Jisr az-Zarqa

Jisr az-Zarqa (Arabic: جِسْر الزَّرْقَاء‎, Hebrew: גִ'סְּר א-זַּרְקָא‬ lit. brig ower the blue) is an Israeli Arab toun on Israel's northren Mediterranean coastal plain. Locatit juist north o Caesarea athin the Haifa Destrict, it achievit local cooncil status in 1963. Accordin tae the Central Bureau o Statistics (CBS) the toun haed a population o 11,100 residents at the end o 2005. the name Jisr az-Zarqa is a reference tae Taninim Stream, which is kent in Arabic as the "Blue Stream." The mayor is Az-Adin Amash. History Jisr az-Zarqa is the anerlie Arab toun in Israel locatit on the coast o the Mediterranean Sea (tho coastal touns such as Acre, Haifa, an Jaffa hae significant Arab populations). Ither Arab touns alang the coast wur depopulatit durin the 1948 Arab-Israeli War in Israeli militar affensives. Housomeivver, the intervention o Jews frae the neeborin touns o Zikhron Ya'akov an Binyamina, who relied on the population o Jisr az-Zarqa an nearbi Fureidis for agricultural labor, preventit the Israeli authorities frae dispersin the Arab population o the twa touns. In November 2002, the Caesarea Development Corporation constructit a lairge yirden embankment runnin the lenth o the 160 meter-wide corridor atween the veelage an neeboring Caesarea. The embankment wis biggit tae block oot noise frae the muezzin an celebratory gunfire, and crack doun on frequent property thefts. Residents o Jisr az-Zarqa claim that the naitional pairk in the north, the embankment tae the sooth, the heich-gate tae the east an the sea tae the wast, are keepin the toun frae expandin. The municipality o Jisr al Zarka is seekin tae promote environmental tourism tae the toun an its beachfront. Demografics The indwallers o Jisr az-Zarqa are primarily Muslim. Thare hae been unverifeed reports o the existence o a sma commonty o idol worshipers or polytheists an aw, who are the stryndants o the auncient Canaanite an Philistine naitions. The toun haes the lawest average monthly wage o ony locality in Israel at 3,800 New Israeli Sheqel (NIS), or a little ower 1,100 USD. Accordin the Israel Central Bureau o Statistics, Jisr az-Zarqa haes the heichest heich schuil drop oot rates in the kintra at 12% an aw. A wumman frae the toun, Mariam Amash, applee'd for a new identity caird in Hadera in Februar 2008, uisin a birth document issued bi the Ottoman Empire that said she wis born in 1888. If verifee'd bi the Guinness Beuk o Warld Records, this wad hae made her the auldest livin body in the warld at 120. Mariam passed awa on 22 Dizember 2012 at the age o 124. In 1998, the first multiple neer transplant in Israel teuk place atween a couple frae the veelage an a Jewish couple frae Jerusalem. See also List of Arab localities in Israel References Further readin Benny Morris (1994): "1948 and after; Israel and the Palestinians" ISBN 0-19-827929-9. (Chapter 8, p. 257-289: The Case of Abu Ghosh and Beit Naqquba, Al Fureidis and Jisr Zarka in 1948 -or Why Four Villages Remained.) Kareem Sa‘id (2009): Jisr ez-Zarqa Final Report Archived 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine Hadashot Arkheologiyot – Excavations and Surveys in Israel, No. 121