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Petah Tikva

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Template:Infobox Israel muni

Petah Tikva in 1912.

Petah Tikva (Template:Lang-he-n, the Opening of Hope) known as the Mother of Settlements, is a city in the Center District of Israel, north-east of Tel Aviv. Petah Tikva's jurisdiction covers 39,000 dunams (39 km² or 15 mi²). The population density is 4,600 people per km². According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), as of September 30, 2006, the city's population stood at 182,800, growing at an annual rate of 2.6%.

History

Petah Tikva was founded in 1878 by religious pioneers from Jerusalem, who were led by Yehoshua Stampfer, Yoel-Moshe Salomon, Zerach Barnett and David Gutmann as well as Lithuanian Rabbi Aryeh Leib Frumkin. It was the first modern Jewish agricultural settlement in Ottoman Palestine and has since grown to become one of Israel's most populous urban centres.

Originally intending to establish a new settlement in the Achor Valley, near Jericho, the pioneers purchased land in that area. They chose the name for their settlement from the prophecy of Hosea (2:15), "And I will give her vineyards from thence, and the Valley of Achor for an opening of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt." However, the Turkish Sultan cancelled the purchase and forbade them from settling there, but they retained the name Petah Tikva as a symbol of their aspirations.

Undaunted, the settlers purchased a modest area (3.40 square kilometers) from the village of Mulabbis (variants: Mlabbes, Um-Labbes), near the source of the Yarkon River. The Sultan allowed the enterprise to proceed, but because their purchase was located in what was a malarial swamp, they had to evacuate when the malaria spread, founding the town of Yehud near the Arabic village Yehudiyya about 20 kilometers to the south. With the financial help of Baron Edmond de Rothschild they were able to drain the swamps sufficiently to be able to move back in 1883, joined by immigrants of the First Aliyah, and later the Second Aliyah.

During World War I, Petah Tikva served as a refugee town for residents of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, following their exile by the Turkish authorities due to their refusal to serve the Turkish army to fight the invading British forces. The town suffered heavily as it lay between the Turkish and British fronts during the war.

Petah Tikva became the school for thousands of pioneer workers, who studied the craft of farming there before they ventured out to establish dozens of settlements in all parts of the country. The agricultural schools are still active to this day.

Petah Tikva was also the birthplace of the Labor Zionist Movement, inspired and encouraged by the writings of A. D. Gordon who lived in Petah Tikva before moving to Degania in the Galilee.

In the 1930s, the pioneering founders of Kibbutz Yavneh from the Religious Zionist movement immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, settling near Petah Tikva on land purchased by a Jewish-owned German company. Refining the agricultural skills they learned in Germany, these pioneers began in 1941 to build their kibbutz in its intended location in the south of Israel, operating from Petah Tikva as a base.

In the beginning of the 1920s Petah Tikva began to urbanise, including the development of industrial zones. In 1921, Petah Tikva was given the status of a local council by the British authorities, and in 1937 it was recognized as a city. Its first mayor, Shlomo Stampfer, was the son of one of its founders, Yehoshua Stampfer.

After the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, several adjoining villages - Amishav and Ein Ganim to the east, Kiryat Matalon to the west, towards Bnei Brak, Kfar Ganim and Machaneh Yehudah to the south and Kfar Avraham on the north - were merged into the municipal boundaries of Petah Tikva, giving it a significant population boost to 22,000.

Economy

Petah Tikva has the second largest industrial sector in Israel (after Haifa), divided among three Industrial Zones - Kiryat Arye, Kiryat Matalon, and Segula. Its industries include textiles, metal works, wood works, plastics, processed foods, tires and other rubber products, and soap. In the last few years many High tech enterprises have moved into Petah Tikva's industrial zone, including the Israeli headquarters for the Oracle Corporation, IBM, Intel, SanDisk, ECI Telecom, and GlaxoSmithKline Pharmecuticals, and many other High tech and Start-Up companies.

The main factory of the giant food processing company Osem was built in 1976 in Petah Tikva, and the company's administration offices, distribution center and the sauce factory are now located there as well.

The extensive citrus groves that used to encircle the city were earased, making space for villas and new construction. Building stone is quarried near the eastern side.

Transportation

Main article: Transportation in Petah Tikva

While Petah Tikva is not a major center of transportation due to major hubs such as Tel Aviv being too close to it, it still hosts several dozen intercity bus lines from the Egged Bus Cooperative, and has a well-developed inner network of local bus transport serviced by the Kavim company. The city bus lines to the nearest cities of Ramat Gan, Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv are serviced by the Dan Bus Company.

Petah Tikva's largest bus terminal is the Petah Tikva Central Bus Station, while other major stations are located near Beilinson Hospital and Beit Rivka. A rapid transit/light rail system is in the works which will connect Petah Tikva to Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv and Bat Yam.

Israel Railways maintains a suburban railroad station in Segula, on the north-western edge of the city, with trains available to Kfar Saba, Rosh HaAyin, Bnei Brak, Tel Aviv, Lod, Be'er Ya'aqov, Rishon LeZion, Ramla, Bet Shemesh, and Jerusalem.

There are eight taxi fleets based in Petah Tikva, and the city is bordered by three of the major vehicle arteries in Israel: the Geha Highway (Highway 4) on the west, the Trans-Samaria Highway (Highway 5) on the north, and the Trans-Israel Highway (Highway 6) on the east.

Petah Tikva is less than half an hour's drive away from Israel's major international airport, the Ben Gurion International Airport near Lod.

Leaders

Petah Tikva's history of government goes back to 1880, when the pioneers elected a council of seven members to run the new colony. From from 1880 to 1921, members of the council were:

This governing body was declared a local council in 1921, and Petah Tikva became a city in 1937. The following have served as chairmen of the local council (1921-1937) and mayors (1937-date):

Type Name Years
Head of council Shlomo Zalman Gisin 1921
Head of council Pinchas Meiri 1922-1928
Head of council Shlomo Stampfer 1928-1937
Mayor Shlomo Stampfer 1938-1940
Mayor Yosef Sapir 1940-1950
Mayor Mordechai Kraufman 1951
Mayor Pinchas Rashish 1951-1966
Mayor Yisrael Feinberg 1966-1978
Mayor Dov Tavori 1978-1989
Mayor Giora Lev 1989-1999
Mayor Yitzhak Ochion 1999-date

Religious facilities

Petah Tikva has over 280 synagogues and five mikvaot (ritual baths). There are two major Haredi yeshivot, Lomzhe Yeshiva and Or-Yisrael (founded by the Chazon Ish, Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz). Yeshivat Hesder Petach Tikva, a modern-orthodox Hesder Yeshiva affiliated with the Religious Zionist movement and directed by Rabbi Yuval Sherlo, is also located in Petah Tikva.

There are two cemeteries on the outskirts of the city - the Segula Cemetery to the east and the newer Yarkon Cemetery, to the northeast.

Education

Petah Tikva is home to 300 educational institutions from kindergarten through high school, catering to the secular, religious and Haredi populations. There are over 43,000 students enrolled in these schools, which are staffed by some 2,400 teachers.

In 2006, five schools participated in the nationwide Mofet program, which promotes academic excellence.[citation needed]

Terrorism

During the Al-Aqsa Intifada, Petah Tikva suffered three terrorist attacks.

  • On May 27, 2002 a suicide bomber exploded himself outside a mall near a small coffee house, killing 2 civilians, one of whom was a baby.[1]
  • On December 25, 2003 a suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus stop near the Geha bridge, killing 4 civilians.[2]
  • On February 5, 2006 a Palestinian got into a Sherut taxi, pulled out a knife and began to stab the passengers. A civilian from a factory nearby picked up a log and subdued him. Two civilians died.[3]

Communications

Health

Petah Tikva has the most extensive health coverage of any city in Israel, relative to the size of its population. It has six hospitals :

  • The Rabin Medical Center:
    • Beilinson Campus
      • Beilinson Medical Center
      • Davidoff Oncologic Center
      • Geha Psychiatric Hospital
      • Schneider Pediatric Hospital[1]
      • Tel Aviv University Medical Research Facility
    • Golda Campus, containing HaSharon Hospital
  • Beit Rivka geriatric center
  • Institute for medical research of Kupat Holim sick fund
  • Ramat Marpe Private Hospital - a division of Assuta Hospital

The Schneider Pediatric Centre is the largest and most modern children's hospital in the Middle East.<!where is the source for this?> In addition, there are many family health clinics throughout the city and suburbs, and many Kupat Holim clinics run by different Health maintenance organizations.

Twinning

Sister cities of Petah Tikva:

Famous residents

Miscellaneous

File:Picnickelodeon.jpg
Bobsfog (the Israeli version of SpongeBob SquarePants at the World Record attempt on Yom Haatzmaut in 2006
  • Kadima, the political party founded by former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon and now headed by the current prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has its headquarters in Petah Tikva.

References

  1. ^ "Attacks since start of Al Aqsa intifada". Retrieved 2007-05-12.
  2. ^ "Suicide Bombings and "Relative Calm"". Retrieved 2007-05-12.
  3. ^ "Arab Stabs Woman To Death". Retrieved 2007-05-12.

External links

32°05′N 34°53′E / 32.083°N 34.883°E / 32.083; 34.883

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