Wadi Salib: Difference between revisions
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Between May 1948 and March 1949, about 24,000 immigrants, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, were provided housing in the city and many of them settled in Wadi Salib. Moroccan Jews were soon to follow.<ref name="IFK" /> |
Between May 1948 and March 1949, about 24,000 immigrants, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, were provided housing in the city and many of them settled in Wadi Salib. Moroccan Jews were soon to follow.<ref name="IFK" /> |
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===Wadi Salim riots=== |
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On the evening of July 8, 1959, a [[Mizrahi Jews| Jewish resident]] of Wadi Salib, Yaakov Elkarif was shot and wounded by police in the course of a drunken brawl. The next day, hundreds of residents marched to the Hadar HaCarmel neighborhood, smashing shop windows and setting cars on fire in the first of a series of violent demonstrations against the government, the [[Labor (Israel)|Labor Party]] and the [[Histadrut]] around the country. <ref> [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtStEngPE.jhtml?itemNo=1099078&contrassID=2&subContrassID=15&title=%27The%20Makings%20of%20History%20/%20So%20much%20for%20the%20melting%20pot%20%27&dyn_server=172.20.5.5 So much for the melting pot, [[Tom Segev]]]</ref> |
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The [[Wadi Salib events]] |
The [[Wadi Salib events]] awakened public awareness in Israel of the economic distress suffered by Jewish immigrants from the Arab countries. Eventually, many Jews moved to neighborhoods on the slope of [[Mt. Carmel]].{{Fact|date=May 2008}} Arabs who moved back to Wadi Salib did not receive permits to build or renovate and the neighborhood became a slum.<ref name=Johal/> |
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==Today== |
==Today== |
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Revision as of 07:51, 30 July 2009
Wadi Salib (Arabic: وادي صليب, Hebrew: ואדי סאליב (lit. Valley of the Cross) is a neighbourhood located on the lower northeastern slope of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, between the Hadar HaCarmel and the historic center of Haifa's Old City.
History
Wadi Salib was established near the old city walls in 1761, when the country was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The neighborhood was populated by Muslim and Christian Arabs until the mid-nineteenth century, when development in Haifa began pushing outwards to other parts of the city.[1]
After the arrival of Jewish settlers in early 20th century, Wadi Salib and nearby Wadi Nisnas remained important Arab neighborhoods in Haifa. In the 1930s and 1940s, both were sites of numerous riots over British rule and increased Jewish immigration to British Mandate Palestine.[1]
By the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 60,000 Arabs had left the city. Few were permitted to return to their homes as most of the buildings of Wadi Salib were confiscated under the Absentee Property Law.[1] The 3,000 Arabs remaining in the city, circa 8.5% of the total urban population of 268,000 previously living in Haifa,[2] largely concentrated in the nearby neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas.[1]
Between May 1948 and March 1949, about 24,000 immigrants, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, were provided housing in the city and many of them settled in Wadi Salib. Moroccan Jews were soon to follow.[2]
Wadi Salim riots
On the evening of July 8, 1959, a Jewish resident of Wadi Salib, Yaakov Elkarif was shot and wounded by police in the course of a drunken brawl. The next day, hundreds of residents marched to the Hadar HaCarmel neighborhood, smashing shop windows and setting cars on fire in the first of a series of violent demonstrations against the government, the Labor Party and the Histadrut around the country. [3]
The Wadi Salib events awakened public awareness in Israel of the economic distress suffered by Jewish immigrants from the Arab countries. Eventually, many Jews moved to neighborhoods on the slope of Mt. Carmel.[citation needed] Arabs who moved back to Wadi Salib did not receive permits to build or renovate and the neighborhood became a slum.[1]
Yfaat Weiss from the Department of Jewish History, University of Haifa, notes that "in the consciousness of the Israeli public, these Moroccan Jews and their history are associated with Wadi Salib, not the original Arab inhabitants."[2]
Today
In Wadi Salib today, most families that continue to live in the area, both Jewish and Arab, are considered squatters and have been gradually evicted over the years; many of Wadi Salib's buildings remain abandoned.
A series of Wadi Salib's most prominent remaining buildings have been transformed into taverns and a theater just off Shivat Zion Street. One of these is the Palace of the Pasha, built in Ottoman times. Adjacent is a Turkish bathhouse once used by local families. In a building now occupied by the Roof for Demobilized Soldiers, there was once an Oriental club that brought in musicians and dancers from Cairo.[1]
Part of the old Muslim cemetery in Wadi Salib was uprooted and split in half to make way for the highway between Haifa and Nazareth, though the Istiklal mosque still operates in Wadi Salib.[1]
Development plans
The Haifa Economic Corporation Ltd., is implementing plans to develop two 1,000 square meter lots to create "a site for office and commercial use that accentuates size and is inspired by the spirit and ambiance of the place including Turkish and Arab construction elements." On their website, they note that "Wadi Salib in general and this initiative in particular are located in proximity to the new government center including the court house hall, Israel Land Administration building, and additional government offices."
The current project is controversial due to the eviction of the last remaining families from the neighborhood, and the planned demolition of buildings including the former home of Palestinian intellectual Emil Touma. Another government center built in the same area in the early 1990s - in which many historic buildings were demolished - failed to boost the economy as expected. In the new plan, a few of Wadi Salib's remaining buildings will be renovated; however the rest will be destroyed.[1]