Modern GeographyTel Aviv

Tel Aviv-Yafo, called Tel Aviv, is the second largest city in Israel, right after Jerusalem. It is the capital of the Tel Aviv District, one of Israel's six administrative districts. Tel Aviv's neighbor city, Jaffa, has a long, rich history dating back to Biblical times. Jaffa was an important port city; it is mentioned in II Chronicles 2 as the city to which the wood for Solomon's Temple was delivered. Jaffa is also the city from which Jonah fled, heading for Tarshish (Jonah 1).

During the Middle Ages, Jaffa frequently changed hands between Crusader and Muslim rulers. In 1799, Napoleon besieged the city and killed dozens of inhabitants, and a subsequent plague nearly decimated the city's population. While population had increased somewhat during the 18th century, the numbers began to rise in earnest with the beginnings of modern Zionism in the 19th century. The economy improved with the increased export of silk and Jaffa oranges. Jews of Ashkenazic descent began moving in, joining the Sephardi community which had been in existence for years.

The First and Second Aliyot (plural of Aliyah) established the modern community of Tel Aviv. A group of Jews from the First Aliyah decided to move a few kilometers outside of Jaffa and construct a new community. Between 1886 and 1896, the community of Neve Tzedek was built, the first time a city was established outside of Jaffa. During the Second Aliyah, at the beginning of the 20th century, Ahuzat Bayit was established on the outskirts of Jaffa, envisioned as a modern, aesthetic, and healthy environment (in contrast to the crowded, congested city of Jaffa), in which Jews and Arabs could reside together peacefully. One of the founding members of Ahuzat Bayit, Meir Dizengoff, later became Tel Aviv's first mayor. The main thoroughfare in Tel Aviv is named after Mayor Dizengoff. The initial land purchase for Ahuzat Bayit occurred in 1908; in 1909, sixty-six families gathered together to parcel out the plots of land through a lottery; and in 1910, the name Tel Aviv was adopted.

In 1921, the Jaffa riots instigated by the Arab community led to an increase in Tel Aviv's Jewish population, as Jews fleeing Jaffa settled in nearby Tel Aviv. Jaffa declined as Tel Aviv's importance, both culturally and economically, continued to grow. During the Fifth Aliyah, in the 1930's, the population increased dramatically as the city welcomed an influx of German Jews escaping Nazi persecution. Many German Jewish architects who fled and resettled in Tel Aviv had been trained in the Bauhaus school of architecture, and would later create one of the largest collections of Modernist buildings in the world, today known as The White City. By the end of the 1930s, Tel Aviv's Jewish population was 160,000, just over a third of the Jewish population of the entire country. In 1940, during World War II, Tel Aviv was the target of Italian bombing raids, conducted in order to harm British interests in the Middle East. Over 100 civilians were killed.

The UN Partition Plan in 1947 recommended that Tel Aviv, by then predominately Jewish, be included in the new Jewish state, and the nearby town of Jaffa, with an Arab majority, become part of the Arab state. The Partition Plan never came to fruition, and in May 1948, Israel declared its independence. Both before and following the 1948 war, many Arabs fled Jaffa; by the time the Israeli soldiers captured it, few Arabs remained. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united in 1949, becoming a single city. Due to the disputed status of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Israel—including the United States—established their embassies in Tel Aviv. Only the embassies of Costa Rica and El Salvador are in Jerusalem.

Tel Aviv has developed into an economic and cultural powerhouse. Though predominately secular, it is home to many houses of worship, including over 500 active synagogues. Many of the nation's companies—especially in the technology, legal, entertainment and public relations industries—are headquartered in Tel Aviv, as is Israel's stock exchange (TASE). Skyscrapers, high-rise buildings, and luxury hotels dot the landscape. Tel Aviv is home to nightclubs, bars, upscale restaurants, in addition to the white sandy beaches and the expansive HaYarkon Park.

Other cultural institutions, such as the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Eretz Israel Museum (dedicated to the history and archaeology of Israel), and the Palmach Museum call Tel Aviv home, as do dozens of smaller galleries. Musicians, artists, and writers all "do their time" in Tel Aviv, as do actors, models, and performers; it is the place to see and be seen. Sports leagues and centers for the performing arts are also plentiful in Tel Aviv.

Tel Aviv has seen its share of tragedy in the modern era. In 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated in Tel Aviv following a speech he gave in favor of the Oslo Accords. Tel Aviv has been the target of terrorist attacks as well. In 1994, a Hamas bomber killed himself and twenty-one others during a bus bombing. In June 2001, a bomb was detonated inside a nightclub in Tel Aviv, killing twenty-one and wounding over 100. In April of 2006, a bombing near the old Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv killed nine and wounded dozens.

Tel Aviv is a robust illustration of the indefatigable spirit of the Jewish people. Carved out of sand dunes and barren land, it has become a global city, its unique history melding with modern buildings and tourist attractions. Tel Aviv is often compared to New York—it is called Israel's "city that never sleeps," and, in homage to the city's success in exporting Jaffa oranges, has been affectionately nicknamed "The Big Orange." The original founders of Ahuzat Bayit would be proud to know that their town of sixty-six families is now a bustling city, the financial capital of Israel, and, 15 minutes from Ben Gurion International Airport, the first slice of Israel people see as they step off the plane.