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'Beersheba' (, 'Be'er Sheva', , 'Bir' as-Sabi' ) is the largest city in the Negev desert of Israel. It is often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev." In 2005, when the population reached 185,000, it became the sixth largest city in Israel.
Beersheba is the administrative centre for the southern region of Israel and home of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Soroka Medical Center, and the Israel Sinfonietta Beersheba.
Beersheba has grown considerably since the founding of the state in 1948. A large portion of the population is made up of Jews who immigrated to Israel from Arab countries after 1948, and newcomers from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. Beersheba is surrounded by a number of satellite towns: Omer, Lehavim and Meitar are mainly Jewish. There are also several Bedouin towns, the largest of which are Rahat, Tel Sheva and Lakiya.

Contents

Etymology

History

Prehistory and biblical era

Ottoman Turkish occuption

British Mandate era

After Israeli independence

Beersheba today

Neighborhoods

Old City

Alef

Bet

Gimmel

Daled

Hey

Vav

Tet

Yud Alef

Nahal Ashan

Nahal Beka

Naot Lon

Neve Noy

Neve Ze'ev

Ramot

Transport

Beersheba municipality

Demographics

Income

Education

Sports

Famous residents

Sister cities

References

External links

Etymology

There are several etymologies for the origin of the name "Beersheba":

★ The oath of Abraham and Abimelech (''well of the oath'')

★ The seven wells dug by Isaac (''seven wells''), though only three or four have been identified

★ The oath of Isaac and Abimelech (''well of the oath'')

★ The seven ewes that sealed Abraham and Abimelech's oath (''well of the seven'').

History

Prehistory and biblical era

From the findings unearthed at Tel Be'er Sheva, an archaeological site a few kilometers northeast of modern day Beersheba, it is believed that the region has been populated since the 4th millennium BC. (reference: Z. Herzog. Beer-sheba II: The Early Iron Age Settlements. Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University and Ramot Publishing Co. Tel Aviv 1984). The city was destroyed and rebuilt many times over the centuries. Biblically, the site of Beersheba is mentioned in two of the three Genesis stories involving a wife confused for a sister. It was the site of a non-aggression pact between the Philistines, represented by a king named Abimelech, and the Israelites. The Bible describes the oath being made on two separate occasions by the Israelites, once represented by Abraham, and once by Isaac. Beersheba is also mentioned in Joshua 19:2. Beersheba was the southernmost city of Israel in Biblical times -hence the expression "from Dan to Beersheba" was sometimes used to describe the whole kingdom.

Ottoman Turkish occuption

The last inhabitants of Tel Be'er-Sheva were the Byzantines, who abandoned the city in the 7th century. The Turkish Ottomans, who had controlled Palestine since the 16th century, took no interest in Beersheba until the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, Beersheba was portrayed by European pilgrims as a barren stretch of land with a well and a handful of Bedouin living nearby.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Ottomans built a police station in Beersheba in order to keep the Bedouin in check. They built roads, a number of small buildings from local materials which are still standing today, a train station, and a railway connection to Ashkelon and Gaza. A small settlement to the east of the city was established by Bedouin families and Arabs from Hebron and Gaza.

British Mandate era

Beersheba played an important role in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I. On October 31 1917, the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade, under Brigadier General William Grant, charged the Turkish trenches, overran them and captured the wells of Beersheba. This is often described as the last successful cavalry charge in history. On the edge of Beersheba's Old City is a Commonwealth cemetery containing the graves of British and Australian soldiers. Beersheba was a major administrative center during the period of the British Mandate for Palestine.

After Israeli independence

The 1947 UN Partition Plan included Beersheba in the territory allotted to the Arab state as the city's population of 4,000 was primarily Arab.^[1] The Egyptian Army was stationed in Beersheba in May 1948. On 21 October 1948, as part of Operation Yoav, the city was captured by the Israel Defence Forces. On November 20, Leonard Bernstein and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra played for the soldiers.^[2]
In the 1950s, Beersheba expanded northward. Soroka hospital opened its doors in 1960, and the Negev University, later renamed Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, was established in 1970. The Beersheba Theater has been operating since 1973. In 1979, Anwar Sadat paid a visit to the city.

Beersheba today

In the 1990s, the population and size of Beersheba was substantially increased by a large influx of Russian and Ethiopian immigrants.
For many years, Beersheba remained untouched by Palestinian terrorism. Relations between Jews and Arabs, and especially the large number of Bedouin who live in the region and do business in Beersheba, were good. This equilibrium was shattered on 31 August 2004, when sixteen people were killed in two suicide bombings on buses in Beersheba for which Hamas claimed responsibility. On August 28 2005, another suicide bomber attacked the central bus station. seriously injuring two security guards.

Neighborhoods

Beersheba is divided into fourteen residential neighbourhoods in addition to the Old City. Many of the neighbourhoods are named after letters of the Hebrew alphabet, which also have numerical value, but descriptive place names have been given to some of the newer neighborhoods.

Old City

As the name suggests, the Old City (, ''Ir HaAtika'') is the historical center of Beersheba. Based on the core of the old Ottoman town, it was expanded by the British during the Mandate era. Street signs in English from the Mandate era are still visible on many street corners. Laid out in a grid pattern, it consists mostly of one- and two storey stone buildings, although some high-rise buildings have recently gone up. Efforts have been made to gentrify the Old City, and it now has a pedestrian mall, but much work remains to be done. Until the late 1990s, the Old City was the commercial hub of Beersheba, but since the opening of a large shopping mall, Kanyon HaNegev (, lit. ''Negev Mall'') near the Central Bus Station, and a number of smaller neighborhood malls, many of the leading chain stores have moved out.
Abraham's Well, the Negev Art Museum, Allenby Garden, the Turkish Train Station, the British War Cemetery and the Aljama Mosque are located in the Old City.

Alef

Alef (, lit. A or 1) is located to the immediate north of the Old City. It was the first neighbourhood built after Israeli independence (in the 1950s) and provided housing for immigrants from Morocco, Iraq, Yemen and India. Shechuna Alef consists of rows of semi-detached houses and a few apartment blocks.

Bet

Bet (, lit. B or 2) is located northwest of Alef. It was also built in the 1950s, and provided housing for immigrants from Poland, Egypt, and later Libya (1960s) Georgia and Russia (1970s). Shechuna Bet is home to the Vasermil Stadium, home of Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the city's major football club.

Gimmel

Gimmel (, lit. G or 3) is northeast of the Old City. Soroka Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev are located here. Many students live in the neighborhood and the university dormitories are situated here. It consists largely of apartment blocks.

Daled

Daled (, lit. D or 4) is located north of Bet and west of Gimel. It is a low income neighbourhood where many students rent apartments. Most of the housing consists of tenement buildings, with a small number of private homes.

Hey

Hey (, lit. H or 5) is located northwest of the Old City, and west of Alef and Bet.

Vav

Vav (, lit. V or 6) is located in the northwest of the city, north of Bet and west of Daled. It consists of a combination of apartment blocks and private homes, and has its own shopping mall (Kanyon Avia).

Tet

Tet (, lit. T or 9) is located to the west of the Old City. It consists almost entirely of tower blocks.

Yud Alef

Yud Alef (, lit. IA or 11) is located to the west of Tet. Most of the homes are detached or semi-detached.

Nahal Ashan

Nahal Ashan (, ''Smoke River''), also known as Neve Menachem (, ''Menachem Oasis'') is the westernmost neighbourhood in Beersheba. It was built in the past decade and consists largely of private homes.

Nahal Beka

Nahal Beka (, ''Rift Stream'') is the city's southernmost neighbourhood, located to the south-west of Neve Noy. It was built in the 1990s to house new immigrants from the Former Soviet Union. Half the neighbourhood consisted of caravans, the other half of prefabricated wooden semi-detached bungalows. The caravans have since been removed, but most of the prefab houses remain, some of them with solid extensions.

Naot Lon

Naot Lon () is located in the west of the city, west of Tet. It is built around woodland and consists largely of detached and semi-detached houses.

Neve Noy

Neve Noy (, lit. ''Beauty Oasis'') is located directly south of the Old City. It was founded in 1952 as an agricultural settlement consisting of small stone cottages with vegetable gardens, known as ''Mishkay Ezer'' (). The first residents were immigrants from Morocco and Tunisia who had been living in ma'abarot (transit camps). It was renamed Neve Noy in 1979, and consists largely of detached two-storey homes. Streets in this neighborhood are named after plants that grow in the Negev, such as Atad, Shita and Tzabar. Neve Noy is home to the second largest Karaite community in Israel, as well as Maccabi Be'er Sheva, Beersheba's second football team.

Neve Ze'ev

Neve Ze'ev (, lit. ''Wolf Oasis'') is located in the southwest of the city, south of Tet. It consists almost entirely of large tower blocks in an area carved out of the surrounding hillside. Many construction projects are under way.

Ramot

Ramot (, lit. ''Heights'') is the northernmost and westernmost neighbourhood in the city, located northwest of Gimmel, and named for the fact that it is built on hills. It consists of a mixture of tower blocks and houses, and is still being expanded.

Transport

Beersheba is served by both buses and trains. Israel Railways has two stations in the town, Be'er Sheva North and Be'er Sheva Central.

Beersheba municipality

The current mayor of Beersheba is Yaakov Turner, and the deputy-mayors are David Bunfeld and Rubik Danilovitch. Sima Navon and Yitzhak Marciano are vice-mayors. Past mayors include David Tuviyahu, Zeev Zrizi, Eliyahu Navi, Moshe Zilberman, Yitzhak Rager and David Bunfeld.
The Beersheba municipality was plagued for many years by an ineffectual leadership, political problems and poor financial planning. In the last few years, the situation has improved. Since 2005, attention has been focused on developing parks and infrastructure. A new youth center opened in 2005, and a new cultural center is slated to open in 2007. Parts of the Old City are being renovated, and after many years of financial struggle,the municipality has achieved a balanced budget.^[3]

Demographics

According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Beersheba had a population of 184,500 in 2003, compared to 110,800 in a survey conducted 20 years earlier. This makes Beersheba the fifth largest city in Israel. Since then, the population has risen to approximately 200,000. In 2001, the ethnic make-up of the city was 98.9% Jewish and other non-Arab, with no significant Arab population (see Population groups in Israel). According to CBS for 2001, there were 86,500 males and 91,400 females living in Beersheba. The population breakdown by age was 31.8% for 19 years old or younger, 17.4% for 20-29 year olds, 19.6% for 30-44 year olds, 15.8% for 45-59 year olds, 4.0% for 60-64 year olds, and 11.4% for 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate in 2001 was 2.9%. Many people live in Beersheba for short periods of time, e.g. while studying at the university or working at the nearby army bases.

Income

According to CBS figures, Beersheba had 61,016 salaried workers and 3,010 self-employed citizens in 2000. Salaried workers earned an average monthly wage of 5,223 NIS. Men earned an average monthly wage of NIS 6,661 (a real change of 5.2%) compared to NIS 3,760 for females (a real change of 3.9%). Self-employed persons had an average income of NIS 6,533. A total of 4,719 persons received unemployment benefits, and 26,469 persons received income supplements. The largest employers in Beersheba are the municipality, Israel Defence Forces, Ben-Gurion University and the Soroka Medical Center. There are also a number of electronics and chemical plants in and around Beersheba.

Education

According to CBS, Beersheba has 81 schools and a student population of 33,623: 60 elementary schools with an enrollment of 17,211 , and 39 high schools with an enrollment of 16,412. Of Beersheba's 12th graders, more than half (52.7 percent) earned a Bagrut matriculation certificate in 2001. There are also several private schools and Yeshivot that cater to the religious sector. Beersheba is home of one of Israel's major universities - Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - and several local colleges, among them Kaye Academic College of Education, the Sami Shamoon Academic College of Engineering and the Practical Engineering College of Beersheba.

Sports

The most popular sport in Beersheba is soccer led by Hapoel Be'er Sheva. Formed in 1949, the team has a history of two league championships (1975 and 1976), one national cup (1997) and two Toto cups (1989 and 1996). The local stadium is the Vasermil Stadium with a capacity of 14,000, shared by Hapoel and the city's lesser known club Maccabi Be'er Sheva.
Beersheba is also Israel's leading chess center. The local chess club has won many cups and national championships. It represented Israel in the European Cup and hosted the World teams championship in 2005. The Chess club was founded in 1973 by Eliyahu Levant, who is still the driving spirit behind this club. Beersheba has a higher percentage of grandmasters per capita - eight - than any other city worldwide, the majority of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union; the city of 183,000 has one grand master per 22,875 residents.
Cricket (introduced by the British in the 1960s) is played in the city under the auspices of Israeli Cricket Association.
Beersheba is home to The Camels-ASA Beersheba rugby team whose senior and youth squads have won several national titles (including the recent Senior National League 2004-2005 championship).
Wrestling, tennis and gliding are also popular sports. Beersheba's tennis center, which opened in 1991, features eight lighted courts, and the Be'er Sheva (Teyman) airfield is available for gliding.

Famous residents

★ Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, was raised in Beersheba

Sister cities

★ Addis Abeba (Ethiopia)

★ Adana (Turkey)

★ Oni, Georgia (Georgia)

★ Winnipeg (Canada)

★ La Plata (Argentina)

★ Lyon (France)

★ Niš (Serbia)

★ Seattle (USA)

★ Parramatta (Australia)

★ Cluj-Napoca (Romania)

★ Rosenheim (Germany)

★ Wuppertal (Germany)

References

1. Palestine Plan of Partition Map United Nations, 1956
2. Israel Philharmonic Beersheba 1948 Library of Congress
3. Be'er-Sheva Municipality Dun's 100, 2006

External links

★ Beersheba Municipality website

★ selection of photos from Beer-Sheva from flickr

★ Beer-Sheva website

★ Ben-Gurion University

★ Soroka University Medical Centre

★ Beersheba Theatre

★ Hapoel Beersheba Football Club

★ The city of Beersheba: a tourist's guide

★ Beer-Sheva - Historical article from the Catholic Encyclopaedia

★ Central Bureau of Statistics