Haifa

Sycaminum and Efa

The earliest named settlement within the area of modern-day Haifa was the city Sycaminum.^[12] The remains of the ancient town can be found in a coastal tell, or archaeological mound, known in Hebrew as Tel Shikmona,^[13] meaning 'mound of the Ficus sycomorus', and in Arabic as Tell el-Semak or Tell es-Samak, meaning 'mound of the sumak trees', names that preserved and transformed the ancient name, by which the town is mentioned once in the Mishnah (composed c. 200 CE) for the wild fruits that grow around it.^[13][14]

The name Efa first appears during Roman rule, some time after the end of the 1st century, when a Roman fortress and small Jewish settlement were established not far from Tel Shikmona.^[12][13] Haifa is also mentioned more than 100 times in the Talmud, a work central to Judaism.^[13]

Hefa or Hepha in Eusebius of Caesarea's 4th-century work, Onomasticon,^[15] is said to be another name for Sycaminus.^[16] This synonymizing of the names is explained by Moshe Sharon, who writes that the twin ancient settlements, which he calls Haifa-Sycaminon, gradually expanded into one another, becoming a twin city known by the Greek names Sycaminon or Sycaminos Polis.^[13] References to this city end with the Byzantine period.^[5]

Porphyreon

Around the 6th century, Porphyreon or Porphyrea is mentioned in the writings of William of Tyre,^{[dubious – discuss]} and while it lies within the area covered by modern Haifa, it was a settlement situated south of Haifa-Sycaminon.^[5][13]

Early Muslim Haifa

Following the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Haifa was used to refer to a site established on Tel Shikmona upon what were already the ruins of Sycaminon (Shiqmona).^[13] Haifa (or Haifah) is mentioned by the mid-11th-century Persian chronicler Nasir Khusraw, and the 12th- and 13th-century Arab chroniclers, Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi.^[17] Nasir-i-Khusrau visited in 1047; he noted that "Haifa lies on the seashore, and there are here palm-gardens and trees in numbers. There are in this town shipbuilders, who build very large craft."^[18]

Crusader Caiphas

The Crusaders, who captured Haifa briefly in the 12th century, called it Caiphas,^[12] and believe its name related to Cephas, the Aramaic name of Simon Peter.^[14] Eusebius is also said to have referred to Hefa as Caiaphas civitas,^[19] and Benjamin of Tudela, the 12th-century Jewish traveller and chronicler, is said to have attributed the city's founding to Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus.^[14]

Late Ottoman "Old Haifa"

Haifa al-'Atiqa (Arabic: "Ancient Haifa") is another name used by some locals to refer to Tell es-Samak, when it was the site of a hamlet of 250 residents, before the settlement was moved in 1764–1765 to the site from which the modern city emerged.^[20]

Haifa al-Jadida (New Haifa) and modern Haifa

In 1764–1765 Zahir al-Umar moved the village to a new site 2.5 kilometres (1+1⁄2 miles) to the east, which he also fortified.^[20] The new village, the nucleus of modern Haifa, was first called al-imara al-jadida (Arabic: "the new construction") by some, but others residing there called it Haifa al-Jadida ("New Haifa") at first, and then simply Haifa.^[2]

In the early 20th century, Haifa al 'Atiqa was repopulated with many Arab Christians in an overall neighborhood in which many Middle Eastern Jews were established inhabitants, as Haifa expanded outward from its new location.^[21]

Bronze Age: Tell Abu Hawam

A town known today as Tell Abu Hawam was established during the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE).^[5] It was a port and fishing village.

In the Hebrew Bible

Mount Carmel and the Kishon River are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.^[22][23]

A grotto on the top of Mount Carmel is known as the "Cave of Elijah",^[24] traditionally linked to the Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha.^[22] In Arabic, the highest peak of the Carmel range is called the Muhraka, or "place of burning", harking back to the burnt offerings and sacrifices there in Canaanite and early Israelite times.^[25]

Persian and Hellenistic period: near Shikmona

In the sixth century BCE, during the Persian period, Greek geographer Scylax wrote of a city "between the bay and the Promontory of Zeus" (i.e., the Carmel), which may be a reference to Shikmona, a locality in the Haifa area.^[5]

By Hellenistic times, the city had moved to a new site south of what is now the Bat Galim neighborhood of modern Haifa because the old port's harbour had become blocked with sand.^[5] A Greek-speaking population living along the coast at this time was engaged in commerce.^[26]

Roman period

In about the 3rd century CE, Haifa was first mentioned in Talmudic literature, as a Jewish fishing village and the home of Rabbi Avdimi and other Jewish scholars. According to the Talmud, fishermen caught Murex, sea snails which yielded purple dye used to make tallit (Jewish prayer shawls) from Haifa to the Ladder of the Tyrians. Tombs dating from the Roman era, including Jewish burial caves, have been found in the area.^[5][29][30]

Byzantine period

Under Byzantine rule, Haifa continued to grow but did not assume major importance.^[31] A kinah speaks of the destruction of the Jewish community of Haifa along with other communities when the Byzantines reconquered the country from the Sasanian Empire in 628 during the Byzantine-Sasanian War.^[30]

Early Muslim period

Following the Arab conquest of Palestine in the 630s–40s, Haifa was largely overlooked in favor of the port city of 'Akka.^[2] Under the Rashidun Caliphate, Haifa began to develop.^[32]

In the 9th century under the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, Haifa established trading relations with Egyptian ports and the city featured several shipyards. The inhabitants, Arabs and Jews, engaged in trade and maritime commerce. Glass production and dye-making from marine snails were the city's most lucrative industries.^[32]

Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk rule

Prosperity ended in 1100 or 1101, when Haifa was besieged and blockaded by European Christians shortly after the end of the First Crusade, and then conquered after a fierce battle with its Jewish inhabitants and Fatimid garrison. Jews comprised the majority of the city's population at the time.^[30][33][34] Under the Crusaders, Haifa was reduced to a small fortified coastal stronghold.^[33] It was a part of the Principality of Galilee within the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Following their victory at the Battle of Hattin, Saladin's Ayyubid army captured Haifa in mid-July 1187 and the city's Crusader fortress was destroyed.^[5][35] The Crusaders under Richard the Lionheart retook Haifa in 1191.^[36]

In the 12th century religious hermits started inhabiting the caves on Mount Carmel, and in the 13th century they formed a new Catholic monastic order, the Carmelites.^[37] Under Muslim rule, the church which they had built on Mount Carmel was turned into a mosque, later becoming a hospital. In the 19th century, it was restored as a Carmelite monastery, the Stella Maris Monastery. The altar of the church as we see it today, stands over a cave associated with Prophet Elijah.^[38]

In 1265, the army of Mamluk sultan Baibars captured Haifa, destroying its fortifications, which had been rebuilt by King Louis IX of France, as well as the majority of the city's homes to prevent the European Crusaders from returning.^[39] From the time of its conquest by the Mamluks to the 15th century, Haifa was an unfortified small village or uninhabited. At various times there were a few Jews living there and both Jews and Christians made pilgrimages to the Cave of Elijah on Mount Carmel.^[30] During Mamluk rule in the 14th century, al-Idrisi wrote that Haifa served as the port for Tiberias and featured a "fine harbor for the anchorage of galleys and other vessels.^[17]

Ottoman period

Haifa was apparently uninhabited at the time the Ottoman Empire conquered Palestine in 1516. The first indication of its resettlement was given in a description by German traveller Leonhard Rauwolf, who visited Palestine in 1575.^[30] In 1596, Haifa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the Nahiya of Sahil Atlit of the Liwa of Lajjun. It had a population of 32 Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, and goats or beehives.^[40] Haifa was subsequently mentioned in the accounts of travelers as a half-ruined impoverished village with few inhabitants. The expansion of commercial trade between Europe and Palestine in the 17th century saw Haifa's revival as a flourishing port as more ships began docking there rather than Acre.^[29]

In 1742, Haifa was a small village and had a Jewish community composed mainly of immigrants from Morocco and Algeria which had a synagogue.^[29] It had 250 inhabitants in 1764–5. It was located at Tell el-Semak, the site of ancient Sycaminum.^[20][41]

In 1765, Zahir al-Umar, the Arab ruler of Acre and the Galilee, moved the population to a new fortified site 1.5 mi (2.4 km) to the east and laid waste to the old site.^[20][42] According to historian Moshe Sharon, the new Haifa was established by Zahir in 1769.^[43] This event marked the beginning of modern Haifa.^[20] After al-Umar's death in 1775, the town remained under Ottoman rule until 1918, with the exception of two brief periods.

In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte conquered Haifa during his unsuccessful campaign to conquer Palestine and Syria, but he soon had to withdraw; in the campaign's final proclamation, Napoleon took credit for having razed the fortifications of "Kaïffa" (as the name was spelled at the time) along with those of Gaza, Jaffa and Acre.

Between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy Muhammad Ali governed Haifa, after his son Ibrahim Pasha had wrested control over it from the Ottomans.^[44][45] When the Egyptian occupation ended and Acre declined, the importance of Haifa rose. In 1858, the walled city of Haifa was overcrowded and the first houses began to be built outside the city walls on the mountain slope.^[29] The British Survey of Western Palestine estimated Haifa's population to be about 3,000 in 1859.^[46]

Haifa remained majority Muslim throughout this time but a small Jewish community continued to exist there. In 1798, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov spent Rosh HaShana with the Jewish community of Haifa. In 1839 the Jewish population numbered 124.^[47] Due to the growing influence of the Carmelite monks, Haifa's Christian population also grew. By 1840 approximately 40% of the inhabitants were Christian Arabs.^[30]

The arrival of German messianics, many of whom were Templers, in 1868, who settled in what is now known as the German Colony, was a turning point in Haifa's development.^[45] The Templers built and operated a steam-based power station, opened factories and inaugurated carriage services to Acre, Nazareth and Tiberias, playing a key role in modernizing the city.^[48]

The first major wave of Jewish immigration to Haifa took place in the mid-19th century from Morocco, with a smaller wave of immigration from Turkey a few years later.^[49] In the 1870s, large numbers of Jewish and Arab migrants came to Haifa due to the town's growing prosperity. Jews constituted one-eighth of Haifa's population, almost all of whom were recent immigrants from Morocco and Turkey who lived in the Jewish Quarter, which was located in the eastern part of the town. Continued Jewish immigration gradually raised the Jewish population of Haifa, and included a small number of Ashkenazi families, most of whom opened hotels for Jewish migrants coming into the city. In 1875, the Jewish community of Haifa held its own census which counted the Jewish population at about 200.^[50] The First Aliyah of the late 19th century and the Second Aliyah of the early 20th century saw Jewish immigrants, mainly from Eastern Europe, arrive in Haifa in significant numbers. In particular, a significant number of Jewish immigrants from Romania settled in Haifa in the 1880s during the First Aliyah period. The Central Jewish Colonisation Society in Romania purchased over 1,000 acres (4.0 km²) near Haifa. As the Jewish settlers had been city dwellers, they hired the former fellahin tenants to instruct them in agriculture.^[51] The Jewish population rose from 1,500 in 1900 to 3,000 on the eve of World War I.^[52]

In the early 20th century, Haifa began to emerge as an industrial port city and growing population center. A branch of the Hejaz Railway, known as the Jezreel Valley railway, was built between 1903 and 1905. The railway increased the city's volume of trade, and attracted workers and foreign merchants.^{[citation needed]} In 1912, construction began on the Technion Institute of Technology, a Jewish technical school that was to later become one of Israel's top universities, although studies did not begin until 1924.^[53] The Jews of Haifa also founded numerous factories and cultural institutions.

British Mandate

Haifa was captured from the Ottomans in September 1918 by Indian horsemen of the British Army armed with spears and swords who overran Ottoman positions.^[55] On 22 September, British troops were heading to Nazareth when a reconnaissance report was received indicating that the Turks were leaving Haifa. The British made preparations to enter the city and came under fire in the Balad al-Sheikh district (today Nesher). After the British regrouped, an elite unit of Indian horsemen were sent to attack the Turkish positions on the flanks and overrun their artillery guns on Mount Carmel.^[55]

Under the British Mandate, Haifa saw large-scale development and became an industrial port city.^[45][56] The Baháʼí Faith in 1918 and today has its administrative and spiritual centre in the environs of Haifa.^[57][58] Many Jewish immigrants of the Fourth Aliyah and Fifth Aliyah settled in Haifa. The port was a major source of income, and the nearby Jewish towns of the Krayot were established in the 1930s. At the same time, the Arab population also swelled by an influx of migrants, coming mainly from surrounding villages as well as the Syrian Hauran.^[59] The Arab immigration mainly came as a result of prices and salary drop.^[59] The 1922 census of Palestine, conducted by the British authorities, recorded Haifa's population as 24,634 (9,377 Muslims, 8,863 Christians, 6,230 Jews, 152 Baha'i, and 12 Druze).^[60] By the time of the 1931 census of Palestine, this had increased to 50,403 (20,324 Muslims, 15,923 Jews, 13,824 Christians, 196 Baha'i, 126 Druze, and 10 with no religion).^[61][62][63] Between the censuses of 1922 and 1931, the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian populations rose by 217%, 256%, and 156%, respectively.^[64] In 1938, 99,000 people (including 48,000 Jews) lived in Haifa.^[65][66]

Haifa's development owed much to British plans to make it a central port and hub for Middle-East crude oil. The British Government of Palestine developed the port and built refineries, thereby facilitating the rapid development of the city as a center for the country's heavy industries. Haifa was also among the first towns to be fully electrified. The Palestine Electric Company inaugurated the Haifa Electrical Power Station already in 1925, opening the door to considerable industrialization.^[67] The State-run Palestine Railways also built its main workshops in Haifa.

By 1945 the population was 138,300 (75,500 Jews, 35,940 Muslims, 26,570 Christians, and 290 "other").^[68][69][70] In 1947, about 70,910 Arabs (41,000 Muslims and 29,910 Christians) and 74,230 Jews were living there.^[71] The Christian community were mostly Greek-Melkite Catholics.

1947–1948 Civil War in Palestine

The 1947 UN Partition Plan in late November 1947 designated Haifa as part of the proposed Jewish state. Arab protests over that decision evolved into violence between Jews and Arabs that left several dozen people dead during December.^[72] The Arab city was in a state of chaos. The local Arab national committee tried to stabilize the situation by organizing garrison, calming the frightened residents and to stop the flight. In a public statement, the national committee called upon the Arab residents to obey orders, be alert, keep calm, and added: "Keep away the cowards who wish to flee. Expell them from your lines. Despise them, because they harm more than the enemy". Despite the efforts, Arab residents abandoned the streets which bordered Jewish neighborhoods and during the days of the general strike instigated by the Arab Higher Committee, some 250 Arab families abandoned the Khalisa neighborhood.^[73]

On 30 December 1947, members of the Irgun, a Jewish underground militia, threw bombs into a crowd of Arabs outside the gates of the Consolidated Refineries in Haifa, killing six and injuring 42. In response, Arab employees of the company killed 39 Jewish employees in what became known as the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre.^[74] The Jewish Haganah militia retaliated with a raid on the Arab village of Balad al-Shaykh, where many of the Arab refinery workers lived, in what became known as the Balad al-Shaykh massacre.^[75]

British forces in Haifa redeployed on 21 April 1948, withdrawing from most of the city while still maintaining control over the port facilities. According to Ilan Pappé, although the Jewish mayor of the city, Shabtai Levy, urged the Arab residents to stay, in other parts of town loudspeakers could be heard ordering Arabs to leave "before it's too late."^[76]

On 21 April, the downtown, controlled by a combination of local and foreign (ALA) Arab irregulars, was assaulted by Jewish forces in Operation Bi'ur Hametz by the Carmeli Brigade of the Haganah, commanded by Moshe Carmel. Arab neighborhoods were attacked with mortars and gunfire,^[77] which, according to Ilan Pappé, culminated in an attack on a Palestinian crowd in the old marketplace using three-inch (76 mm) mortars on 22 April 1948.^[78][79][80]

Rashid al-Haj Ibrahim, a Palestinian Arab municipal leader, described attacks "provoking terror among the women and children, who were very influenced by the horrors of Dayr Yasin", and provided an eyewitness account of the flight of Haifa's Arab residents:^[81]

Thousands of women, children and men hurried to the port district in a state of chaos and terror without precedent in the history of the Arab nation. They fled their houses to the coast, barefoot and naked, to wait for their turn to travel to Lebanon. They left their homeland, their houses, their possessions, their money, their welfare, and their trades, to surrender their dignity and their souls.

The operation led to a massive displacement of Haifa's Arab population, and was part of the larger 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight. According to The Economist at the time, only 5,000–6,000 of the city's 62,000 Arabs remained there by 2 October 1948.^[82] Morris quotes British sources as stating that during the battles between 22 and 23 April 100 Arabs were killed and 100 wounded, but he adds that the total may have been higher.^[83]

Historian Walid Khalidi described "the mass exodus of Haifa’s Arab population" as "the spontaneous reaction to the ruthless combination of terror and psychological warfare tactics adopted by the Haganah during the attack."

State of Israel

After the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948 Haifa became the gateway for Jewish immigration into Israel. During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the neighborhoods of Haifa were sometimes contested. After the war, Jewish immigrants were settled in new neighborhoods, among them Kiryat Hayim, Ramot Remez, Ramat Shaul, Kiryat Sprinzak, and Kiryat Eliezer. Bnei Zion Hospital (formerly Rothschild Hospital) and the Central Synagogue in Hadar HaCarmel date from this period. In 1953, a master plan was created for transportation and the future architectural layout.^[84] In 1959, a group of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, mostly Moroccan Jews, rioted in Wadi Salib, claiming the state was discriminating against them.^[85] Their demand for "bread and work" was directed at the state institutions and what they viewed as an Ashkenazi elite in the Labor Party and the Histadrut.^[86]

Tel Aviv gained in status, while Haifa suffered a decline in the role as regional capital. The opening of Ashdod as a port exacerbated this. Tourism shrank when the Israeli Ministry of Tourism placed emphasis on developing Tiberias as a tourist centre.^[87] Nevertheless, Haifa's population had reached 200,000 by the early 1970s, and mass immigration from the former Soviet Union boosted the population by a further 35,000.^[45] The Matam high-tech park, the first dedicated high-tech park in Israel, opened in Haifa in the 1970s. Many of Wadi Salib's historic Ottoman buildings have now been demolished, and in the 1990s a major section of the Old City was razed to make way for a new municipal center.^[45][86]

From 1999 to 2003, several Palestinian suicide attacks took place in Haifa (in Maxim and Matza restaurants, bus 37, and others), killing 68 civilians. In 2006, Haifa was hit by 93 Hezbollah rockets during the Second Lebanon War, killing 11 civilians and leading to half of the city's population fleeing at the end of the first week of the war.^[88] Among the places hit by rockets were a train depot and the oil refinery complex.^[89][90]

Religious and ethnic communities

The population is heterogeneous. Israeli Jews comprise some 82% of the population, almost 14% are Christians (the majority of whom are Arab Christians)^[99] and, some 4% are Muslims. Haifa also includes Druze and Baháʼí Faith communities. In 2006, 27% of the Arab population was aged 14 and under, compared to 17% of the Jewish and other population groups. The trend continues in the age 15–29 group, in which 27% of the Arab population is found, and the age 30–44 group (23%). The population of Jews and others in these age groups are 22% and 18% respectively. Nineteen percent of the city's Jewish and other population is between 45 and 59, compared to 14% of the Arab population. This continues with 14% of Jews and others aged 60–74 and 10% over age 75, in comparison to 7% and just 2% respectively in the Arab population.^[91] Arabs in Haifa tend to be wealthier and better educated compare to other Arabs elsewhere in Israel.^[101]

Haifa is home to the second-largest Arab Christian community in Israel,^[102] many of them lives in the Arabic-speaking neighborhoods in the lowlands near the sea; neighborhoods such as German Colony, Wadi Nisnas and Abbas, are largely Arab Christian.^[95][96] There are also a significant number of wealthy Christian Arabs in the Hadar West and Central.^[96] The Christian communities of Haifa are varied and included various denominations, the most prominent among them the Melkite Greek Catholic, followed by Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholics, Maronites, Armenian Orthodox, and Protestants.^[103] The Christian Arab communities in Haifa tend to be wealthier and better educated compare to other Arabs elsewhere in Israel.^[104] The Melkite Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Akka is based in Haifa, and its cathedral episcopal see is St. Elijah Greek-Melkite Cathedral.^[105]

Following Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000, some former South Lebanon Army soldiers and officers who fled from Lebanon settled in Haifa with their families.^[106]

In 2006, 2.9% of the Jews in the city were Haredi, compared to 7.5% on a national scale.^[91] However, the Haredi community in Haifa is growing fast due to a high fertility rate.^[107] 66.6% were secular, compared to a national average of 43.7%.^[91] There is also a Scandinavian Seamen Protestant church, established by Norwegian Righteous Among the Nations pastor Per Faye-Hansen.^{[citation needed]}

Haifa is the center of liberal Arabic-speaking culture, as it was under British colonial rule. The Arabic-speaking neighborhoods, which are mixed Muslim and Christian, are in the lowlands near the sea, while Jewish neighborhoods are at a higher elevation. An active Arab cultural life has developed in the 21st century.^[101] The city is the center of many Arab-owned businesses such as theaters, bars, cafes, restaurants and nightclubs which also host different cultural discussions and art exhibitions.^[101]

Flora and fauna

The Carmel Mountain has three main wadis: Lotem, Amik and Si'ach. For the most part these valleys are undeveloped natural corridors that run up through the city from the coast to the top of the mountain. Marked hiking paths traverse these areas and they provide habitat for wildlife such as wild boar, golden jackal, hyrax, Egyptian mongoose, owls and chameleons.^{[citation needed]}

Haifa is inundated with boars. The boars began to descend from the valleys around the city from before 2019, and began to roam in the city's streets. In 2019, mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem decided to stop shooting the boars.^[111] Boar sighting figures have struggled to go down since the Israel Nature and Parks Authority began fencing off forested areas, because residents often feed the boars.^[112]

Climate

Haifa has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters (Köppen climate classification Csa).^[113] Spring arrives in March when temperatures begin to increase. By late May, the temperature has warmed up considerably to herald warm summer days. The average temperature in summer is 26 °C (79 °F) and in winter, 12 °C (54 °F). Frost is rare in Haifa, but temperatures around 3 °C (37 °F) can sometimes occur, usually in the early morning. Snow is very rare, which last fell in 1950. Humidity tends to be high all year round, and rain usually occurs between September and May. Annual precipitation is approximately 629 mm (25 in).

Tourism

In 2005, Haifa had 13 hotels with a total of 1,462 rooms.^{[139][needs update]} The city has a 17 km (11 mi) shoreline, of which 5 km (3 mi) are beaches.^[140] Haifa's main tourist attraction is the Baháʼí World Centre, with the golden-domed Shrine of the Báb and the surrounding gardens. Between 2005 and 2006, 86,037 visited the shrine.^[139] In 2008, the Baháʼí gardens were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.^{[4][141][142]} The restored German Colony, founded by the Templers, Stella Maris and Elijah's Cave also draw many tourists.^[143] Located in the Haifa district are the Ein Hod artists' colony, where over 90 artists and craftsmen have studios and exhibitions,^[144] and the Mount Carmel national park, with caves where Neanderthal and early Homo Sapiens remains were found.^[145]

A 2007 report commissioned by the Haifa Municipality calls for the construction of more hotels, a ferry line between Haifa, Acre and Caesarea, development of the western anchorage of the port as a recreation and entertainment area, and an expansion of the local airport and port to accommodate international travel and cruise ships.^[146]

Museums

Haifa has over a dozen museums.^[140][152] The most popular museum is the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology, and Space, which recorded almost 150,000 visitors in 2004. The museum is located in the historic Technion building in the Hadar neighborhood. The Haifa Museum of Art houses a collection of modern and classical art, as well as displays on the history of Haifa. The Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art is the only museum in the Middle East dedicated solely to Japanese art. Other museums in Haifa include the Museum of Prehistory, the National Maritime Museum and Haifa City Museum, the Hecht Museum,^[153] the Dagon Archaeological Museum of Grain Handling,^[154][155] the Railway Museum, the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, the Israeli Oil Industry Museum, and Chagall Artists' House.^[140] As part of his campaign to bring culture to Haifa, Mayor Abba Hushi provided the artist Mane-Katz with a building on Mount Carmel to house his collection of Judaica, which is now a museum.^[156] The former home and studio of artist Hermann Struck is now the Hermann Struck Museum.^[157] The Haifa Educational Zoo at Gan HaEm park houses a small animal collection including Syrian brown bears, now extinct from Israel. Wןthin the zoo is the Pinhas House biology institute. In the close vicinity of Haifa, on the Carmel, the Northern "Hai-Bar" ("wild life") operated by Israel's Parks and Reserves Authority for the purpose of breeding and reintroduction of species now extinct from Israel, such as Persian Fallow Deer.^{[citation needed]}

Mayors

Public transportation

Haifa is served by six railway stations and the Carmelit, currently Israel's only subway system (another is planned in Tel Aviv). The Nahariya–Tel Aviv Coastal Railway main line of Israel Railways runs along the coast of the Gulf of Haifa and has six stations within the city. From south-west to north-east, these stations are: Haifa Hof HaCarmel, Haifa Bat Galim, Haifa Merkaz HaShmona, HaMifrats Central, Hutzot HaMifratz and Kiryat Haim. Together with the Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station in the northern suburb Kiryat Motzkin, they form the Haifa – Krayot suburban line ("Parvarit").^[179] There are direct trains from Haifa to Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion International Airport, Beersheba, Hadera, Herzliya, Modi'in, Nahariya, Karmiel, Akko, Kiryat Motzkin, Binyamina, Lod, Ramla, Beit Shemesh and others.

Haifa's intercity bus connections are operated almost exclusively by the Egged bus company, which operates two terminals:

• HaMifratz Central Bus Station, adjacent to the HaMifrats Central Railway Station
• Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station, adjacent to the Hof HaCarmel Railway Station

Lines to the North of the country use HaMifratz Central Bus Station and their coverage includes most towns in the North of Israel. Lines heading south use Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station.

Destinations directly reachable from Hof HaCarmel CBS include Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Eilat, Raanana, Netanya, Hadera, Zikhron Ya'akov, Atlit, Tirat Carmel, Ben Gurion International Airport and intermediate communities. There are also three Egged lines that have their terminus in the Ramat Vizhnitz neighborhood and run to Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and Ashdod. These used to be "mehadrin" (i.e. gender segregated) lines.

All urban lines are run by Egged. There are also share taxis that run along some bus routes but do not have an official schedule. In 2006, Haifa implemented a trial network of neighborhood mini-buses – named "Shkhunatit" and run by Egged.^[180] In December 2012, GetTaxi, an app and taxi service which allows users to hail a cab using their smartphone without contacting the taxi station (by identifying and summoning the closest taxi) began operating. In the current initial phase, 50 taxis from the service are operating in Haifa.^[181]

Haifa and the Krayot suburbs also have a new Phileas concept bus rapid transit system called the Metronit. These buses, operating with hybrid engines, follow optical strips embedded in designated lanes of roads, providing tram-like public transportation services. The Metronit consists of 100 18-meter buses, each with the capacity for 150 passengers, operating along 40 km (25 mi) of designated roadways.^[182][183] The new system officially opened on 16 August 2013 serving three lines.

Haifa is one of the few cities in Israel where buses operate on Shabbat.^[184] Bus lines operate throughout the city on a reduced schedule from late Saturday morning onwards, and also connect Haifa with Nesher, Tirat Karmel, Yokneam, Nazareth, Nazareth Illit and intermediate communities. Since the summer of 2008, night buses are operated by Egged in Haifa (line 200) and the Krayot suburbs (line 210).^[185] During the summer of 2008 these lines operated 7 nights a week. Since 2013, along with route 1 of the Metronit, they operate 7 nights a week, making Haifa as the only city in Israel with 24/7 public transportation. Haifa is also the only city in Israel to operate a Saturday bus service to the beaches during summer time. Egged lines run during Saturday mornings from many neighborhoods to the Dado and Bat Galim beaches, and back in the afternoon.^[186]

The Haifa subway system is called Carmelit. It is a subterranean funicular railway, running from downtown Paris Square to Gan HaEm (Mother's Park) on Mount Carmel.^[187] With a single track, six stations and two trains, it is listed in Guinness World Records as the world's shortest metro line. The Carmelit accommodates bicycles.

Haifa also has two cable cars. The Bat Galim cable car consists of six cabins and connects Bat Galim on the coast to the Stella Maris observation deck and monastery atop Mount Carmel. It serves mainly tourists.^[188] Opened in April 2022, Rakavlit, the second cable car, is a 4.4-kilometre commuter cable car service, running from HaMifratz Central Bus Station at the foot of Mount Carmel to the Technion, and then to the University of Haifa.^[189]

Air and sea transport

Haifa Airport serves international charters to Cyprus (Larnaca and Paphos).^[190] Before COVID-19 pandemic Haifa Airport operated flights to Egypt, Greece, Jordan and Turkey as well as domestic flights to Tel Aviv (Sde Dov Airport) and Eilat (Eilat Airport).

There are currently plans to expand services from Haifa.

airHaifa is planning to launch operations during September 2024,^[191] when at the beginning it will issue flights on the Haifa-Eilat route and later it will also fly to Cyprus, Greece and Turkey.^[192]

Roads

Travel between Haifa and the center of the country is possible by road with Highway 2, the main highway along the coastal plain, beginning at Tel Aviv and ending at Haifa.^[184] Furthermore, Highway 4 runs along the coast to the north of Haifa, as well as south, inland from Highway 2.^[184] In the past, traffic along Highway 2 to the north of Haifa had to pass through the downtown area of the city. The Carmel Tunnels, opened for traffic 1 December 2010, now route this traffic under Mount Carmel, reducing congestion in the downtown area.^[193]