=חֵיפָה|meaning=|founded=3rd century CE|type=city|typefrom=|stdHeb=|altOffSp=|altUnoSp=|district=haifa|population=267,0001,039,000 (metropolitan area)|popyear=|area=63,666|areakm=63.7|mayor=Yona Yahav and the third-largest city in the country, with a population of about 267,800. The city is a [Port of Haifa located on Israel's Israeli Coastal Plain coastline in the Haifa Bay, about 90 km north of Tel Aviv, and is one of the country's major industrial centers.

Haifa is built on the slopes of the historic Mount Carmel, Israel. It was known in the 3rd century CE as a dye making center. Today, the city is home to a mixed population of Jews and Arabs. The city is home to the Bahá'í World Centre (including the Bahá'í Gardens), as well as two world-class academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. High-tech companies such as Intel, IBM Haifa Labs, Microsoft, Motorola, and Google have opened branches in Haifa in recent years, and built R&D facilities there.

Etymology

The city's official romanization Haifa and common English language pronunciation are based on the Arabic name Ḥayfā, although the Standard Hebrew name is Ḥefa. The local Hebrew pronunciation is .

The origin of the name Haifa is unclear. Some believe it comes from the Hebrew word חוף (hof), meaning "beach"), or חוף יפה (hof yafe), meaning "beautiful beach". Some say it comes from the Hebrew verb root חפה (hafa, meaning "to cover or hide"). Christian pilgrims of the Middle Ages (and later the The Crusades) called the town Caiphas or Caifa. Christians believe the name derives from Caiaphas, the High Priest of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus, or from the Aramaic language name of Saint Peter, Cephas or Kepah (כפא). Another explanation is that name originates from the words חי-פה ("hai-po"), meaning "lives here," which is to say, God lives here.

Early history Haifa is first mentioned in Talmudic literature around the 3rd century CE, as a small town near Shikmona, the main Jewish town in the area at that time and a center for making the traditional Tzitzit#Tekhelet dye used for kohens' temple cloth. The archaeological site of Shikmona lies southwest of the modern Bat Galim neighborhood. The Byzantine Empire ruled there until the 7th century, when the city was conquered — first by the Sassanid dynasty, then by the History of Islam. In 1100, it was conquered again by the First Crusade, after a fierce battle with its Jewish and Muslim inhabitants. Under crusader rule, the city was a part of the Principality of Galilee until the Muslim Mameluks captured it in 1265.

In 1761 Daher El-Omar, Bedouin ruler of Akko and Galilee, destroyed and rebuilt the town in a new location, surrounding it with a wall. This event is marked as the beginning of the town's modern era. After El-Omar's death in 1775, the town remained under Ottoman Empire rule until 1918, except for two brief periods: in 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Haifa as part of his unsuccessful campaign to conquer Palestine and Syria, but withdrew the same year ; and between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy Mehemet Ali governed, after his son Ibrahim Pasha wrested control from the Ottomans.

Modern Haifa

In the years following the Egyptian occupation, Haifa grew in population and importance while Acre, Israel suffered a decline. The arrival of the German Templers (religious believers) in 1868, who settled in what is now known as the German Colony, Haifa, was a turning point in Haifa's development. The Templers played a major role in commerce and industry, and helped to modernize the city.

Haifa's population increased from 1,000 in 1800 to 2,000 by 1840, 6000 in 1880, 20,000 in 1914 and 24,600 in 1922.Data based on Be-Arieh “Population of the Towns”, as reproduced in Ben-Arieh Jerusalem page 466.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Haifa had emerged as an industrial port city and growing population center, reflected by the establishment of facilities like the Hejaz railway and the Technion. At that time, the Haifa District (which included a number of Arab locales surrounding the city of Haifa itself) was home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants, comprised of 82% Muslim Arab, 14% Christian Arabs, and 4% Jewish residents. Jewish population increased steadily with Aliyah, so that by 1945 the population had shifted to 33% Muslim, 20% Christian and 47% Jewish.Supplement to a Survey of Palestine (p. 12-13) which was prepared by the British Mandate for the United Nations in 1946-7. In 1947 its population was estimated to consist of 41,000 Muslims, 74,230 Jews and 29,910 Christians. The Christian community was composed mostly of Greek Orthodox Church (Arab Orthodox).

Haifa is located in the northernmost reach of the Israeli Coastal Plain designated as Jewish territory in the 1947 UN Partition Plan dividing British Mandate of Palestine, and was not excepted to 1948 Arab-Israeli War#First phase: 29 November 1947–1 April 1948 that plan and culminating in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. On 30 December, 1947 members of the Jewish militant group Irgun hurled two bombs into a crowd of Arabs who were waiting for construction jobs outside the gates of the Consolidated Refineries in Haifa, killing 6 and injuring 42, whereupon 2,000 Arab employees rioted and killed 39 Jewish employees in what has become known as the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre. Jewish forces retaliated by raiding the Arab village of Balad al-Shaykh raid on December 31, 1947. Jewish forces deemed control of Haifa a critical objective in the ensuing 1948 Arab-Israeli War, as it was the major industrial and oil refinery port in Palestine. The British withdrew from Haifa on the 21st of April, 1948. The city Capture of Haifa in 1948 on April 23, 1948 by the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah who were ordered into action by Mordechai Maklef at 10:30am on the 21st of April following three months of unsuccessful attacks by Arab forces. The majority of the Muslim population fled through the British-controlled port. However as many as 2,000 Christians remained in the city by June of 1948 and there were an additional 1,300 Muslims remaining as well.

Haifa was the target of many Hezbollah rocket force during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, which caused suffering for Jews and Arabs alike.

Religious sites Haifa, home to Jews, Muslim and Christian Arab Arabs, Ahmadis (in Kababir), Druze (in Daliyat al-Carmel), and Bahá'í Faiths, is often portrayed as a mosaic of peaceful coexistence.

Mount Carmel (Hebrew: God's vinyard) and Kishon River are both mentioned in the Bible.Mount Carmel is riddled with caves, and one of those near Haifa is traditionally known as the "Cave of Elijah", and considered by many Jews to have been the home of the Jewish biblical Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha. The highest peak of the Mount Carmel range is named El-Muhrrakah, an Arabic term meaning the burning, named on account of the belief that this was the exact spot of Elijah's biblical confrontation with hundreds of priests of a Baal; the Baal in question was probably MelqartPeake's commentary on the Bible.

The Carmelites were founded at, and named after, Mount Carmel, in the 12th century. Since that time, at the peak of the Mount near Haifa, there has historically been a building that has variously been a mosque, monastery, and hospital; in the 19th century it was reconstructed as a Carmelite monastery, and a cave located there, which functions as the monastery's crypt, was treated as having once been Elijah's cave. It is now a popular tourist and pilgrimage destination.

Haifa is also cherished by members of the Bahá'í Faith as it is an important site of worship, Bahá'í pilgrimage and administration for the members of the religion. The Bahá'í World Centre (comprising the Shrine of the Báb, Terraces (Bahá'í) and The Arc (Bahá'í)) are all on Mount Carmel northern slope. The location of the Bahá'í holy places in Haifa has its roots to the imprisonment of the religion's founder, Bahá'u'lláh, near Haifa by the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Palestine. The Bahá'í holy places are also the most visited tourist attraction of the city.

The ruins of Shikmona, at the foot of Mount Carmel, is also considered historically important by Jews. Shikmona is also mentioned in the Talmud as the coastal town in which the blue dye for the Jewish prayer shawl Talit (the Techelet thread) was extracted from sea-snails.

The Cave of Elijah - Elijah is considered a prophet by Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. The Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. According to tradition Elijah lived in a cave on Mt. Carmel during the reign of King Ahab.

Stella Maris is a French Carmelite church, monastery and hospice. The Carmelite Order, a religious order of the Roman Catholic Church, was named after this location, where it was founded. Located atop Mount Carmel, there is a hiking trail connecting it to the Cave of Elijah below..

Demographics The city has a population of about 267,800 people. 90% of the population are Israeli-Jews with some "others". The latter group consists Israelis without religious classification, mostly immigrants from the former Soviet Union, from mixed-marriage families. According to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, Arab citizens of Israel constitute 9% of Haifa's population, the majority living in Wadi Nisnas, Abbas and Halisa neighborhoods.

Politics As an industrial port city, Haifa has traditionally been a Labor party stronghold. The strong presence of dock workers and trade unions earned it the nickname 'Red Haifa.' In addition, many prominent Arabs in the Israeli Communist Party, among them Tewfiq Toubi, Emile Habibi, Zaki Karkabi, Bulus Farah and Emili Toma, were all from Haifa. In recent years, there has been a drift toward the center.http://mondediplo.com/2005/12/13haifahttp://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-20132871.htmlhttp://www.islamicpluralism.org/articles/2006a/mysteriessafed.htmIn Israel legislative election, 2006, the Kadima party received about 28.9% of the votes in Haifa, while Labor lagged behind with 16.9%.http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3233587,00.html

Mayors of Haifa

Economy .The industrial region of Haifa is north of the city, near the Kishon River. Haifa is home to one of the two oil refineries in Israel (the other located in Ashdod). The refinery in Haifa is capable of processing about 9 million tons (66 million barrels) of crude oil a year and is the center of a wide array of petrochemical industries located in and around Haifa. Its twin 76-meter cooling towers, built in the 1930s, have long symbolized the city of Haifa.

Matam (Merkaz Ta'asiya v'Meida/Scientific Industries Center), the largest and oldest business park in Israel, is located at the southern entrance to the city, hosting manufacturing and research and development facilities for a large number of Israeli and international hi-tech companies, such as Intel, Elbit, Zoran Corporation, Microsoft, Philips, Google and Amdocs. The campus of the University of Haifa is also home to IBM Haifa Labs.

The Port of Haifa is the leader in passenger traffic among Israeli ports, and is also a major cargo harbor, though deregulation has seen its dominance challenged by the port of Ashdod.

Transportation International Flights to Cyprus depart from Haifa Airport, and international cruise ships call at port of Haifa.

Rail For intercity transport, there are six Israel Railways railroad stations and three "central" bus stations. The Nahariya-Tel Aviv main line railway runs along the Gulf of Haifa; stations within the municipal boundaries of Haifa, from the direction Tel Aviv, are: A seventh stop is in nearby Kiryat Motzkin (Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station), a Northern suburb. Haifa Mizrach (Haifa East) now out of passenger use, houses the Israel Railway Museum. The railway lines also serve a metropolitan train with 7 stops only, called the Parvarit.

Bus The bus stations, from Tel Aviv northwards, are: Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station, Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station, and HaMifratz Central Bus Station. All of these stations are served by Egged Bus Cooperative city, suburban, and intercity buses.

In 2006, Haifa also implemented a trial network of neighborhood mini-buses - named "Shchunatit" run by Egged.

Haifa is the only city in Israel where buses operate on Shabbat.

In 2008, Haifa and the Krayot region will also be linked via Metronit - a bus rapid transit/light rail system.

Underground Haifa is the home to Israel's only subway (rail) system. It is called Carmelit (כרמלית) and is implemented as an underground funicular.

It runs from Kikar Paris downtown to Gan HaEm (Mother's Park) on Mount Carmel. With a single track, six stations and two trains, it is listed in the Guinness World Records as world's shortest metro line.

Other The Stella Maris gondola lift cable car, consisting of 6 cabins, connects Bat Galim on the coast to the Stella Maris observation deck and monastery atop Mount Carmel; it is chiefly a tourist attraction.

Culture and Art Haifa is the cultural capital of northern Israel, but being just an hour away from Tel-Aviv, and being mostly seen as an industrial city, it has always struggled to maintain a lively cultural scene. During the 1950s, mayor Abba Hushi made a special effort to encourage authors and poets to move to Haifa. Hushi also founded Haifa Theatre, a repertory theater based in the city.

Haifa also has an orchestra, the New Haifa Symphony Orchestra, originally founded in 1950 . The Haifa Cinematheque, founded in 1975, hosts the annual Haifa International Film Festival during the intermediate days of the Sukkot holiday.

Education

Haifa is home to two internationally acclaimed universities and several colleges. The University of Haifa, founded in 1963, is located at the top of Mt. Carmel. The campus was designed by the architect of Brasilia and United Nations Headquarters in New York, Oscar Niemeyer. More buildings have been added since then. The top floor of the 30-story Eshkol Tower provides a panoramic view of northern Israel. The Hecht Museum, with important archeology and art collections, is located on the campus of Haifa University. The Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, described as Israel's Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was founded in 1924. It has 18 faculties and 42 research institutes. The original building is now home to the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space. The first technological high school in Israel, Basmat, was established in Haifa in 1933. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/894017.html

Colleges Colleges in Haifa include:

Tourism The city of Haifa is divided into three topographical levels. The lower city is the commercial center with modern port facilities. The middle level is an older residential zone and the upper level consists of modern neighborhoods, overlooking the sandy beaches of Haifa Bay. The Carmelit connects the upper and lower city, and many neighborhoods are connected by long flights of stairs.

The Bahá'í World Centre, with the golden Shrine of the Báb and the surrounding gardens, is the main tourist attraction of Haifa. The restored German Colony, founded by the Templers (religious believers), Stella Maris and the Carmelite monastery are also popular tourist sites.

In Haifa area, the artist's village of Ein Hod attracts many tourists. It was established in 1953 by Marcel Janco, a leading artist of the Dada movement, and it overlooks the Mediterranean coast and the Chateau Pelerin. Today, ninety artists and craftsmen have studios there and exhibit their work in the main gallery and other art spaces. .

In Mount Carmel national park, visitors can see the caves where Neanderthal and early Homo Sapiens remains were found, and the location where tradition places Elijah's confrontation with the Ba'al prophets, and where now another Carmelite monastery is located. The Carmel is also a popular hiking area.

Haifa has a wide variety of malls and shopping centers, the largest being Hutsot Hamifratz, Horev Center Mall, Panorama Center, Castra Center, Colony Center (Lev HaMoshava), Hanevi'im Tower Mall, Kenyon Haifa, Lev Hamifratz Mall and Grand Kenyon.

Climate Haifa has a Mediterranean climate with hot, humid summers and cool, rainy winters. The average temperature in summer is 26 °C and in winter, 12 °C. Snow is rare in Haifa, but temperatures around 6 °C can sometimes occur, usually in the early morning. The wet season is from October to April.

Sports

The city has eight football (soccer) clubs, the two first are in the major leagues in Israel:

Maccabi Haifa is one of the most successful football clubs today in Israel, with 10 Ligat ha'Al, 5 Israel State Cup and 3 Toto Cup. Both Hapoel and Maccabi have football schools in Haifa suburbs and other villages (including Arab and Druze villages) in the northern part of Israel.Haifa also has basketball, volleyball, tennis, and team handball clubs.

The city boasts some of the best surfing beaches in the country near Bat Galim, with kite surfing and sailing clubs. The Haifa Tennis Club located nearby the south-west entrance is one of the largest in Israel.

The main stadiums are Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, seating 14,000, and Thomas D'Alesandro Stadium. The main basketball arena is Romema Sports Arena, seating 2,000; Neve Sha'anan Athletic seats 1,000. A UEFA-approved stadium is planned for south-west Haifa. It will seat 30,000 people.

Sister cities Haifa has Town twinning all over the world. The year in parentheses indicates the year in which the agreement was made.{|style="width:80%"|-|width=45%| |width=45%| |}

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Famous residents

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References



External links City and universities

Bahá'í

Monastery

Travel



Haifa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haifa (Hebrew: חֵיפָה ‎ Ḥ efa   (help · info); Arabic: حَيْفَا ‎ Ḥayfā   (help · info) [1]) is the largest city in Northern Israel, and the third-largest ...

Haifa Wehbe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Haifa Wehbe (Arabic: هيفاء وهبي ‎ also spelled Haifa Wehbeh, Haifa Wahbi, Hayfa Wehbe, Hayfa Wehbi; born March 10, 1976 [1] [2]) is a Lebanese model, actress, and singer ...

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Rockets hit Israeli city of Haifa
Two suspected Hezbollah rockets hit the Israeli city of Haifa, as Israel steps up its offensive in Lebanon.

Haifa definition of Haifa in the Free Online Encyclopedia.
Encyclopedia article about Haifa. Information about Haifa in the Columbia Encyclopedia, Computer Desktop Encyclopedia, computing dictionary. university of haifa, haifa university ...

Haifa City
Official site including information about the city, mainly with respect to culture and tourism.

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Category:Haifa - Wikimedia Commons
Media in category "Haifa" The following 90 files are in this category, out of 90 total.

 

Haifa



 
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