Neve Sha'anan, Tel Aviv

Old central bus station

International Style building in Neve Sha'anan

Neve Sha'anan (Hebrew: נווה שאנן‎) is a neighborhood in Tel Aviv, Israel. It is a major transportation hub, with both the new and old Tel Aviv Central Bus Stations located there. The main street, Neve Sha'anan Street, is a pedestrian mall. Many foreign workers live or work in Neve Sha'anan. Levinsky park is the social heart of the neighborhood.

Levinsky market

The Levinsky market, which extends into numerous side streets, is a colorful market brimming with spices, herbs, and teas. Founded by Jews from Thessalonica, Greece, over 80 years ago, the Levinsky market is tucked under and between dilapidated three-story buildings.

The Greek Jews were followed by an influx of Iranian Jews and immigrants from other countries where herbal remedies and spicy foods are common. The street itself is named after Elchanan Leib Levinsky, a member of the Bilu Zionist movement in Lithuania, who emigrated to Palestine in the early 1880s.

Arab–Israeli conflict

The neighborhood was the site of a number of terrorist attacks. In July 2002, two Palestinian suicide bombers set off two explosions in rapid succession along a shopping strip in Neve Shaanan. Two of the three victims of the attack were immigrant laborers, who also made up a large portion of the 40 injured. In January 2003, 23 people—15 Israelis and 8 foreign nationals—were killed, and 120 wounded when two Palestinian suicide bombers blew themselves up on the pedestrian mall adjacent to the old central bus station. The mall was packed with shoppers and laborers returning home from work. In April 2006, during the Passover holiday, a Hamas suicide bomber blew himself up at the Rosh Ha'ir shwarma restaurant in Neve Sha'anan, killing 11 people and wounding 50.

Notable residents

• Hanoch Levin (1943–99), dramatist, theater director, author and poet

Street intersection of Levinsky St. and David Tzemach St. in Neve Sa'anan neighborhood, near the main entrance of Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, and under one of the platforms leading to the upper floors of the bus station. Residents affected by construction of the bridges leading to the station managed a long legal battle because of the decline in value of their apartments.

See also

• Neighborhoods of Tel Aviv