fbpx
Wikipedia

Ashkelon

Ashkelon or Ashqelon (/ˈæʃkəlɒn/; Hebrew: אַשְׁקְלוֹן , ʾAšqəlōn, [aʃkeˈlon]; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍 *ʾAšqalōn[2]), also known as Ascalon (/ˈæskəlɒn/; Ancient Greek: Ασκαλων, Askalōn; Arabic: عَسْقَلَان, ʿAsqalān), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, 50 kilometres (30 mi) south of Tel Aviv, and 13 kilometres (8 mi) north of the border with the Gaza Strip.

Ashkelon
  • אַשְׁקְלוֹן
  • عسقلان
Hebrew transcription(s)
 • ISO 259ʔašqlon
 • Translit.Ashkelon
 • Also spelledAshqelon, Ascalon (unofficial)
Ashkelon
Ashkelon
Coordinates: 31°40′N 34°34′E / 31.667°N 34.567°E / 31.667; 34.567Coordinates: 31°40′N 34°34′E / 31.667°N 34.567°E / 31.667; 34.567
CountryIsrael
DistrictSouthern
Founded
  • 5880 BCE (Neolithic settlement)
  • 2000 BCE (Canaanite city)
  • 1150 BCE (Philistine rule)
  • 6th century BCE (Classical city)
  • 15th century CE (Arab village)
  • 1953 (Israeli city)
Government
 • MayorTomer Glam
Area
 • Total47,788 dunams (47.788 km2 or 18.451 sq mi)
Population
 (2021)[1]
 • Total149,160
 • Density3,100/km2 (8,100/sq mi)
Websitewww.ashkelon.muni.il

The modern city is named after the ancient seaport of Ashkelon, which was destroyed in 1270 and whose remains can now be seen at the archaeological site known as Tel Ashkelon on the southeastern edge of the modern metropolis. These ruins date back to the Neolithic Age, and saw the passage of numerous civilizations, including the Ancient Egyptians, Canaanites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Hasmoneans, Romans, Persians, the Arabs and Crusaders. The Palestinian village of Al-Jura was formerly immediately adjacent to the ruins.

The modern urban development of the area began approximately 4 km inland from the ancient site as the Palestinian town of al-Majdal (Arabic: الْمِجْدَل al-Mijdal; Hebrew: אֵל־מִגְ׳דַּל ʾĒl-Mīǧdal). Its inhabitants were exclusively Muslims and Christians; on the eve of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War the inhabitants numbered 10,000 and in October 1948, the city accommodated thousands more Palestinian refugees from nearby villages.[3][4] The town was conquered by Israeli forces on 5 November 1948, by which time much of the Arab population had fled,[5] leaving some 2,700 inhabitants, of which 500 were deported by Israeli soldiers in December 1948[5] and most of the rest were deported by 1950.[6] Today, the city's population is almost entirely Jewish.

Migdal was initially repopulated by Jewish immigrants and demobilized soldiers. It was subsequently renamed multiple times, first as Migdal Gaza, Migdal Gad and Migdal Ashkelon, until in 1953 the coastal neighborhood of Afridar was incorporated and the name "Ashkelon" was adopted for the combined town. By 1961, Ashkelon was ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000.[7] In 2021 the population of Ashkelon was 149,160, making it the third-largest city in Israel's Southern District.[1]

Etymology

The name Ashkelon is probably western Semitic, and might be connected to the triliteral root š-q-l ("to weigh" from a Semitic root ṯql, akin to Hebrew šāqal שָקַל or Arabic θiql ثِقْل "weight") perhaps attesting to its importance as a center for mercantile activities. Its name appeared in Phoenician and Punic as ŠQLN (𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍) and ʾŠQLN (𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍).[8] Scallion and shallot are derived from Ascalonia, the Latin name for Ashkelon.[9][10]

History

 
The area of modern Ashkelon cover the land of: Al Majdal, Hamama, Al-Jura, Al-Khisas and Ni'ilya.
 
The ruins of the ancient city
Images from the 1871-77 PEF Survey of Palestine

Early history

Tel Ashkelon

The archaeological site of Ashkelon, today known as Tel Ashkelon, was the oldest and largest seaport in Canaan, part of the pentapolis (a grouping of five cities) of the Philistines, north of Gaza and south of Jaffa.

The site was an important city during the Roman, Byzantine and early Islamic periods, and particularly during the period of the Crusades, due to its location near the coast and between the Crusader States and Egypt. The Battle of Ascalon was the last action of the First Crusade. In 1270, the Mamluk sultan Baybars ordered the citadel and harbour at the site to be destroyed. As a result of this destruction, the city was abandoned by its inhabitants and fell into disuse.

El-Jurah

The Palestinian village of Al-Jura (El-Jurah) stood northeast of and immediately adjacent to Tel Ashkelon and is documented in Ottoman tax registers.

Majdal

The Arab village of Majdal was mentioned by historians and tourists at the end of the 15th century.[11] In 1596, Ottoman records showed Majdal to be a large village of 559 Muslim households, making it the 7th-most-populous locality in Palestine after Safad, Jerusalem, Gaza, Nablus, Hebron and Kafr Kanna.[12][13]

An official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Medschdel had a total of 420 houses and a population of 1175, though the population count included men only.[14][15]

Mandatory Palestine

 
 
Ashkelon street map (date 2018, white text and light grey streets) overlaid on a Survey of Palestine map (date 1942, black text, red urban areas and black streets), showing the relative locations of Al Majdal, Hamama, Al-Jura, Al-Khisas and Ni'ilya

El-Jurah

El-Jurah was depopulated during the 1948 war.

Majdal

 
Weavers in Majdal, 1934–39

In the 1922 census of Palestine, Majdal had a population of 5,064; 33 Christians and 5,031 Muslims,[16] increasing in the 1931 census to 6,166 Muslims and 41 Christians.[17]

In the 1945 statistics Majdal had a population of 9,910; ninety Christians and 9,820 Muslims,[18] with a total (urban and rural) of 43,680 dunams of land, according to an official land and population survey. Two thousand two hundred and fifty dunes were public land; all the rest was owned by Arabs.[19] of the dunams, 2,337 were used for citrus and bananas, 2,886 were plantations and irrigable land, 35,442 for cereals,[20] while 1,346 were built-up land.[21]

Majdal was especially known for its weaving industry.[citation needed] The town had around 500 looms in 1909. In 1920 a British Government report estimated that there were 550 cotton looms in the town with an annual output worth 30–40 million francs.[22] But the industry suffered from imports from Europe and by 1927 only 119 weaving establishments remained. The three major fabrics produced were "malak" (silk), 'ikhdari' (bands of red and green) and 'jiljileh' (dark red bands). These were used for festival dresses throughout Southern Palestine. Many other fabrics were produced, some with poetic names such as ji'nneh u nar ("heaven and hell"), nasheq rohoh ("breath of the soul") and abu mitayn ("father of two hundred").[23]

Israel

 
The area around Majdal had been allocated to the Arab state in the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine
 
Ashkelon region in the 1950s Survey of Israel. The built up area labeled אשקלון (Ashkelon) is the area previously known as Majdal. To the left is Afridar. The ruins of Hamama, Al-Jura and Ni'ilya are also shown.
 
High-rise residential development along the beach
 
Ashkelon Marina

During the 1948 war, the Egyptian army occupied a large part of the Gaza region including Majdal. Over the next few months, the town was subjected to Israeli air-raids and shelling.[5] All but about 1,000 of the town's residents were forced to leave by the time it was captured by Israeli forces as a sequel to Operation Yoav on 4 November 1948.[5] General Yigal Allon ordered the expulsion of the remaining Palestinians but the local commanders did not do so and the Arab population soon recovered to more than 2,500 due mostly to refugees slipping back and also due to the transfer of Palestinians from nearby villages.[5][11] Most of them were elderly, women, or children.[11] During the next year or so, the Palestinians were held in a confined area surrounded by barbed wire, which became commonly known as the "ghetto".[7][11][24] Moshe Dayan and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion were in favor of expulsion, while Mapam and the Israeli labor union Histadrut objected.[5] The government offered the Palestinians positive inducements to leave, including a favorable currency exchange, but also caused panic through night-time raids.[5] The first group was deported to the Gaza Strip by truck on 17 August 1950 after an expulsion order had been served.[25] The deportation was approved by Ben-Gurion and Dayan over the objections of Pinhas Lavon, secretary-general of the Histadrut, who envisioned the town as a productive example of equal opportunity.[26] By October 1950, twenty Palestinian families remained, most of whom later moved to Lydda or Gaza.[5] According to Israeli records, in total 2,333 Palestinians were transferred to the Gaza Strip, 60 to Jordan, 302 to other towns in Israel, and a small number remained in Ashkelon.[11] Lavon argued that this operation dissipated "the last shred of trust the Arabs had in Israel, the sincerity of the State's declarations on democracy and civil equality, and the last remnant of confidence the Arab workers had in the Histadrut."[26] Acting on an Egyptian complaint, the Egyptian-Israel Mixed Armistice Commission ruled that the Palestinians transferred from Majdal should be returned to Israel, but this was not done.[27]

Ashkelon was formally granted to Israel in the 1949 Armistice Agreements. Re-population of the recently vacated Arab dwellings by Jews had been official policy since at least December 1948, but the process began slowly.[7] The Israeli national plan of June 1949 designated al-Majdal as the site for a regional urban center of 20,000 people.[7] From July 1949, new immigrants and demobilized soldiers moved to the new town, increasing the Jewish population to 2,500 within six months.[7] These early immigrants were mostly from Yemen, North Africa, and Europe.[28] During 1949, the town was renamed Migdal Gaza, and then Migdal Gad. Soon afterwards it became Migdal Ashkelon. The city began to expand as the population grew. In 1951, the neighborhood of Afridar was established for Jewish immigrants from South Africa,[29] and in 1953 it was incorporated into the city. The current name Ashkelon was adopted and the town was granted local council status in 1953. In 1955, Ashkelon had more than 16,000 residents. By 1961, Ashkelon ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000.[7] This grew to 43,000 in 1972 and 53,000 in 1983. In 2005, the population was more than 106,000.

On 1–2 March 2008, rockets fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip (some of them Grad rockets) hit Ashkelon, wounding seven, and causing property damage. Mayor Roni Mahatzri stated that "This is a state of war, I know no other definition for it. If it lasts a week or two, we can handle that, but we have no intention of allowing this to become part of our daily routine."[30] In March 2008, 230 buildings and 30 cars were damaged by rocket fire on Ashkelon.[31] On 12 May 2008, a rocket fired from the northern Gazan city of Beit Lahiya hit a shopping mall in southern Ashkelon, causing significant structural damage. According to The Jerusalem Post, four people were seriously injured and 87 were treated for shock. Fifteen people suffered minor to moderate injuries as a result of the collapsed structure. Southern District Police chief Uri Bar-Lev believed the Grad-model Katyusha rocket was manufactured in Iran.[32]

In March 2009, a Qassam rocket hit a school, destroying classrooms and injuring two people.[33]

In November 2014, the mayor, Itamar Shimoni, began a policy of discrimination against Arab workers, refusing to allow them to work on city projects to build bomb shelters for children. His discriminatory actions brought criticism from others, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat who likened the discrimination to the anti-Semitism experienced by Jews in Europe 70 years earlier.[34][35]

On May 11, 2021, Hamas fired 137 rockets on Ashkelon[36][37] killing 2 and injuring many others.[38]

 
Ashkelon is located in the 20–30 seconds' run to safety area due to grad rocket range
 
Panorama of modern Ashkelon

Urban development

 
Holiday Inn and 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Awad

In 1949 and 1950, three immigrant transit camps (ma'abarot) were established alongside Majdal (renamed Migdal) for Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Romania and Poland. Northwest of Migdal and the immigrant camps, on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village al-Jura,[39] entrepreneur Zvi Segal, one of the signatories of Israel's Declaration of Independence, established the upscale Barnea neighborhood.[40]

A large tract of land south of Barnea was handed over to the trusteeship of the South African Zionist Federation, which established the neighborhood of Afridar. Plans for the city were drawn up in South Africa according to the garden city model. Migdal was surrounded by a broad ring of orchards. Barnea developed slowly, but Afridar grew rapidly. The first homes, built in 1951, were inhabited by new Jewish immigrants from South Africa and South America, with some native-born Israelis. The first public housing project for residents of the transit camps, the Southern Hills Project (Hageva'ot Hadromiyot) or Zion Hill (Givat Zion), was built in 1952.[40]

Under a plan signed in October 2015, seven new neighborhoods comprising 32,000 housing units, a new stretch of highway, and three new highway interchanges will be built, turning Ashkelon into the sixth-largest city in Israel.[41]

Economy

Ashkelon is the northern terminus for the Trans-Israel pipeline, which brings petroleum products from Eilat to an oil terminal at the port. The Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant is the largest in the world.[42][43] The project was developed as a BOT (build–operate–transfer) by a consortium of three international companies: Veolia water, IDE Technologies and Elran.[44] In March 2006, it was voted "Desalination Plant of the Year" in the Global Water Awards.[45]

Since 1992, Israel Beer Breweries has been operating in Ashkelon, brewing Carlsberg and Tuborg beer for the Israeli market. The brewery is owned by the Central Bottling Company, which has also held the Israeli franchise for Coca-Cola products since 1968.[46]

Arak Ashkelon, a local brand of arak, is operating since 1925 and distributed throughout Israel.

Education

The city has 19 elementary schools, and nine junior high and high schools. The Ashkelon Academic College opened in 1998, and now hosts thousands of students. Harvard University operates an archaeological summer school program in Ashkelon.[47]

Landmarks

Ashkelon National Park

The ancient site of Ashkelon is now a national park on the city's southern coast. The walls that encircled the city are still visible, as well as Canaanite earth ramparts. The park contains Byzantine, Crusader and Roman ruins.[48] The largest dog cemetery in the ancient world was discovered in Ashkelon.[49]

Bath Houses

In 1986 ruins of 4th- to 6th-century baths were found in Ashkelon. The bath houses are believed to have been used for prostitution. The remains of nearly 100 mostly male infants were found in a sewer under the bathhouse, leading to conjectures that prostitutes had discarded their unwanted newborns there.[50]

Religious sites

Places of worship

The remains of a 4th-century Byzantine church with marble slab flooring and glass mosaic walls can be seen in the Barnea Quarter.[51] Remains of a synagogue from this period have also been found.[52]

Maqam al-Imam al-Husayn

 
Muslims at Mejdal, April 1943, with Maqam al-Imam al-Husayn in the background.

An 11th-century mosque, Maqam al-Imam al-Husayn, a site of pilgrimage for both Sunnis and Shiites,[53]: 185–186 [54][55] which had been built under the Fatimids by Badr al-Jamali and where tradition held that the head of Mohammad's grandson Hussein ibn Ali was buried, was blown up by the IDF under instructions from Moshe Dayan as part of a broader programme to destroy mosques in July 1950.[56][57][58] The area was subsequently redeveloped for a local Israeli hospital, Barzilai. After the site was re-identified on the hospital grounds, funds from Mohammed Burhanuddin, leader of a Shi'a Ismaili sect based in India, were used to construct a marble mosque, which is visited by Shi'ite pilgrims from India and Pakistan.[53][55][57][59]

Shrines

A domed structure housing the 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Awad sits atop a hill overlooking Ashkelon's northern beaches.[60]

A Roman burial tomb two kilometres north of Ashkelon Park was discovered in 1937. There are two burial tombs, a painted Hellenistic cave and a Roman cave. The Hellenistic cave is decorated with paintings of nymphs, water scenes, mythological figures and animals.[51]

Museums

 
Ashkelon marina breakwater

Ashkelon Khan and Museum contains archaeological finds, among them a replica of Ashkelon's Canaanite silver calf, whose discovery was reported on the front page of The New York Times.[51]

The Outdoor Museum near the municipal cultural center displays two Roman burial coffins made of marble depicting battle and hunting scenes, and famous mythological scenes.[51]

Others

The Ashkelon Marina, located between Delila and Bar Kochba beaches, offers a shipyard and repair services. Ashkeluna is a water-slide park on Ashkelon beach.[51]

Health care

Ashkelon and environs is served by the Barzilai Medical Center, established in 1961.[59] It was built in place of Hussein ibn Ali's 11th-century mosque, a center of Muslim pilgrimages, destroyed by the Israeli army in 1950.[61] Situated ten kilometres (6 mi) from Gaza, the hospital has been the target of numerous Qassam rocket attacks, sometimes as many as 140 over one weekend. The hospital plays a vital role in treating wounded soldiers and terror victims.[62] A new rocket and missile-proof emergency room is under construction.

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
195516,600—    
196124,300+46.4%
197243,000+77.0%
198352,900+23.0%
199583,100+57.1%
2008110,600+33.1%
2010114,500+3.5%
2011117,400+2.5%
Source:

In the early years, the city was primarily settled by Mizrahi Jews, who fled to Israel after being expelled from Muslim lands. Today, Mizrahi Jews still constitute the majority of the population. In the early 1950s, many South African Jews settled in Ashkelon, establishing the Afridar neighbourhood. They were followed by an influx of immigrants from the United Kingdom.[64] During the 1990s, the city received additional arrivals of Ethiopian Jews and Russian Jews.

Culture and sports

 
Ashkelon arena

The Ashkelon Sports Arena opened in 1999. The "Jewish Eye" is a Jewish world film festival that takes place annually in Ashkelon. The festival marked its seventh year in 2010.[65] The Breeza Music Festival has been held yearly in and around Ashkelon's amphitheatre since 1992. Most of the musical performances are free. Israel Lacrosse operates substantial youth lacrosse programs in the city and recently hosted the Turkey men's national team in Israel's first home international in 2013.[66]

Im schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon ("In Ashkelon's Black Whale inn") is a traditional German academic commercium song that describes a drinking binge staged in the ancient city.[67]

Photos

Twin towns – sister cities

Ashkelon is twinned with:

Notable people

See also

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Regional Statistics". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
  2. ^ Huehnergard, John (2018). "The Name Ashkelon". Eretz-Israel: Archaeological, Historical and Geographical Studies. 33: 91–97. JSTOR 26751887.
  3. ^ Masalha, Nur (2012). The Palestine Nakba: Decolonising History, Narrating the Subaltern, Reclaiming Memory. London: Zed Books, Limited. pp. 115–116. ISBN 978-1848139701.
  4. ^ Morris, Benny (1 October 2008). 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War. Yale University Press. p. 331. ISBN 978-0300145243 – via books.google.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h B. Morris, The transfer of Al Majdal's remaining Palestinians to Gaza, 1950, in 1948 and After; Israel and the Palestinians.
  6. ^ Kimmerling, Baruch; S Migdal, Joel (2003). "Reconstituting Palestinian Nation". The Palestinian People: A History. United States of America: Harvard University Press. p. 172. ISBN 9780674039599 – via books.google.com.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Golan, Arnon (2003). "Jewish Settlement of Former Arab Towns and their Incorporation into the Israeli Urban System (1948–1950)". Israel Affairs. 9 (1–2): 149–164. doi:10.1080/714003467. S2CID 144137499.
  8. ^ Huss (1985), p. 560.
  9. ^ "shallot". New Oxford American Dictionary (Second ed.). Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-19-517077-1.
  10. ^ shallot. CollinsDictionary.com. Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 11th Edition. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
  11. ^ a b c d e Orna Cohen (2007). "Transferred to Gaza of Their Own Accord" The Arabs of Majdal in Ashkelon and their Evacuation to the Gaza Strip in 1950. The Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  12. ^ Hütteroth and Abdulfattah, 1977, p. 144
  13. ^ Petersen, Andrew (2005). The Towns of Palestine under Muslim Rule AD 600–1600. BAR International Series 1381. p. 133.
  14. ^ Socin, 1879, p. 157
  15. ^ Hartmann, 1883, p. 131, noted 655 houses
  16. ^ Barron, 1923, Table V, Sub-district of Gaza, p. 8
  17. ^ Palestine Office of Statistics, Vital Statistical Tables 1922–1945, Table A8.
  18. ^ Department of Statistics, 1945, p. 32
  19. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 46
  20. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 87
  21. ^ Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics. Village Statistics, April, 1945. Quoted in Hadawi, 1970, p. 137
  22. ^ "H.M. Stationery Office (1920) Syria and Palestine" — Viewer — World Digital Library". www.wdl.org.
  23. ^ Shelagh Weir, "Palestinian Costume". British Museum Publications, 1989. ISBN 978-0-7141-1597-9. pages 27–32. Other fabrics produced include Shash (white muslin for veils), Burk/Bayt al-shem (plain cotton for underdresses), Karnaish (white cotton with stripes), "Bazayl" (flannelette), Durzi (blue cotton) and Dendeki (red cotton).
  24. ^ Morris, 2004, pp. 528 –529.
  25. ^ S. Jiryis, The Arabs in Israel (1968), p.57
  26. ^ a b Kafkafi, Eyal (1998). "Segregation or integration of the Israeli Arabs – two concepts in Mapai". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 30 (3): 347–367. doi:10.1017/S0020743800066216. S2CID 161862941.
  27. ^ "Security Council". International Organization. 6 (1): 76–88. 1952. doi:10.1017/s0020818300016209. S2CID 249414466.
  28. ^ מגדל־גד בהתפתחותה,בחירות ב־26 בפברואר - דבר. jpress.org.il (in Hebrew).
  29. ^ Benzaquen, John. "Neighborhood Watch: Ashkelon's 'Anglo quarter'". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  30. ^ "Israeli City Shocked As Rockets Hit". Associated Press. 3 March 2008.
  31. ^ Bassok, Moti (16 May 2007). "Ashkelon, Sderot residents file 1,000 damage claims over recent rocket attacks". Haaretz. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  32. ^ . Jeruselum Post. Archived from the original on 11 May 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
  33. ^ . Jta.org. 1 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  34. ^ "Jerusalem Mayor: We cannot discriminate against Arabs". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com.
  35. ^ Ho, Spencer. "PM, senior ministers pan Ashkelon mayor for barring Arab workers". www.timesofisrael.com.
  36. ^ Al-Mughrabi, Nidal; Farrell, Stephen; Heller, Jeffrey (11 May 2021). "Hamas and Israel trade blows as Jerusalem unrest ignites Gaza". Reuters. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  37. ^ "Israel hammers Gaza with deadly airstrikes in retaliation for volley of rockets as Mideast crisis escalates". CBS News. 11 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  38. ^ "Two dead, over 70 Israelis injured after rockets strike Ashkelon, Ashdod". 11 May 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  39. ^ Khalidi 1992, p. 117.
  40. ^ a b Margalit, Talia. "Periphery without a center". Haaretz. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  41. ^ "With 32,000 New Housing Units Ashkelon to Become Israel's 6th Largest City". www.jewishpress.com.
  42. ^ Israel is No. 5 on Top 10 Cleantech List in Israel 21c A Focus Beyond 16 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2009-12-21
  43. ^ . Water Technology. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015.
  44. ^ Sauvet-Goichon, Bruno (2007). "Ashkelon desalination plant – A successful challenge". Desalination. 203 (1–3): 75–81. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2006.03.525.
  45. ^ "Ashkelon Seawater Reverse Osmosis". Water-technology.net. from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  46. ^ . Dun & Bradstreet Israel – Dun's 100 Israel's Largest Enterprises 2009. Archived from the original on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 22 November 2009.
  47. ^ "summer school program in Ashkelon".
  48. ^ "Ashkelon National Park". Jewishvirtuallibrary.org. from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  49. ^ Stager, Lawrence. . Bib-arch.org. Archived from the original on 7 September 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  50. ^ Claudine M. Dauphin (1996). "Brothels, Baths and Babes: Prostitution in the Byzantine Holy Land". Classics Ireland. 3: 47–72. doi:10.2307/25528291. JSTOR 25528291.
  51. ^ a b c d e . Israel-a-la-carte.com. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  52. ^ Cecil Roth (1972). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Encyclopaedia Judaica. p. 714.
  53. ^ a b Talmon-Heller, Daniella; Kedar, Benjamin; Reiter, Yitzhak (January 2016). (PDF). Der Islam. 93: 11–13, 28–34. doi:10.1515/islam-2016-0008. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020.
  54. ^ Rami Amichay (9 February 2015). . Reuters. Archived from the original on 12 May 2020. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  55. ^ a b [Shi'a Bohra followers shed tears at Hussein's grave in Ashkelon]. Al-ʻArab (in Arabic). No. 9825. 11 February 2015. p. 20. ISSN 0140-010X. Archived from the original on 31 May 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020 – via alarab.co.uk.
  56. ^ Brief History of Transfer of the Sacred Head of Hussain ibn Ali, From Damascus to Ashkelon to Qahera By: Qazi Dr. Shaikh Abbas Borhany PhD (USA), NDI, Shahadat al A'alamiyyah (Najaf, Iraq), M.A., LLM (Shariah) Member, Ulama Council of Pakistan. Published in Daily News, Karachi, Pakistan on 3 January 2009 [1] 14 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine.
  57. ^ a b Meron Rapoport, 'History Erased,' Haaretz, 5 July 2007.
  58. ^ Michael Press (March 2014). . American School of Oriental Research. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  59. ^ a b "Shiites in Ashkelon?". Los Angeles Times. 20 May 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  60. ^ Jacobs, Daniel; Eber, Shirley; Silvani, Francesca (1998). Israel and the Palestinian territories: The rough guide, Daniel Jacobs, Shirley Eber, Francesca Silvani. ISBN 9781858282480. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  61. ^ Rapoport, Meron (5 October 2014). "History Erased". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  62. ^ . Njjewishnews.com. 8 April 2008. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  63. ^ . .cbs.gov.il. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  64. ^ . Nbn.org.il. 27 March 2006. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  65. ^ . Jewisheye.org.il. 18 October 2010. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  66. ^ . laxallstars.com. 19 August 2013. Archived from the original on 19 August 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  67. ^ The poem and a literal translation appear in Mathieu, Gustave; Stern, Guy (1991). Introduction to German Poetry: A Dual Language Book. Courier Dover. ISBN 9780486267135. OCLC 742447008.
  68. ^ "Association of twinnings and international relations of Aix-en-Provence". Aix-jumelages.com. from the original on 7 July 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
  69. ^ . Mairie d'Aix-en-Provence (in French). Archived from the original on 13 January 2009.
  70. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 August 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2013.
  71. ^ . Archived from the original on 7 August 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2009.

Bibliography

  • Barron, J.B., ed. (1923). Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922. Government of Palestine.
  • Canaan, T. (1927). Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine. London: Luzac & Co.
  • Garfinkel, Y.; Dag, D.; Hesse, B.; Wapnish, P.; Rookis, D.; Hartman, G.; Bar-Yosef, D.E.; Lernau, O. (2005). "Neolithic Ashkelon: Meat Processing and Early Pastoralism on the Mediterranean Coast". Eurasian Prehistory. 3: 43–72.
  • Garfinkel, Y.; Dag, D. (2008). Neolithic Ashkelon. Qedem 47. Jerusalem: Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University. OCLC 494272503.
  • Golan, Arnon (2003). "Jewish Settlement of Former Arab Towns and their Incorporation into the Israeli Urban System (1948–1950)". Israel Affairs. 9 (1–2): 149–164. doi:10.1080/714003467. S2CID 144137499.
  • Government of Palestine, Department of Statistics (1945). Village Statistics, April, 1945.
  • Hadawi, S. (1970). . Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center. Archived from the original on 8 December 2018. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  • Hartmann, M. (1883). "Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem türkischen Staatskalender für Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht (1871)". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 6: 102–149.
  • Hartmann, R. & Lewis, B. (1960). "Askalan". In Gibb, H. A. R.; Kramers, J. H.; Lévi-Provençal, E.; Schacht, J.; Lewis, B. & Pellat, Ch. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Volume I: A–B. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 710–711. OCLC 495469456.
  • Huss, Werner (1985), Geschichte der Karthager, Munich: C.H. Beck, ISBN 9783406306549. (in German)
  • Hütteroth, Wolf-Dieter; Abdulfattah, Kamal (1977). Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century. Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft. ISBN 3-920405-41-2.
  • Kafkafi, Eyal (1998). "Segregation or Integration of the Israeli Arabs: Two Concepts in Mapai". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 30 (3): 347–367. doi:10.1017/S0020743800066216. S2CID 161862941.
  • Khalidi, W. (1992). All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948. Washington D.C.: Institute for Palestine Studies. ISBN 0-88728-224-5.
  • Lecker, Michael (1989). "The Estates of 'Amr b. al-'Āṣ in Palestine: Notes on a New Negev Arabic Inscription". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. 52 (1): 24–37. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00023041. JSTOR 617911. S2CID 163092638.
  • Mills, E., ed. (1932). Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas. Jerusalem: Government of Palestine.
  • Morris, Benny (2004). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-00967-6.
  • Petersen, Andrew (2001). A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine (British Academy Monographs in Archaeology). Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. pp. 210-213. ISBN 978-0-19-727011-0.
  • Socin, A. (1879). "Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem". Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 2: 135–163.
  • Townsend, Christopher (2006). God's War: A New History of the Crusades. Penguin Books ltd. ISBN 978-0-7139-9220-5.

External links

  • Ancient fish hook suggests sharks were hunted off Israel's coast 6,000 years ago - LiveScience - 31 March 2023
  • "Ashkelon, ancient city of the sea", National Geographic, January 2001
  • Ancient Ashkelon—University of Chicago
  • English information on Ashkelon—Ashkelon Volunteers
  • Welcome To The City of al-Majdal Asqalan Information and images about the historical Palestinian city of Mijdal and what remains of it today, as Ashkelon's Migdal neighbourhood

ashkelon, other, uses, disambiguation, ascalon, ashqelon, hebrew, לו, help, info, ʾašqəlōn, aʃkeˈlon, philistine, 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍, ʾašqalōn, also, known, ascalon, ancient, greek, Ασκαλων, askalōn, arabic, ان, ʿasqalān, coastal, city, southern, district, israel, mediterr. For other uses see Ashkelon disambiguation and Ascalon Ashkelon or Ashqelon ˈ ae ʃ k e l ɒ n Hebrew א ש ק לו ן help info ʾAsqelōn aʃkeˈlon Philistine 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍 ʾAsqalōn 2 also known as Ascalon ˈ ae s k e l ɒ n Ancient Greek Askalwn Askalōn Arabic ع س ق ل ان ʿAsqalan is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast 50 kilometres 30 mi south of Tel Aviv and 13 kilometres 8 mi north of the border with the Gaza Strip Ashkelon א ש ק לו ן عسقلان CityHebrew transcription s ISO 259ʔasqlon Translit Ashkelon Also spelledAshqelon Ascalon unofficial FlagCoat of armsAshkelonShow map of Ashkelon region of IsraelAshkelonShow map of IsraelCoordinates 31 40 N 34 34 E 31 667 N 34 567 E 31 667 34 567 Coordinates 31 40 N 34 34 E 31 667 N 34 567 E 31 667 34 567CountryIsraelDistrictSouthernFounded5880 BCE Neolithic settlement 2000 BCE Canaanite city 1150 BCE Philistine rule 6th century BCE Classical city 15th century CE Arab village 1953 Israeli city Government MayorTomer GlamArea Total47 788 dunams 47 788 km2 or 18 451 sq mi Population 2021 1 Total149 160 Density3 100 km2 8 100 sq mi Websitewww ashkelon muni ilThe modern city is named after the ancient seaport of Ashkelon which was destroyed in 1270 and whose remains can now be seen at the archaeological site known as Tel Ashkelon on the southeastern edge of the modern metropolis These ruins date back to the Neolithic Age and saw the passage of numerous civilizations including the Ancient Egyptians Canaanites Philistines Assyrians Babylonians Greeks Hasmoneans Romans Persians the Arabs and Crusaders The Palestinian village of Al Jura was formerly immediately adjacent to the ruins The modern urban development of the area began approximately 4 km inland from the ancient site as the Palestinian town of al Majdal Arabic ال م ج د ل al Mijdal Hebrew א ל מ ג ד ל ʾEl Miǧdal Its inhabitants were exclusively Muslims and Christians on the eve of the 1948 Arab Israeli War the inhabitants numbered 10 000 and in October 1948 the city accommodated thousands more Palestinian refugees from nearby villages 3 4 The town was conquered by Israeli forces on 5 November 1948 by which time much of the Arab population had fled 5 leaving some 2 700 inhabitants of which 500 were deported by Israeli soldiers in December 1948 5 and most of the rest were deported by 1950 6 Today the city s population is almost entirely Jewish Migdal was initially repopulated by Jewish immigrants and demobilized soldiers It was subsequently renamed multiple times first as Migdal Gaza Migdal Gad and Migdal Ashkelon until in 1953 the coastal neighborhood of Afridar was incorporated and the name Ashkelon was adopted for the combined town By 1961 Ashkelon was ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24 000 7 In 2021 the population of Ashkelon was 149 160 making it the third largest city in Israel s Southern District 1 Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Early history 2 1 1 Tel Ashkelon 2 1 2 El Jurah 2 1 3 Majdal 2 2 Mandatory Palestine 2 2 1 El Jurah 2 2 2 Majdal 2 3 Israel 3 Urban development 4 Economy 5 Education 6 Landmarks 6 1 Ashkelon National Park 6 2 Bath Houses 6 3 Religious sites 6 3 1 Places of worship 6 3 2 Maqam al Imam al Husayn 6 3 3 Shrines 6 4 Museums 6 5 Others 7 Health care 8 Demographics 9 Culture and sports 10 Photos 11 Twin towns sister cities 12 Notable people 13 See also 14 References 14 1 Citations 15 Bibliography 16 External linksEtymologyThe name Ashkelon is probably western Semitic and might be connected to the triliteral root s q l to weigh from a Semitic root ṯql akin to Hebrew saqal ש ק ל or Arabic 8iql ث ق ل weight perhaps attesting to its importance as a center for mercantile activities Its name appeared in Phoenician and Punic as SQLN 𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍 and ʾSQLN 𐤀𐤔𐤒𐤋𐤍 8 Scallion and shallot are derived from Ascalonia the Latin name for Ashkelon 9 10 History The area of modern Ashkelon cover the land of Al Majdal Hamama Al Jura Al Khisas and Ni ilya The ruins of the ancient cityImages from the 1871 77 PEF Survey of Palestine Early history Tel Ashkelon Main article Tel Ashkelon The archaeological site of Ashkelon today known as Tel Ashkelon was the oldest and largest seaport in Canaan part of the pentapolis a grouping of five cities of the Philistines north of Gaza and south of Jaffa The site was an important city during the Roman Byzantine and early Islamic periods and particularly during the period of the Crusades due to its location near the coast and between the Crusader States and Egypt The Battle of Ascalon was the last action of the First Crusade In 1270 the Mamluk sultan Baybars ordered the citadel and harbour at the site to be destroyed As a result of this destruction the city was abandoned by its inhabitants and fell into disuse El Jurah Main article Al Jura The Palestinian village of Al Jura El Jurah stood northeast of and immediately adjacent to Tel Ashkelon and is documented in Ottoman tax registers Majdal The Arab village of Majdal was mentioned by historians and tourists at the end of the 15th century 11 In 1596 Ottoman records showed Majdal to be a large village of 559 Muslim households making it the 7th most populous locality in Palestine after Safad Jerusalem Gaza Nablus Hebron and Kafr Kanna 12 13 An official Ottoman village list of about 1870 showed that Medschdel had a total of 420 houses and a population of 1175 though the population count included men only 14 15 Mandatory Palestine 2018 street map overlaid on 1941 map 1942 map without overlayAshkelon street map date 2018 white text and light grey streets overlaid on a Survey of Palestine map date 1942 black text red urban areas and black streets showing the relative locations of Al Majdal Hamama Al Jura Al Khisas and Ni ilya El Jurah Main article Al Jura El Jurah was depopulated during the 1948 war Majdal Weavers in Majdal 1934 39 In the 1922 census of Palestine Majdal had a population of 5 064 33 Christians and 5 031 Muslims 16 increasing in the 1931 census to 6 166 Muslims and 41 Christians 17 In the 1945 statistics Majdal had a population of 9 910 ninety Christians and 9 820 Muslims 18 with a total urban and rural of 43 680 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey Two thousand two hundred and fifty dunes were public land all the rest was owned by Arabs 19 of the dunams 2 337 were used for citrus and bananas 2 886 were plantations and irrigable land 35 442 for cereals 20 while 1 346 were built up land 21 Majdal was especially known for its weaving industry citation needed The town had around 500 looms in 1909 In 1920 a British Government report estimated that there were 550 cotton looms in the town with an annual output worth 30 40 million francs 22 But the industry suffered from imports from Europe and by 1927 only 119 weaving establishments remained The three major fabrics produced were malak silk ikhdari bands of red and green and jiljileh dark red bands These were used for festival dresses throughout Southern Palestine Many other fabrics were produced some with poetic names such as ji nneh u nar heaven and hell nasheq rohoh breath of the soul and abu mitayn father of two hundred 23 Israel The area around Majdal had been allocated to the Arab state in the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine Ashkelon region in the 1950s Survey of Israel The built up area labeled אשקלון Ashkelon is the area previously known as Majdal To the left is Afridar The ruins of Hamama Al Jura and Ni ilya are also shown High rise residential development along the beach Ashkelon Marina During the 1948 war the Egyptian army occupied a large part of the Gaza region including Majdal Over the next few months the town was subjected to Israeli air raids and shelling 5 All but about 1 000 of the town s residents were forced to leave by the time it was captured by Israeli forces as a sequel to Operation Yoav on 4 November 1948 5 General Yigal Allon ordered the expulsion of the remaining Palestinians but the local commanders did not do so and the Arab population soon recovered to more than 2 500 due mostly to refugees slipping back and also due to the transfer of Palestinians from nearby villages 5 11 Most of them were elderly women or children 11 During the next year or so the Palestinians were held in a confined area surrounded by barbed wire which became commonly known as the ghetto 7 11 24 Moshe Dayan and Prime Minister David Ben Gurion were in favor of expulsion while Mapam and the Israeli labor union Histadrut objected 5 The government offered the Palestinians positive inducements to leave including a favorable currency exchange but also caused panic through night time raids 5 The first group was deported to the Gaza Strip by truck on 17 August 1950 after an expulsion order had been served 25 The deportation was approved by Ben Gurion and Dayan over the objections of Pinhas Lavon secretary general of the Histadrut who envisioned the town as a productive example of equal opportunity 26 By October 1950 twenty Palestinian families remained most of whom later moved to Lydda or Gaza 5 According to Israeli records in total 2 333 Palestinians were transferred to the Gaza Strip 60 to Jordan 302 to other towns in Israel and a small number remained in Ashkelon 11 Lavon argued that this operation dissipated the last shred of trust the Arabs had in Israel the sincerity of the State s declarations on democracy and civil equality and the last remnant of confidence the Arab workers had in the Histadrut 26 Acting on an Egyptian complaint the Egyptian Israel Mixed Armistice Commission ruled that the Palestinians transferred from Majdal should be returned to Israel but this was not done 27 Ashkelon was formally granted to Israel in the 1949 Armistice Agreements Re population of the recently vacated Arab dwellings by Jews had been official policy since at least December 1948 but the process began slowly 7 The Israeli national plan of June 1949 designated al Majdal as the site for a regional urban center of 20 000 people 7 From July 1949 new immigrants and demobilized soldiers moved to the new town increasing the Jewish population to 2 500 within six months 7 These early immigrants were mostly from Yemen North Africa and Europe 28 During 1949 the town was renamed Migdal Gaza and then Migdal Gad Soon afterwards it became Migdal Ashkelon The city began to expand as the population grew In 1951 the neighborhood of Afridar was established for Jewish immigrants from South Africa 29 and in 1953 it was incorporated into the city The current name Ashkelon was adopted and the town was granted local council status in 1953 In 1955 Ashkelon had more than 16 000 residents By 1961 Ashkelon ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24 000 7 This grew to 43 000 in 1972 and 53 000 in 1983 In 2005 the population was more than 106 000 On 1 2 March 2008 rockets fired by Hamas from the Gaza Strip some of them Grad rockets hit Ashkelon wounding seven and causing property damage Mayor Roni Mahatzri stated that This is a state of war I know no other definition for it If it lasts a week or two we can handle that but we have no intention of allowing this to become part of our daily routine 30 In March 2008 230 buildings and 30 cars were damaged by rocket fire on Ashkelon 31 On 12 May 2008 a rocket fired from the northern Gazan city of Beit Lahiya hit a shopping mall in southern Ashkelon causing significant structural damage According to The Jerusalem Post four people were seriously injured and 87 were treated for shock Fifteen people suffered minor to moderate injuries as a result of the collapsed structure Southern District Police chief Uri Bar Lev believed the Grad model Katyusha rocket was manufactured in Iran 32 In March 2009 a Qassam rocket hit a school destroying classrooms and injuring two people 33 In November 2014 the mayor Itamar Shimoni began a policy of discrimination against Arab workers refusing to allow them to work on city projects to build bomb shelters for children His discriminatory actions brought criticism from others including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat who likened the discrimination to the anti Semitism experienced by Jews in Europe 70 years earlier 34 35 On May 11 2021 Hamas fired 137 rockets on Ashkelon 36 37 killing 2 and injuring many others 38 Ashkelon is located in the 20 30 seconds run to safety area due to grad rocket range Panorama of modern AshkelonUrban development Holiday Inn and 13th century tomb of Sheikh Awad In 1949 and 1950 three immigrant transit camps ma abarot were established alongside Majdal renamed Migdal for Jewish refugees from Arab countries Romania and Poland Northwest of Migdal and the immigrant camps on the lands of the depopulated Palestinian village al Jura 39 entrepreneur Zvi Segal one of the signatories of Israel s Declaration of Independence established the upscale Barnea neighborhood 40 A large tract of land south of Barnea was handed over to the trusteeship of the South African Zionist Federation which established the neighborhood of Afridar Plans for the city were drawn up in South Africa according to the garden city model Migdal was surrounded by a broad ring of orchards Barnea developed slowly but Afridar grew rapidly The first homes built in 1951 were inhabited by new Jewish immigrants from South Africa and South America with some native born Israelis The first public housing project for residents of the transit camps the Southern Hills Project Hageva ot Hadromiyot or Zion Hill Givat Zion was built in 1952 40 Under a plan signed in October 2015 seven new neighborhoods comprising 32 000 housing units a new stretch of highway and three new highway interchanges will be built turning Ashkelon into the sixth largest city in Israel 41 EconomyAshkelon is the northern terminus for the Trans Israel pipeline which brings petroleum products from Eilat to an oil terminal at the port The Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis SWRO desalination plant is the largest in the world 42 43 The project was developed as a BOT build operate transfer by a consortium of three international companies Veolia water IDE Technologies and Elran 44 In March 2006 it was voted Desalination Plant of the Year in the Global Water Awards 45 Since 1992 Israel Beer Breweries has been operating in Ashkelon brewing Carlsberg and Tuborg beer for the Israeli market The brewery is owned by the Central Bottling Company which has also held the Israeli franchise for Coca Cola products since 1968 46 Arak Ashkelon a local brand of arak is operating since 1925 and distributed throughout Israel Education Ashkelon Academic College The city has 19 elementary schools and nine junior high and high schools The Ashkelon Academic College opened in 1998 and now hosts thousands of students Harvard University operates an archaeological summer school program in Ashkelon 47 LandmarksAshkelon National Park The ancient site of Ashkelon is now a national park on the city s southern coast The walls that encircled the city are still visible as well as Canaanite earth ramparts The park contains Byzantine Crusader and Roman ruins 48 The largest dog cemetery in the ancient world was discovered in Ashkelon 49 Bath Houses In 1986 ruins of 4th to 6th century baths were found in Ashkelon The bath houses are believed to have been used for prostitution The remains of nearly 100 mostly male infants were found in a sewer under the bathhouse leading to conjectures that prostitutes had discarded their unwanted newborns there 50 Religious sites Places of worship The remains of a 4th century Byzantine church with marble slab flooring and glass mosaic walls can be seen in the Barnea Quarter 51 Remains of a synagogue from this period have also been found 52 Maqam al Imam al Husayn Main article Shrine of Husayn s Head See also Al Husayn Shrine Al Hussein Mosque and The Great Mosque of Damascus Muslims at Mejdal April 1943 with Maqam al Imam al Husayn in the background An 11th century mosque Maqam al Imam al Husayn a site of pilgrimage for both Sunnis and Shiites 53 185 186 54 55 which had been built under the Fatimids by Badr al Jamali and where tradition held that the head of Mohammad s grandson Hussein ibn Ali was buried was blown up by the IDF under instructions from Moshe Dayan as part of a broader programme to destroy mosques in July 1950 56 57 58 The area was subsequently redeveloped for a local Israeli hospital Barzilai After the site was re identified on the hospital grounds funds from Mohammed Burhanuddin leader of a Shi a Ismaili sect based in India were used to construct a marble mosque which is visited by Shi ite pilgrims from India and Pakistan 53 55 57 59 Shrines A domed structure housing the 13th century tomb of Sheikh Awad sits atop a hill overlooking Ashkelon s northern beaches 60 A Roman burial tomb two kilometres north of Ashkelon Park was discovered in 1937 There are two burial tombs a painted Hellenistic cave and a Roman cave The Hellenistic cave is decorated with paintings of nymphs water scenes mythological figures and animals 51 Museums Ashkelon marina breakwater Ashkelon Khan and Museum contains archaeological finds among them a replica of Ashkelon s Canaanite silver calf whose discovery was reported on the front page of The New York Times 51 The Outdoor Museum near the municipal cultural center displays two Roman burial coffins made of marble depicting battle and hunting scenes and famous mythological scenes 51 Others The Ashkelon Marina located between Delila and Bar Kochba beaches offers a shipyard and repair services Ashkeluna is a water slide park on Ashkelon beach 51 Health careSee also Healthcare in Israel Barzilai Medical Center Ashkelon and environs is served by the Barzilai Medical Center established in 1961 59 It was built in place of Hussein ibn Ali s 11th century mosque a center of Muslim pilgrimages destroyed by the Israeli army in 1950 61 Situated ten kilometres 6 mi from Gaza the hospital has been the target of numerous Qassam rocket attacks sometimes as many as 140 over one weekend The hospital plays a vital role in treating wounded soldiers and terror victims 62 A new rocket and missile proof emergency room is under construction DemographicsHistorical populationYearPop 195516 600 196124 300 46 4 197243 000 77 0 198352 900 23 0 199583 100 57 1 2008110 600 33 1 2010114 500 3 5 2011117 400 2 5 Source 63 In the early years the city was primarily settled by Mizrahi Jews who fled to Israel after being expelled from Muslim lands Today Mizrahi Jews still constitute the majority of the population In the early 1950s many South African Jews settled in Ashkelon establishing the Afridar neighbourhood They were followed by an influx of immigrants from the United Kingdom 64 During the 1990s the city received additional arrivals of Ethiopian Jews and Russian Jews Culture and sports Ashkelon arena The Ashkelon Sports Arena opened in 1999 The Jewish Eye is a Jewish world film festival that takes place annually in Ashkelon The festival marked its seventh year in 2010 65 The Breeza Music Festival has been held yearly in and around Ashkelon s amphitheatre since 1992 Most of the musical performances are free Israel Lacrosse operates substantial youth lacrosse programs in the city and recently hosted the Turkey men s national team in Israel s first home international in 2013 66 Im schwarzen Walfisch zu Askalon In Ashkelon s Black Whale inn is a traditional German academic commercium song that describes a drinking binge staged in the ancient city 67 Photos Park Afridar Night view from Marina Beach of Ashqelon Sea view Ha Tayassim street Pedestrian mall AshkelonTwin towns sister citiesSee also List of twin towns and sister cities in Israel Ashkelon is twinned with Cote Saint Luc Quebec Canada Grodno Belarus Xinyang China Iquique Chile Aix en Provence France 68 69 Vani Georgia 70 Kutaisi Georgia Aviano Italy Berlin Pankow Germany Sopot Poland Entebbe Uganda Portland Oregon United States Baltimore Maryland United States 71 Sacramento California United StatesNotable peopleAntiochus of Ascalon 125 68 BC Platonic philosopher Ibn Hajar al Asqalani 1372 1449 Islamic hadith scholar Yael Abecassis born 1967 actress and model Yitzhak Cohen born 1951 politician Avi Dichter born 1952 Israeli politician Shlomo Glickstein born 1958 professional tennis player Boris Polak born 1954 world champion and Olympic sport shooterSee alsoList of cities of the ancient Near EastReferencesCitations a b Regional Statistics Israel Central Bureau of Statistics Retrieved 22 February 2023 Huehnergard John 2018 The Name Ashkelon Eretz Israel Archaeological Historical and Geographical Studies 33 91 97 JSTOR 26751887 Masalha Nur 2012 The Palestine Nakba Decolonising History Narrating the Subaltern Reclaiming Memory London Zed Books Limited pp 115 116 ISBN 978 1848139701 Morris Benny 1 October 2008 1948 A History of the First Arab Israeli War Yale University Press p 331 ISBN 978 0300145243 via books google com a b c d e f g h B Morris The transfer of Al Majdal s remaining Palestinians to Gaza 1950 in 1948 and After Israel and the Palestinians Kimmerling Baruch S Migdal Joel 2003 Reconstituting Palestinian Nation The Palestinian People A History United States of America Harvard University Press p 172 ISBN 9780674039599 via books google com a b c d e f Golan Arnon 2003 Jewish Settlement of Former Arab Towns and their Incorporation into the Israeli Urban System 1948 1950 Israel Affairs 9 1 2 149 164 doi 10 1080 714003467 S2CID 144137499 Huss 1985 p 560 shallot New Oxford American Dictionary Second ed Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978 0 19 517077 1 shallot CollinsDictionary com Collins English Dictionary Complete amp Unabridged 11th Edition Retrieved 30 September 2012 a b c d e Orna Cohen 2007 Transferred to Gaza of Their Own Accord The Arabs of Majdal in Ashkelon and their Evacuation to the Gaza Strip in 1950 The Harry S Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace The Hebrew University of Jerusalem Hutteroth and Abdulfattah 1977 p 144 Petersen Andrew 2005 The Towns of Palestine under Muslim Rule AD 600 1600 BAR International Series 1381 p 133 Socin 1879 p 157 Hartmann 1883 p 131 noted 655 houses Barron 1923 Table V Sub district of Gaza p 8 Palestine Office of Statistics Vital Statistical Tables 1922 1945 Table A8 Department of Statistics 1945 p 32 Government of Palestine Department of Statistics Village Statistics April 1945 Quoted in Hadawi 1970 p 46 Government of Palestine Department of Statistics Village Statistics April 1945 Quoted in Hadawi 1970 p 87 Government of Palestine Department of Statistics Village Statistics April 1945 Quoted in Hadawi 1970 p 137 H M Stationery Office 1920 Syria and Palestine Viewer World Digital Library www wdl org Shelagh Weir Palestinian Costume British Museum Publications 1989 ISBN 978 0 7141 1597 9 pages 27 32 Other fabrics produced include Shash white muslin for veils Burk Bayt al shem plain cotton for underdresses Karnaish white cotton with stripes Bazayl flannelette Durzi blue cotton and Dendeki red cotton Morris 2004 pp 528 529 S Jiryis The Arabs in Israel 1968 p 57 a b Kafkafi Eyal 1998 Segregation or integration of the Israeli Arabs two concepts in Mapai International Journal of Middle East Studies 30 3 347 367 doi 10 1017 S0020743800066216 S2CID 161862941 Security Council International Organization 6 1 76 88 1952 doi 10 1017 s0020818300016209 S2CID 249414466 מגדל גד בהתפתחותה בחירות ב 26 בפברואר דבר jpress org il in Hebrew Benzaquen John Neighborhood Watch Ashkelon s Anglo quarter The Jerusalem Post JPost com Israeli City Shocked As Rockets Hit Associated Press 3 March 2008 Bassok Moti 16 May 2007 Ashkelon Sderot residents file 1 000 damage claims over recent rocket attacks Haaretz Retrieved 10 August 2011 Iranian made rocket strikes Ashkelon Ashkelon Jeruselum Post Archived from the original on 11 May 2011 Retrieved 15 May 2008 Improved Kassam slams into Ashkelon school Jta org 1 March 2009 Archived from the original on 27 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Jerusalem Mayor We cannot discriminate against Arabs The Jerusalem Post JPost com Ho Spencer PM senior ministers pan Ashkelon mayor for barring Arab workers www timesofisrael com Al Mughrabi Nidal Farrell Stephen Heller Jeffrey 11 May 2021 Hamas and Israel trade blows as Jerusalem unrest ignites Gaza Reuters Retrieved 11 May 2021 Israel hammers Gaza with deadly airstrikes in retaliation for volley of rockets as Mideast crisis escalates CBS News 11 May 2021 Retrieved 11 May 2021 Two dead over 70 Israelis injured after rockets strike Ashkelon Ashdod 11 May 2021 Retrieved 11 May 2021 Khalidi 1992 p 117 a b Margalit Talia Periphery without a center Haaretz Retrieved 10 August 2011 With 32 000 New Housing Units Ashkelon to Become Israel s 6th Largest City www jewishpress com Israel is No 5 on Top 10 Cleantech List in Israel 21c A Focus Beyond Archived 16 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 2009 12 21 Projects Archive Water Technology Archived from the original on 13 July 2015 Sauvet Goichon Bruno 2007 Ashkelon desalination plant A successful challenge Desalination 203 1 3 75 81 doi 10 1016 j desal 2006 03 525 Ashkelon Seawater Reverse Osmosis Water technology net Archived from the original on 24 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 The Central Bottling Company Group Company Profile Dun amp Bradstreet Israel Dun s 100 Israel s Largest Enterprises 2009 Archived from the original on 1 March 2012 Retrieved 22 November 2009 summer school program in Ashkelon Ashkelon National Park Jewishvirtuallibrary org Archived from the original on 17 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Stager Lawrence Why were dogs buried at Ashkelon Bib arch org Archived from the original on 7 September 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Claudine M Dauphin 1996 Brothels Baths and Babes Prostitution in the Byzantine Holy Land Classics Ireland 3 47 72 doi 10 2307 25528291 JSTOR 25528291 a b c d e Places to see in Ashkelon Israel a la carte com Archived from the original on 13 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Cecil Roth 1972 Encyclopaedia Judaica Encyclopaedia Judaica p 714 a b Talmon Heller Daniella Kedar Benjamin Reiter Yitzhak January 2016 Vicissitudes of a Holy Place Construction Destruction and Commemoration of Mashhad Ḥusayn in Ascalon PDF Der Islam 93 11 13 28 34 doi 10 1515 islam 2016 0008 Archived from the original on 12 May 2020 Rami Amichay 9 February 2015 Prophet s grandson Hussein honored on the grounds of an Israeli hospital Reuters Archived from the original on 12 May 2020 Retrieved 12 May 2020 a b أتباع البهرة الشيعية يذرفون الدمع على قبر للحسين في عسقلان Shi a Bohra followers shed tears at Hussein s grave in Ashkelon Al ʻArab in Arabic No 9825 11 February 2015 p 20 ISSN 0140 010X Archived from the original on 31 May 2020 Retrieved 31 May 2020 via alarab co uk Brief History of Transfer of the Sacred Head of Hussain ibn Ali From Damascus to Ashkelon to Qahera By Qazi Dr Shaikh Abbas Borhany PhD USA NDI Shahadat al A alamiyyah Najaf Iraq M A LLM Shariah Member Ulama Council of Pakistan Published in Daily News Karachi Pakistan on 3 January 2009 1 Archived 14 December 2017 at the Wayback Machine a b Meron Rapoport History Erased Haaretz 5 July 2007 Michael Press March 2014 Hussein s Head and Importance of Cultural Heritage American School of Oriental Research Archived from the original on 17 May 2020 Retrieved 17 May 2020 a b Shiites in Ashkelon Los Angeles Times 20 May 2008 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Jacobs Daniel Eber Shirley Silvani Francesca 1998 Israel and the Palestinian territories The rough guide Daniel Jacobs Shirley Eber Francesca Silvani ISBN 9781858282480 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Rapoport Meron 5 October 2014 History Erased Haaretz com Retrieved 4 October 2014 Steady rain of missiles strains Israeli hospital Njjewishnews com 8 April 2008 Archived from the original on 22 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Statistical Abstract of Israel 2012 No 63 Subject 2 Table No 15 cbs gov il Archived from the original on 20 October 2013 Retrieved 8 August 2013 Nefesh b Nefesh community guide Nbn org il 27 March 2006 Archived from the original on 18 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Jewish Eye world film festival Jewisheye org il 18 October 2010 Archived from the original on 21 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 An Israel Lacrosse experience laxallstars com 19 August 2013 Archived from the original on 19 August 2013 Retrieved 13 September 2013 The poem and a literal translation appear in Mathieu Gustave Stern Guy 1991 Introduction to German Poetry A Dual Language Book Courier Dover ISBN 9780486267135 OCLC 742447008 Association of twinnings and international relations of Aix en Provence Aix jumelages com Archived from the original on 7 July 2011 Retrieved 10 August 2011 Les jumelages existants Mairie d Aix en Provence in French Archived from the original on 13 January 2009 Vani org ge Twinned Cities PDF Archived from the original PDF on 20 August 2013 Retrieved 9 September 2013 Baltimore City Mayor s Office of International and Immigrant Affairs Sister Cities Program Archived from the original on 7 August 2008 Retrieved 18 July 2009 BibliographyBarron J B ed 1923 Palestine Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 Government of Palestine Canaan T 1927 Mohammedan Saints and Sanctuaries in Palestine London Luzac amp Co Garfinkel Y Dag D Hesse B Wapnish P Rookis D Hartman G Bar Yosef D E Lernau O 2005 Neolithic Ashkelon Meat Processing and Early Pastoralism on the Mediterranean Coast Eurasian Prehistory 3 43 72 Garfinkel Y Dag D 2008 Neolithic Ashkelon Qedem 47 Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology Hebrew University OCLC 494272503 Golan Arnon 2003 Jewish Settlement of Former Arab Towns and their Incorporation into the Israeli Urban System 1948 1950 Israel Affairs 9 1 2 149 164 doi 10 1080 714003467 S2CID 144137499 Government of Palestine Department of Statistics 1945 Village Statistics April 1945 Hadawi S 1970 Village Statistics of 1945 A Classification of Land and Area ownership in Palestine Palestine Liberation Organization Research Center Archived from the original on 8 December 2018 Retrieved 3 March 2009 Hartmann M 1883 Die Ortschaftenliste des Liwa Jerusalem in dem turkischen Staatskalender fur Syrien auf das Jahr 1288 der Flucht 1871 Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina Vereins 6 102 149 Hartmann R amp Lewis B 1960 Askalan In Gibb H A R Kramers J H Levi Provencal E Schacht J Lewis B amp Pellat Ch eds The Encyclopaedia of Islam Second Edition Volume I A B Leiden E J Brill pp 710 711 OCLC 495469456 Huss Werner 1985 Geschichte der Karthager Munich C H Beck ISBN 9783406306549 in German Hutteroth Wolf Dieter Abdulfattah Kamal 1977 Historical Geography of Palestine Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten Sonderband 5 Erlangen Germany Vorstand der Frankischen Geographischen Gesellschaft ISBN 3 920405 41 2 Kafkafi Eyal 1998 Segregation or Integration of the Israeli Arabs Two Concepts in Mapai International Journal of Middle East Studies 30 3 347 367 doi 10 1017 S0020743800066216 S2CID 161862941 Khalidi W 1992 All That Remains The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 Washington D C Institute for Palestine Studies ISBN 0 88728 224 5 Lecker Michael 1989 The Estates of Amr b al Aṣ in Palestine Notes on a New Negev Arabic Inscription Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 52 1 24 37 doi 10 1017 S0041977X00023041 JSTOR 617911 S2CID 163092638 Mills E ed 1932 Census of Palestine 1931 Population of Villages Towns and Administrative Areas Jerusalem Government of Palestine Morris Benny 2004 The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 00967 6 Petersen Andrew 2001 A Gazetteer of Buildings in Muslim Palestine British Academy Monographs in Archaeology Vol 1 Oxford University Press pp 210 213 ISBN 978 0 19 727011 0 Socin A 1879 Alphabetisches Verzeichniss von Ortschaften des Paschalik Jerusalem Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palastina Vereins 2 135 163 Townsend Christopher 2006 God s War A New History of the Crusades Penguin Books ltd ISBN 978 0 7139 9220 5 External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ashkelon Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Ashkelon Ancient fish hook suggests sharks were hunted off Israel s coast 6 000 years ago LiveScience 31 March 2023 Ashkelon City Council Ashkelon ancient city of the sea National Geographic January 2001 Ancient Ashkelon University of Chicago English information on Ashkelon Ashkelon Volunteers Welcome To The City of al Majdal Asqalan Information and images about the historical Palestinian city of Mijdal and what remains of it today as Ashkelon s Migdal neighbourhood Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ashkelon amp oldid 1148797699, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.