Ashdod

Ashdod ( ; , إسدود Isdud), is the fifth-largest city in Israel, located in the Southern District of the country, on the Mediterranean coast, with a population of 210,000. Ashdod is an important regional industrial centre. The Port of Ashdod is Israel's largest port accounting for 60% of the country's imported goods.
The first documented settlement in Ashdod dates to the Canaanite culture of 17th century BC, making the city one of the oldest in the world. Ashdod is mentioned thirteen times in the Bible. During its history the city was settled by Philistines, Israelites, Byzantines, Crusaders and Arabs.
Modern Ashdod was established in 1956 on the sand hills near the site of the ancient town, and incorporated as a city in 1968, with a land-area of approximately . Being a planned city, expansion followed a main development plan, which facilitated traffic and prevented air pollution in the residential areas, despite population growth. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Ashdod had a population of 207,000 at the end of 2007, the fifth largest city in Israel and had an area of . 
==History==
=== Ancient settlement ===
Human settlement in Ashdod dates from the Paleolithic Age. Ashdod is mentioned in Ugaritic documents, the language of the ancient Canaanites. At the end of the 13th century BCE the Sea Peoples conquered and destroyed the city. By the beginning of the 12th century BCE the Philistines, generally thought to have been one of the Sea Peoples, ruled the city. During their reign, the city prospered and was a member of the Philistine pentapolis.
In 950 BCE Ashdod was destroyed during Pharaoh Siamun's conquest of the region. The city was not rebuilt until at least 815 BCE. Around 715 BCE, it was conquered by Sargon II, who destroyed the city and exiled its residents. Jewish inhabitants of Ashdod were resettled in Media after their failed uprising attempt against Assyrian dominance. The records indicate that 27,290 Jews were forced to settle in Ecbatana (Hamadan) and Susa in South West Persia. Asdûdu led the revolt of Philistines, Judeans, Edomites, and Moabites against Assyria after expulsion of king Akhimeti, whom Sargon had installed instead of his brother Azuri. Gath (Gimtu) belonged to the kingdom of Ashdod at that time.
An Assyrian general Tartan gained control of Ashdod in 711,Isaiah 20:1 and forced the "usurper" Yamani to flee. Mitinti was king at the time of Sennacherib, and Akhimilki in the reign of Esarhaddon. Psammetichus of Egypt is reported to have besieged the great city Azotus for twenty-nine years (Herodotus, ii. 157); the biblical references to the remnant of Ashdod (Jeremiah 25:20; cf Zephaniah 2:4) are interpreted as an allusion to this event.
The city absorbed another blow in 605 BCE, when Nebuchadnezzar conquered it. In 539 BCE the city was rebuilt by the Persians, but was conquered in the wars of Alexander of Macedon.(Nehemiah 13:23)
According to the Book of Nehemiah, the Ashdodites seem to represent the whole nation of the Philistines in the sixth century BCE,at 13:23,24. the speech of Ashdod (which the younger generation of the Jews are described as adopting) would simply be the general Philistine dialect. Hugo Winckler explains the use of that name by the fact that Ashdod was the nearest of the Philistine cities to Jerusalem.
The city prospered as Izotus under the Hellenistic rule, until the Hasmonean Revolt. During the rebellion Judas Maccabeus arrived at its gates, but did not conquer it. He left it for his brother Jonathan, who conquered it in 147 BCE and destroyed the Temple of Dagon. According to Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 13:15, volume 4), Alexander Jannæus possessed it. Pompey restored its independence by reconstructing its city walls, though it belonged to the dominion of Herod and Salome (Antiquities... 17:18, volume 9), and Vespasian had to later take it by force.
thumb|right|Ashdod-Sea Fortress, Israel. Gate
Despite its location four miles (6 km) from the coast, both Ptolemy and Josephus described it as a maritime city. This curious description may refer to Ashdod's control of a separate shore-edge harbor, called Azotus Paraliyus, or Ashdod-Sea (Antiquities... 13:15, volume 4). The city's prominence continued until the seventh century, when a citadel was built in Azotus Paraliyus as a stronghold against the Byzantine navy. To the west of the wooded height on which the city stands, traces of the ancient harbor Kal'at Al Mina can still be seen.
 
The Fatimids established a shore fortress and a village on the Tell of Ashdod. The location of the village on Via Maris enhanced the city's importance during the Ottoman rule. In 1596 CE, the population of Ashdod numbered about 413. At the beginning of the twentieth century the village was known as Esdūd, with a population of about five thousand, specializing in agriculture and trade.
===Biblical references===
According to the Bible, during the 10th century BCE Ashdod became, along with all the kingdom of Philistia a patronage area of the Kingdom of Israel under the control of King David. Judah's claim upon Ashdod is mentioned in the Book of Joshua (Joshua 15:46).
In the Book of Samuel Ashdod is mentioned (I Samuel 6:17) among the principal Philistine cities. After capturing the Ark of the covenant from the Israelites, the Philistines took it to Ashdod, where it was placed in the temple of Dagon. The next morning Dagon was found prostrate, bowed down, before it; on being restored to his place, he was on the following morning again found prostrate and broken. The people of Ashdod were smitten with boils; a plague of mice was sent over the land (1 Samuel 6:5).
In the Book of Nehemiah, some residents of Jerusalem are said to have married women from Ashdod, and half of the children of these unions were reportedly unable to understand Hebrew, but instead, they spoken "the language of Ashdod." (Nehemiah 13:23-24)
In the Book of Isaiah an Assyrian general named Tartan, sent by Sargon, gained control of Ashdod in 711. (Isaiah 20:1)
The capture of the city by King Uzziah shortly after 815 BCE is mentioned within the text of the Book of Chronicles (2 Chronicles 26:6) and in the Book of Zechariah (Zechariah 9:6), speaking of the false Jews.
The Book of Acts refers to Azotus (the Hellenistic name of Ashdod) as the place to which Philip the evangelist walked after the conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:40).
=== Modern times ===
thumb|Intersection in Ashdod.
thumb|Neighborhood 15. Mediterranean style buildings.
thumb|Ashdod MonArt Arts Center
During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the Egyptian Army took over Isdud on May 29, 1948, and the town became the northern-most advancement point of the Egyptian forces. Egyptian and Israeli forces clashed in the surrounding area, with the Egyptians being unable to hold the Ad Halom bridge over the Lachish River. Israeli forces surrounded the town during Operation Pleshet, and shelled and bombed it from the air. Fearing encirclement, Egyptian forces retreated on October 28, 1948 with the majority of the town's Palestinian Arab residents; some several hundred who remained were soon expelled southwards by the Israel Defense Forces.Benny Morris, The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited, Cambridge Press 2004 pp.471
In 1953, surveyors and designers arrived at the desolate dunes near the mouth of Lakhish River to choose a site to build a new power station in the south of the country (eventually "Eshkol A"). Its workers lived in the regional settlements Rehovot and Gedera.
On May 1, 1956, then finance minister Levi Eshkol approved the establishment of the city of Ashdod. "Ashdod Company Ltd.", a daughter company of City-Builders Company Ltd., was created for that purpose by Oved Ben-Ami and Philipp Klotznik.
The first settlers, twenty-two families of immigrants from Morocco arrived in November 1956, and a group of immigrants from Egypt joined them. In July 1957, the government granted a 24 square kilometers concession, approximately from Tel Aviv, to the Ashdod Company Ltd., for building the modern city of Ashdod.
The building of the Eshkol A power station in Ashdod was completed in 1958 and included 3 units: 2 units of 50 megawatt, and one unit of 45 megawatt (with sea water desalination capabilities).
The first local council was appointed in October 1959. Dov Gur was appointed the first local council head on behalf of the Israeli Ministry of Interior. The Magistrates' Court in the city was inaugurated in 1963. In January 1965, Ashdod Company and Clalit, the country's largest health maintenance organization, signed a contract to build a 500 beds hospital, which has yet to be established. The building of the port of Ashdod began in April 1961. The port was inaugurated in November 1963, and was first utilized in November 1965, with the coming of the Swedish ship "Wiengelgad".
In 1964 the Ponevezher Rov, Rabbi Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman established the Ponevezh development, the first Haredi neighborhood in Ashdod. In 1978 a joint Belz-Ger estate was established in Neighborhood 3 (Rova Gimel). The Lev Simcha Talmud Torah in Ashdod is the largest cheder in Israel. Today, the Tolna Rebbe, Pittsburgher Rebbe, Neshchiz, and Melitzer Rebbes reside in Ashdod.
The explosive growth of the city began in 1991, with the massive arrival of immigrants from the Soviet Union and infrastructure development. From 1990 to 2001 the city accepted more than 100,000 new inhabitants, a 150% growth.
== Planned city ==
The modern city of Ashdod city was built outside the historic settlement site, on virgin sands. The development followed a main development plan. The planners divided the city into seventeen neighborhoods of ten to fifteen thousand people. Wide avenues between the neighborhoods make traffic flow relatively freely inside the city. Each neighborhood has easy access to its own commercial center, urban park, and health and education infrastructure. The original plan also called for a business and administrative center, built in the mid-1990s, when the city population grew rapidly more than doubling in ten years.
Three industrial zones were placed adjacent to the port in the northern part of the city, taking into account the prevailing southern winds which take air pollution away from the city. The plan had its problems, however, including asymmetric growth of upscale and poorer neighborhoods and the long-time lack of a main business and administrative center.
The city was planned for a maximum of 250,000 inhabitants, and an additional area in the south was reserved for further development. The southern border of the city was proclaimed a national nature reserve, Ashdod Nitzanim Sand Dune Park, which makes future city growth problematic, with the last of the seventeen neighborhoods of the development plan now under construction.
==Climate==
Ashdod has a mediterranean climate with hot summers, pleasant spring and fall, and cool, rainy winters. Humidity tends to be high all year round, and rain occurs mainly from November to March. In winter, temperatures seldom drop below 5°C and are more likely to be in the region of 10° to 15°C, while in summer the average is 27°C. The average annual rainfall is 510 millimeters.
== Economy ==
=== Industry ===
thumb|The Laser Light Tower in the city center
thumb|Sea mall main entrance
Ashdod is one of the most important industrial centers in Israel. All industrial activities in the city are located in northern areas such as the port area, the northern industrial zone, and around the Lachish River. The port of Ashdod is the largest port in Israel, handling about sixty percent of Israel's port cargo. It was mainly upgraded in recent years and will be able to provide berths for Panamax ships.
Various shipping companies offices are also located in the port area which also is home to a Eshkol A power station and coal terminal.
The Northern industrial zone is located on Highway 41 and includes various industry including an oil refinery, which is one of only two in the country. The heavy industry zone located south of the Lachish River was once the main industrial center in Ashdod. Recently, however, leisure facilities have moved into the area. There is still some industry here, however, such as a Teva Pharmaceutical Industries plant, construction components producer Ashtrom, and Solbar a soybean oil producer. Ashdod is also home to Elta, a part of Israel Aircraft Industries where radar equipment, electronic warfare systems, and ELINT are developed.
=== Shopping ===
Historically each neighborhood of Ashdod had its own commercial center and at different times some of these centers became the main shopping areas of the city such as Rogozin St. during the 1980s. In 1990, however, when the mall shopping culture developed in Israel, the main commercial activity in Ashdod moved to malls.
The first mall to open in Ashdod was the Forum Center which was built in the industrial zone and was very popular until additional malls were built in the residential neighborhoods. Restaurants, bars and night clubs were opened in the area which is one of the most popular recreation zones in the city. Today, the Forum center is mainly used for offices.
Lev Ashdod Mall was opened in 1993 and soon became the most popular shopping and recreation place among the population of Ashdod. The mall has been extended and upgraded in the years since its opening. Lev Ashdod Mall was followed two years later by Ashdod Mall which opened in 1995 and was at the time the biggest mall in the city. Despite this fact, however, it was not successful and is currently being closed and redesigned. 
City Mall was opened in a combined building with the central bus station in 1996, following the examples of the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station and the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. Due to its location in the city center it is highly popular and was upgraded in 2007.
The Sea Mall is a new three floor mall. It is located in a modern building near the government offices and also has a climbing wall and cinema.
Finally, Star Center is a new shopping center which has proven to be popular to the extent that it doubles in size in 2007. 
== Transportation ==
=== Roads ===
thumb|The view toward the marina
Ashdod is located on the historic Via Maris. Highway 4 was developed following this route along the southern sea shore of Israel; it serves as the main connection to the north, towards the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, and to the south, towards Ashkelon.
Ad Halom junction was planned as the main entrance to the city from the east. The junction was poorly planned and built, including a grade-level railway crossing less than 100 meters from the intersection with Highway 4 and a dangerous intersection with the nearby railway station's access road, and it suffered from heavy congestion. An interchange was opened in 2009.
The interchange is intended to continue the freeway section of Highway 4 further south by removing the traffic light at this junction, and it also utilized grade separation with the railway.
The other main road in the area is Highway 41 which served the city from the start of its modern history. This road runs from west to east towards Gedera and it is the main transport link to the port of Ashdod and the industrial zones, and connects to Highway 4 with an interchange.
=== Railway ===
The passenger railway connection to Ashdod opened in 1992 after the renovation of the historical railway to Egypt. Ashdod railway station is on Israel Railways' Binyamina/Netanya - Tel Aviv - Ashkelon line and it is located near Ad Halom Junction. The station was upgraded in 2003 when a new terminal building was built. The station building is modern, but proper road access to it is was only organized on September 23, 2008, when a new road to the station was opened. 
There is also heavy freight traffic in the area. Port of Ashdod has its own railway spur line as well as a special terminal for potash brought from the Sodom area and exported abroad.
thumb|The central bus station
=== Buses ===
The new central bus station opened in 1996. It serves as the terminus both for inter- and intracity lines. The building also includes a small but popular shopping mall. Intercity bus lines connect the city with most population centers in central and southern Israel. Following is the list of bus companies serving routes at the central bus station:
Company name 	Major destinations
Egged 	Jerusalem, a seasonal line to Eilat
Metropoline 	Be'er Sheva, Kiryat Gat, Sderot, Netivot
ConnexA schematic map of Connex bus lines in the Ashdod area, Connex	Tel Aviv (CBS and Arlozorov Terminal), Bar Ilan University, Tel HaShomer, Rishon LeTziyon, Rehovot, Yavne, Ashkelon, Kiryat Mal'akhi, Gedera, Gan Yavne
Egged Ta'avura 	Intracity service
Due to the large Haredi population in Ashdod, many mehadrin lines connect the Haredi neighborhoods of Ashdod with other Haredi population centers, such as Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh, Modi'in Illit, Kiryat Gat, El'ad, Tzfat and other towns. The mehadrin lines are operated by Egged, Connex, Egged Ta'avura and Superbus, and do not use the central bus station.
The Egged Ta'avura company have been running urban buses in Ashdod since 2007. In addition, a share taxi service exists in Ashdod, operated by Moniyot HaIr. Most share taxi lines coincide with intracity bus lines.
=== Sea Transport ===
There is a passenger pier in the Port of Ashdod. The traffic at this gateway is constantly growing, especially due to cruise ship activities. The other sea gateway is the newly opened Blue Marina.
== Demographics ==
=== Population ===
Year	Population
1961	4,600
1972	40,300
1983	65,700
1990	83,900
1995	125,820
1996	137,100
2000	174,224
2001	187,000
2003	192,200
2006	204,400
According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, Ashdod had a population of about 204,400 at the end of 2006, making it the fifth largest city in Israel. The annual population growth rate is 2.6% and the ratio of women to men is 1,046 to 1,000.
The population age distribution was recorded as 19.7% under the age of 10, 15.7% from age 10 to 19, 14.9% from 20 to 29, 19.1% from 30 to 44, 19.1% from 45 to 64, and 11.3% were 65 or older. The population of Ashdod is significantly younger than the Israeli average because of the large number of young couples living in the city.
The city is ranked medium-low in socio-economic grading, with a rating of 4 out of 10. 56.1% of 12th grade students in Ashdod were eligible for matriculation certificates in 2000. The average salary in 2000 was NIS 4,821 compared to the national average of NIS 6,835.
=== Origins ===
Ashdod, like many Israeli cities, has seen much of its growth as the result of absorption of immigrants. The first major group to move to the city were Jews of Moroccan and Egyptian descent. In the 1960s Ashdod accepted a large number of immigrants from Romania, followed by a large number from Georgia in the 1970s. More than 60,000 Jews immigrated to Ashdod from the former Soviet Union in the early 1990s. Recent demographic figures suggest that about 32% of the city's population are new immigrants, 85% of whom are originally from the former Soviet Union.
thumb|right|LaMimunia Moroccan culture center.
During the 1990s the city absorbed a large number of Jews of Ethiopian descent, and in more recent years Ashdod has absorbed a large number of immigrants from France and Argentina.
Many of the 60,000 Marathi speaking Bene Israeli, from Maharashtra, India have also settled here.
Ashdod also receives a significant amount of internal migration, especially from the Gush Dan region.
=== Religion ===
Over 95% of Ashdod's population is Jewish, over 30% of whom are religiously observant. Despite this, the city is generally secular, although most of the non-Jewish population is a result of mixed marriages. The large Haredi community of the city live mainly in Neighborhood 7 (Rova Zayin) which is specially dedicated for their needs with Talmud Torah, cheder, mikva and other religious institutions. About 100 families are affiliated with the Pittsburg Hasidic group, established here in 1969 by Grand Rabbi Avraham Abba Leifer and continued today by his son, Grand Rabbi Mordechai Yissachar Ber Leifer.
Ashdod is home to a wide range of synagogues, catering to the religious diversity of its population. The city is also home to the world's largest Karaite community, about five thousand strong. There is also a Scandinavian Seamen Protestant church, established by Norwegian Righteous Among the Nations pastor Per Faye-Hansen.
File:Orot Haim.JPG|Orot Haim Kolel.
File:Kolel1.JPG|Kolel in 7th neighborhood.
File:Karaim sinagog Ashdod.jpg|The Karaite Synagogue.
File:Skan Seaman Church.JPG|The Scandinavian Seamen Church
== Government ==
thumb|City Hall
Ashdod was declared a city in 1968. The Ashdod City Council has twenty-five elected members, one of whom is the mayor. The mayor serves a five-year term and appoints six deputies. The current mayor of Ashdod, Yehiel Lasri, was last elected in 2008 after Zvi Zilker has been in office continuously since 1989.Local council elections 2003 results. Haaretz (October 29, 2003). Within the city council there are various factions representing different population groups. The headquarters of the Ashdod Municipality and the mayor's office are at city hall. This new municipal building is located in the main culture and business area.
=== Mayors and heads of council ===
* Dov Gur (1959–1961)
* Robert Hayim (1961–1963)
* Avner Garin (1963–1969)
* Zvi Zilker (1969–1983)
* Aryeh Azulay (1983–1989)
* Zvi Zilker (1989–2008)
* Yehiel Lasri (2008–)
== Culture ==
=== Music and theatre ===
Ashdod is home to the Israeli Andalusian Orchestra which performs music originating in Andalusia, a blend of Western and Arabic music. The orchestra was awarded the Israel Prize in 2006.
The ACADMA conservatory, a professional educational institute for music and performance studies is based in Ashdod. Operated under the supervision of the Ministry of Education, the institute was established in 1966, and serves as a home for 600 young musicians in different fields. The conservatory is a vivacious and vigorous center of the music and the culture life in the city, and it is involved in the community life and educates a second generation of musicians made in Ashdod.
The MonArt center is a newly opened performing arts center which has different art schools, studios and events. Theater and concerts are hosted in several cultural venues; the most important are performed at Yad LaBanim concert hall. the newer city concert hall in the cultural center is in its final building stages, it is designed to have a capacity of 2 000.
File:Ashdod_CultureCenter.jpg|Building of new culture center. February 2006.
File:Ashdod Yad-le-Banim.JPG|Yad LaBanim concert hall
File:Ashdod Monart3.JPG|MonArt performing arts center
=== Museums ===
*The Korin Maman Museum has a permanent archeology exhibition called "Philistian World" as well as various changing art exhibitions.
*Ashdod Museum of Art located in the MonArt center, has 13 exhibition halls. In an architectural echo of the Louvre, the entrance to the museum is through a glass pyramid.
=== Sports ===
Ashdod's football team, F.C. Ashdod represents the city in Ligat ha'Al, Israel's Premier League. The club is known for its successful soccer school. The city's top basketball team is Maccabi Ashdod. The men squad plays in Liga Leumit, Israel's second tier league, and the women squad plays in top division.
Ashdod plays host to many national and international sporting tournaments, including the annual Ashdod International Chess Festival. The city has a cricket team, a rarity in Israel. It is run and organized by citizens of Indian descent. Like many coastal settlements in Israel, Ashdod's beaches is a venue for water sport, like as windsurfing, yachting, and SCUBA diving operating in the Marina area.
Ashdod has produced a number of famous sportsmen:
* Haim Revivo - international soccer player
* Alon Hazan - international soccer player
* Vered Borochovsky - 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2004 Summer Olympics swimmer.
* Gocha Tzitziashvili - 2003 Greco-Roman Wrestling World champion & 2004 Summer Olympics wrestler
==International relations==
===Twin towns - Sister cities===
Ashdod is twinned with
* Bordeaux, France
* Bahia Blanca, Argentina		
* Spandau, Germany
* Tampa, Florida, USA
==References==
== External links ==
*
*Ashdod official website
*Ashdod Evant's Gallery From Ashdod
*Ashdod Port official website
*- Ashdod Local News (in Hebrew)
*Ashdod Local News (in Hebrew)
*Ashdod Local News (Hebrew)
*Ashdod Local News (in Russian)
*Ashdod City Promo Video (Hebrew)
*Ashdod Image Gallery
*The Israeli Andalusit Orchestra
	
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