Gesher, Israel
Gesher is a kibbutz in the Beit She'an Valley in northeastern Israel. Founded in 1939 by immigrants from Germany, it falls under the jurisdiction of Valley of Springs Regional Council, it is situated 10 km south of 15 km south of Tiberias. The population is 500 inhabitants, it is named after the neighbouring bridge over the Jordan river, known as Jisr el-Majami in Arabic and as Gesher Naharayim in Hebrew. The original site of the kibbutz, abandoned after the 1948 war, is known as Old Gesher. In 2017 it had a population of 420; the kibbutz was founded in 1939 on lands bought with the help of Edmond de Rothschild, by a group of Jews born in Palestine who were members of the youth movement HaNo'ar HaOved and a group of young Jews from Germany. They were joined by Jewish immigrants from Poland, Germany and additional Palestinian Jews; the kibbutz grew up near the Naharayim bridge as a stockade settlement. The site of the kibbutz was a khan from the Mamluk period to early 19th century. Called Jisr el-Majami', it was one of the earliest khans in the Galilee and was a major crossroads where the north–south Bet She’an–Damascus road intersected the east–west road which led from the Gilead through the Sirin Plateau.
Some of the original kibbutz buildings lay within the ruins. There are three bridges at the site - a Byzantine stone bridge, an Ottoman railroad bridge serving the Haifa-Dera'a segment of the Hejaz Railway, a British Mandate road bridge serving the Haifa-Baghdad highway. On 27 April 1948, the Haganah took control of the Gesher police station, a Tegart fort, evacuated by the British; the Arab Legion, still under British control at the time, ordered them to evacuate it. Haganah refused and both troops exchanged fire during 3 days until the Arab Legion was ordered by his HQ to return to their barracks. In April–May 1948, 50 children of the kibbutz were evacuated to a 19th-century French monastery on the grounds of Rambam hospital in the Bat Galim neighborhood of Haifa, where they lived for 22 months; the building had been empty since 1933, when the Carmelite nuns had moved into their new monastery on the French Carmel. For seven days, beginning on May 15, 1948, the kibbutz and Tegart fort were attacked by Iraqi forces using armored cars and aerial bombing.
The defenders repulsed the Iraqis, inflicting heavy losses, but the kibbutz was destroyed during combat. After the war, the kibbutz was rebuilt about 1 km to the west. During the War of Attrition between 1967 and 1970 the kibbutz was attacked with bombs and gunfire by PLO Arab Palestinian fighters. In the 1990s it underwent privatization while preserving the collective model in the areas of education, health and leisure. After the peace agreement between Israel and the Kingdom of Jordan, the kibbutz established a museum on the original site of the kibbutz that documents the history of Gesher and the Jewish-run power station of Naharayim. Gesher Imanuel Reuveni - Lexicon of Holy Land - Eretz Israel Lexicon Yedioth Ahronoth - Chemed Books Publishing house, 1999. Yuval Elezri - lexicon Mapa - Eretz Israel - Maps Concise Gazetteer of Israel Today 2003, Tel Aviv MAP Mapping and Publishing. Official website
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to the Land of Israel. Defined as "the act of going up"—that is, towards Jerusalem—"making Aliyah" by moving to the Land of Israel is one of the most basic tenets of Zionism; the opposite action, emigration from the Land of Israel, is referred to in Hebrew as yerida. The State of Israel's Law of Return gives Jews and their descendants automatic rights regarding residency and Israeli citizenship. For much of Jewish history, most Jews have lived in the diaspora where aliyah was developed as a national aspiration for the Jewish people, although it was not fulfilled until the development of the Zionist movement in the late nineteenth century; the large-scale immigration of Jews to Palestine began in 1882. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, more than 3 million Jews have moved to Israel; as of 2014, Israel and adjacent territories contain 42.9% of the world's Jewish population. Throughout the 2,000 years of dispersion, a small-scale return migration of Diaspora Jews to the Land of Israel is characterized as the Pre-Modern Aliyah.
Successive waves of Jewish settlement are an important aspect of the history of Jewish life in Israel. The'Land of Israel' is the Hebrew name for the region known in English as Israel; this traditional Hebrew toponym, in turn, has lent its name to the modern State of Israel. Since the birth of Zionism in the late 19th century, the advocates of Aliyah have striven to facilitate the settlement of Jewish refugees in Ottoman Palestine, Mandatory Palestine, the sovereign State of Israel; the following waves of migration have been identified: the First Aliyah and the Second Aliyah to Ottoman Palestine. Today, most aliyah consists of voluntary migration for ideological, economic, or family reunification purposes. Aliyah in Hebrew means "ascent" or "going up". Jewish tradition views traveling to the land of Israel as an ascent, both geographically and metaphysically. Anyone traveling to Eretz Israel from Egypt, Babylonia or the Mediterranean basin, where many Jews lived in early rabbinic times, climbed to a higher altitude.
Visiting Jerusalem, situated 2,700 feet above sea level involved an "ascent". Aliyah is a fundamental component of Zionism, it is enshrined in Israel's Law of Return, which accords any Jew and eligible non-Jews, the legal right to assisted immigration and settlement in Israel, as well as Israeli citizenship. Someone who "makes aliyah" is called an olah. Many religious Jews espouse aliyah as a return to the Promised land, regard it as the fulfillment of God's biblical promise to the descendants of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham and Jacob. Nachmanides includes making aliyah in his enumeration of the 613 commandments. In the Talmud, at the end of tractate Ketubot, the Mishnah says: "A man may compel his entire household to go up with him to the land of Israel, but may not compel one to leave." The discussion on this passage in the Mishnah emphasizes the importance of living in Israel: "One should always live in the Land of Israel in a town most of whose inhabitants are idolaters, but let no one live outside the Land in a town most of whose inhabitants are Israelites.
Sifre says that the mitzvah of living in Eretz Yisrael is as important as all the other mitzvot put together. There are many mitzvot such as shmita, the sabbatical year for farming, which can only be performed in Israel. In Zionist discourse, the term aliyah includes both voluntary immigration for ideological, emotional, or practical reasons and, on the other hand, mass flight of persecuted populations of Jews; the vast majority of Israeli Jews today trace their family's recent roots to outside the country. While many have chosen to settle in Israel rather than some other country, many had little or no choice about leaving their previous home countries. While Israel is recognized as "a country of immigrants", it is in large measure, a country of refugees, including internal refugees. Israeli citizens who marry individuals of Palestinian heritage, born within the Israeli-occupied territories and carrying Palestinian IDs, must renounce Israeli residency themselves in order to live and travel together with their spouses.
According to the traditional Jewish ordering of books of the Tanakh, the last word of the last book in the original Hebrew is veya‘al, a jussive verb form derived from the same root as aliyah, meaning "and let him go up". 2 Chronicles 36:23 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me. Who among you of all his people? The LORD his God with him, let him go up. Return to the land of Israel is a recurring theme in Jewish prayers recited every day, three times a day
Jordan Valley
The Jordan Valley forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" applies just to the lower course of the Jordan River, from the spot where it exits the Sea of Galilee in the north, to the end of its course where it flows into the Dead Sea in the south. In a wider sense, the term may cover the Dead Sea basin and the Wadi Arabah or Arava valley, the Rift Valley segment beyond the Dead Sea and ending at Aqaba/Eilat, 155 km farther south; the valley is a long and narrow trough, it is 105 km long with a width averaging 10 km with some points narrowing to 4 km over most of the course before widening out to a 20 km delta when reaching the Dead Sea. Due to meandering the length of the river itself is 220 km; this is the deepest valley in the world, beginning at an elevation of −212 m below sea level and terminating at an elevation lower than −400 m below sea level. On both sides, to the east and west, the valley is bordered by high, escarpments with the difference in elevation between the valley floor and the surrounding mountains varying between 1,200 m to 1,700 m.
Over most of its length, the Jordan Valley forms the border between Jordan to the east, Israel and the West Bank to the west. The details are regulated by the Israel–Jordan peace treaty of 1994, which establishes an "administrative boundary" between Jordan and the West Bank, occupied by Israel in 1967, without prejudice to the status of that territory. Israel has allocated 86% of the land, in the west bank portion of the valley, to Israeli settlements. According to the definition used in this article, what is elsewhere sometimes termed the Upper Jordan Valley is not considered part of the Jordan Valley; the Upper Jordan Valley comprises the Jordan River sources and the course of the Jordan River through the Hula Valley and the Korazim Plateau, both north of the Sea of Galilee. The lower part of the valley, known in Arabic as the Ghor, includes the Jordan River segment south of the Sea of Galilee which ends at the Dead Sea. Several degrees warmer than adjacent areas, its year-round agricultural climate, fertile soils and water supply have made the Ghor a key agricultural area.
South of the Dead Sea, the continuation of the larger Jordan Rift Valley contains the hot, dry area known as Wadi'Araba, the "wilderness" or "Arabah desert" of the Bible. Prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, the valley's Jordanian side was home to about 60,000 people engaged in agriculture and pastoralism. By 1971, the Valley's Jordanian population had declined to 5,000 as a result of the 1967 war and the 1970–71 "Black September" war between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Jordan. Investments by the Jordanian government in the region allowed the population to rebound to over 85,000 by 1979. 80% of the farms in the Jordanian part of the valley are family farms no larger than 30 dunams. As of 2009, Approximately 58,000 Palestinians in total live in the part of the valley that lies in the West Bank in about twenty permanent communities concentrated in the city of Jericho and communities in the greater Jericho area in the south of the valley. Of these 10,000 live in area C administers by the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, including 2,700 people who live in small Bedouin and herding communities.
Inside pre-1967 borders, 17,332 Israelis live in the independent municipality of Beit She'an, 12,000 live in 24 communities in Valley of Springs Regional Council that are located in the valley. An additional 12,400 live in 22 communities in the Emek HaYarden Regional Council whose southern half is in the valley. In the West Bank the Israeli Bik'at HaYarden Regional Council contains 21 settlements with a total of 4,200 residents as of 2014, the independent municipality of Ma'ale Efrayim an additional 1,206 as of 2015; the Jordan valley was under control of the Ottoman Empire from their victory over the Mamluks in 1486, which involved a small battle in the valley en route to Khan Yunis and Egypt. The Ottoman internal administrative divisions varied throughout the period with the Jordan river being at times a provincial border, at times not; however the valley was contained within the group of provinces termed Ottoman Syria. Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem during some periods contained both banks of the Jordan, while during others the valley was bordered by Syria Vilayet and Beirut Vilayet.
In 1916, Britain and France engaged in the Sykes–Picot Agreement in which the Ottoman territory of the Levant, which divided the yet undefeated Ottoman regions of the Levant between France and Britain. Under the agreement, the Jordan valley would be within the British sphere of control. In February 1918, as part of the wider Sinai and Palestine Campaign the British empire's Egyptian Expeditionary Force captured Jericho. Subsequently, during the British occupation of the Jordan Valley the Desert Mounted Corps were placed in the valley to protect the eastern flank of the British forces facing Ottoman forces in the hills of Moab; this position provided a strong position from which to launch the Battle of Megiddo which lead to the capture of Amman and the collapse of the Ottoman armies in the Levant. Following conflicting promises and agreements during WWI, in particular McMahon–Hussein Correspondence and Balfour Declaration, as well as a power vacuum following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire led to a series of diplomatic conferences and treaties which convened with continued armed struggle between the great powers, their proxies, Ar
Yarkon River
The Yarkon River Yarqon River Arabic: نهر العوجا, translit. Nahr al-Auja), is a river in central Israel; the source of the Yarkon is at Tel Afek, north of Petah Tikva. It flows west through Gush Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park into the Mediterranean Sea, its Arabic name, al-Auja, means "the meandering". The Yarkon is the largest coastal river in Israel, at 27.5 km in length. The Yarkon formed the southern border of the vilayet of Beirut during the late Ottoman period; the Arabic name of the river, al-Auja, is shared with Wadi Auja, another small stream that flows into the Jordan Valley north of Jericho. During World War I this coincidence led to the term of "the line of the two Aujas" referring to a strategic line connecting the two river valleys and taken by the expeditionary forces of General Allenby during his early 1918 advance against the Ottoman army; the mouth of the river was conquered during the late-1917 Battle of Jaffa. In the Mandatory period, the British government granted to Pinhas Rutenberg's Jaffa Electric Company exclusive rights to generate and sell electricity in the District of Jaffa.
These rights were delivered through the “Auja Concession”, formally signed on September 12, 1921. The Concession had authorized the company to generate electricity by means of hydroelectric turbines that would exploit the water power of the Yarkon River to supply electricity to the administrative District of Jaffa; the district comprised Jaffa, the oldest and at the time still most important town in the area, the fast growing town of Tel Aviv north of it, other smaller locations. Yet the plan to generate electricity by hydroelectric means never materialized, instead the company designed and built a powerhouse that produced electricity by means of diesel-fueled engines; the river became polluted after the 1950s, many blaming this on the construction of the Reading Power Station, situated near its mouth. When the river's headwaters were diverted to the Negev via the National Water Carrier for irrigation purposes, the state of the Yarkon declined; as sewage replaced the flow of fresh water, habitats were destroyed and flora and fauna disappeared.
This was exacerbated by continuous discharges of industrial effluents and municipal sewage into the rivers, which allowed algae to multiply. On July 14, 1997, the infamous Maccabiah bridge collapse led to the death of four athletes, three of which died due to infections caused by exposure to the polluted river water. Subsequent and ongoing cleanup projects, some government-run, some benefitting from financial aid from Jewish donors from Australia, some with regional character supported by the NGO FoEME, helped improve the quality of the water. In 1988, the Yarkon River Authority was established to revitalize the river and make sections of it suitable for sailing, fishing and other recreation. Water quality improved after the construction of modern sewage treatment plants in Hod Hasharon and Ramat Hasharon; the river was dredged to restore its original depth and natural flow. River banks were raised and reinforced and bicycling paths were built, picnic and fishing areas were developed with the help of contributions from the Australian Jewish community via the Jewish National Fund.
On July 14, 1997, four members of the Australian delegation to the Maccabiah Games were killed and 60 injured as a result of the collapse of a temporary pedestrian bridge over the Yarkon. The deaths were traced to a fungal infection caused by aspiration of the polluted water. Ayalon River, turned artificially into a tributary of the YarkonEran Eldar, ‘The Yarkon is always green’: the ecological problems of the Yarkon River, Israel affairs, Volume 24, 2018 - Issue 5 Yarkon River Authority Yarkon River Authority Nahr Abī Fuṭrus, Brill: Online Reference Works
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a Palestinian city located in the central West Bank, about 10 km south of Jerusalem. Its population is 25,000 people, it is the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. The economy is tourist-driven; the earliest known mention of the city was in the Amarna correspondence of 1350–1330 BCE during its habitation by the Canaanites. The Hebrew Bible, which says that the city of Bethlehem was built up as a fortified city by Rehoboam, identifies it as the city David was from and where he was crowned as the king of Israel; the Gospels of Matthew and Luke identify Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus. Bethlehem was destroyed by the Emperor Hadrian during the second-century Bar Kokhba revolt; the church was badly damaged by the Samaritans, who sacked it during a revolt in 529, but was rebuilt a century by Emperor Justinian I. Bethlehem became part of Jund Filastin following the Muslim conquest in 637. Muslim rule continued in Bethlehem until its conquest in 1099 by a crusading army, who replaced the town's Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one.
In the mid-13th century, the Mamluks demolished the city's walls, which were subsequently rebuilt under the Ottomans in the early 16th century. Control of Bethlehem passed from the Ottomans to the British at the end of World War I. Bethlehem came under Jordanian rule during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Since the 1995 Oslo Accords, Bethlehem has been administered by the Palestinian Authority. Bethlehem now has a Muslim majority, but is still home to a significant Palestinian Christian community. Bethlehem's chief economic sector is tourism, which peaks during the Christmas season when Christians make pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, as they have done for 2,000 years. Bethlehem has 300 handicraft workshops. Rachel's Tomb, an important Jewish holy site, is located at the northern entrance of Bethlehem; the earliest reference to Bethlehem appears in the Amarna correspondence. In one of his six letters to Pharaoh, Abdi-Heba, Egypt's governor for Jerusalem, appeals for aid in retaking Bit-Laḫmi in the wake of disturbances by Apiru mercenaries: "Now a town near Jerusalem, Bit-Lahmi by name, a village which once belonged to the king, has fallen to the enemy...
Let the king hear the words of your servant Abdi-Heba, send archers to restore the imperial lands of the king!" It is thought that the similarity of this name to its modern forms indicates that this was a settlement of Canaanites who shared a Semitic cultural and linguistic heritage with the arrivals. Laḫmu was the Akkadian god of fertility, worshipped by the Canaanites as Leḥem; some time in the third millennium BCE, Canaanites erected a temple on the hill now known as the Hill of the Nativity dedicated to Lehem. The temple, subsequently the town that formed around it, would have been known as Beyt Leḥem, "House of Lehem"; the Philistines established a garrison there. Biblical scholar William F. Albright noted that the pronunciation of the name remained the same for 3,500 years, but has meant different things: "'Temple of the God Lakhmu' in Canaanite,'House of Bread' in Hebrew and Aramaic,'House of Meat' in Arabic."A burial ground discovered in spring 2013, surveyed in 2015 by a joint Italian-Palestinian team found that the necropolis covered 3 hectares and contained more than 100 tombs in use between 2200 B.
C. and 650 B. C; the archaeologists were able to identify at least 30 tombs. Archaeological confirmation of Bethlehem as a city in the Kingdom of Judah was uncovered in 2012 at the archaeological dig at the City of David in the form of a bulla in ancient Hebrew script that reads "From the town of Bethlehem to the King," indicating that it was used to seal the string closing a shipment of grain, wine, or other goods sent as a tax payment in the 8th or 7th century BCE. Biblical scholars believe Bethlehem, located in the "hill country" of Judah, may be the same as the Biblical Ephrath, which means "fertile", as there is a reference to it in the Book of Micah as Bethlehem Ephratah; the Bible calls it Beth-Lehem Judah, the New Testament describes it as the "City of David". It is first mentioned in the Tanakh and the Bible as the place where the matriarch Rachel died and was buried "by the wayside". Rachel's Tomb, the traditional grave site, stands at the entrance to Bethlehem. According to the Book of Ruth, the valley to the east is where Ruth of Moab gleaned the fields and returned to town with Naomi.
It was the home of Jesse, father of King David of Israel, the site of David's anointment by the prophet Samuel. It was from the well of Bethlehem that three of his warriors brought him water when he was hiding in the cave of Adullam. Writing in the 4th century, the Pilgrim of Bordeaux reported that the sepulchers of David, Asaph, Job and Solomon were located near Bethlehem. There has been no corroboration of this; the Gospel of Matthew 1:18–2:23 and the Gospel of Luke 2:1–39 represent Jesus as having been born in Bethlehem. Modern scholars, regard the two accounts as contradictory and the Gospel of Mark, the earliest gospel, mentions nothing about Jesus having been born in Bethlehem, saying only that he came from Nazaret
Haifa
Haifa is the third-largest city in Israel – after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – with a population of 281,087 in 2017. The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the second- or third-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, it is home to the Bahá'í World Centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a destination for Bahá'í pilgrims. Built on the slopes of Mount Carmel, the settlement has a history spanning more than 3,000 years; the earliest known settlement in the vicinity was Tell Abu Hawam, a small port city established in the Late Bronze Age. In the 3rd century CE, Haifa was known as a dye-making center. Over the millennia, the Haifa area has changed hands: being conquered and ruled by the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Hasmoneans, Byzantines, Crusaders and the British. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Haifa Municipality has governed the city; as of 2016, the city is a major seaport located on Israel's Mediterranean coastline in the Bay of Haifa covering 63.7 square kilometres.
It is the major regional center of northern Israel. According to researcher Jonathan Kis-Lev, Haifa is considered a relative haven for coexistence between Jews and Arabs. Two respected academic institutions, the University of Haifa and the Technion, are located in Haifa, in addition to the largest k-12 school in Israel, the Hebrew Reali School; the city plays an important role in Israel's economy. It is home to Matam, one of the largest high-tech parks in the country. Haifa Bay is a center of petroleum refining and chemical processing. Haifa functioned as the western terminus of an oil pipeline from Iraq via Jordan; the ultimate origin of the name Haifa remains unclear. One theory holds; some Christians believe. Another theory holds it could be derived from the Hebrew verb root חפה, meaning to cover or shield, i.e. Mount Carmel covers Haifa. Other spellings in English included Caipha, Caiffa and Khaifa; the earliest named settlement within the area of modern-day Haifa was a city known as Sycaminum.
The remains of the ancient town can be found in a coastal tell, or archaeological mound, known in Hebrew as Tel Shikmona, meaning "mound of the Ficus sycomorus", in Arabic as Tell el-Semak or Tell es-Samak, meaning "mound of the sumak trees", names that preserved and transformed the ancient name, by which the town is mentioned once in the Mishnah for the wild fruits that grow around it. The name Efa first appears during Roman rule, some time after the end of the 1st century, when a Roman fortress and small Jewish settlement were established not far from Tel Shikmona. Haifa is mentioned more than 100 times in the Talmud, a work central to Judaism. Hefa or Hepha in Eusebius of Caesarea's 4th-century work, Onomasticon, is said to be another name for Sycaminus; this synonymizing of the names is explained by Moshe Sharon, who writes that the twin ancient settlements, which he calls Haifa-Sycaminon expanded into one another, becoming a twin city known by the Greek names Sycaminon or Sycaminos Polis.
References to this city end with the Byzantine period. Around the 6th century, Porphyreon or Porphyrea is mentioned in the writings of William of Tyre, while it lies within the area covered by modern Haifa, it was a settlement situated south of Haifa-Sycaminon. Following the Arab conquest in the 7th century, Haifa was used to refer to a site established on Tel Shikmona upon what were the ruins of Sycaminon. Haifa is mentioned by the mid-11th-century Persian chronicler Nasir Khusraw, the 12th- and 13th-century Arab chroniclers, Muhammad al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi; the Crusaders, who captured Haifa in the 12th century, call it Caiphas, believe its name related to Cephas, the Aramaic name of Simon Peter. Eusebius is said to have referred to Hefa as Caiaphas civitas, Benjamin of Tudela, the 12th-century Jewish traveller and chronicler, is said to have attributed the city's founding to Caiaphas, the Jewish high priest at the time of Jesus. Haifa al-'Atiqa is another name used by some locals to refer to Tell es-Samak, when it was the site of Haifa while a hamlet of 250 residents, before it was moved in 1764-5 to a new fortified site founded by Zahir al-Umar 1.5 miles to the east.
The new village, the nucleus of modern Haifa, was first called al-imara al-jadida by some, but others residing there called it Haifa al-Jadida at first, simply Haifa. In the early 20th century, Haifa al'Atiqa was repopulated with many Arab Christians in an overall neighborhood in which many Middle Eastern Jews were established inhabitants, as Haifa expanded outward from its new location. A town known today, it was a fishing village. Mount Carmel and the Kishon River are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. A grotto on the top of Mount Carmel is known as the "Cave of Elijah", traditionally linked to the Prophet Elijah and his apprentice, Elisha. In Arabic, the highest peak of the Carmel range is called the Muhraka, or "place of burning," harking back to the burnt offerings and sacrifices there in Canaanite and early Israelite times In the 6th c
Haaretz
Haaretz is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper in print in Israel, is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner format; the English edition is sold together with the International New York Times. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet. In North America, it is published as a weekly newspaper, combining articles from the Friday edition with a roundup from the rest of the week, it is known for its liberal stances on domestic and foreign issues. As of 2016, the newspaper had a weekday exposure rate of 3.9% in Israel. According to the Center for Research Libraries, among Israel's daily newspapers, "Haaretz is considered the most influential and respected for both its news coverage and its commentary." Haaretz was first published in 1918 as a newspaper sponsored by the British military government in Palestine. In 1919, it was taken over by a group of socialist-oriented Zionists from Russia; the newspaper was established on 18 June 1919 by a group of businessmen including the philanthropist Isaac Leib Goldberg, it was called Hadashot Ha'aretz.
The name was shortened to Haaretz. The literary section of the paper attracted leading Hebrew writers of the time; the newspaper was published in Jerusalem. From 1919 to 1922, the paper was headed among them Leib Yaffe, it was closed due to a budgetary shortfall and reopened in Tel Aviv at the beginning of 1923 under the editorship of Moshe Glickson, who held the post for 15 years. The Tel Aviv municipality granted the paper financial support by paying in advance for future advertisements. Salman Schocken, a Jewish businessman who left Germany in 1934 after the Nazis had come to power, bought the paper in December 1935. Schocken was active in Brit Shalom known as the Jewish–Palestinian Peace Alliance, a body supporting co-existence between Jews and Arabs, sympathetic to a homeland for both peoples, his son, Gershom Schocken, became the chief editor in 1939 and held that position until his death in 1990. The Schocken family were the sole owners of the Haaretz Group until August 2006, when they sold a 25% stake to German publisher M. DuMont Schauberg.
The deal was negotiated with the help of the former Israeli ambassador to Avi Primor. This deal was seen as controversial in Israel as DuMont Schauberg's father, Kurt Neven DuMont, was member of the Nazi party and his publishing house promoted Nazi ideology. On 12 June 2011, it was announced that Russian-Israeli businessman Leonid Nevzlin had purchased a 20% stake in the Haaretz Group, buying 15% from the family and 5% from M. DuMont Schauberg. In October 2012, a union strike mobilized to protest planned layoffs by the Haaretz management, causing a one-day interruption of Haaretz and its TheMarker business supplement. According to Israel Radio, it was the first time since 1965 that a newspaper did not go to press on account of a strike; the newspaper's editorial policy was defined by Gershom Schocken, editor-in-chief from 1939 to 1990. Schocken was succeeded as editor-in-chief by Hanoch Marmari. In 2004 David Landau replaced Marmari and was succeeded by Dov Alfon in 2008; the current editor-in-chief of the newspaper is Aluf Benn, who replaced Alfon in August 2011.
Charlotte Halle became editor of the English print edition in February 2008. Haaretz describes itself as having "a broadly liberal outlook both on domestic issues and on international affairs". Others describe it alternatively centre-left, or left-wing; the newspaper opposes retaining control of the territories and supports peace initiatives. The Haaretz editorial line is supportive of weaker elements in Israeli society, such as sex workers, foreign laborers, Israeli Arabs, Ethiopian immigrants, Russian immigrants. In 2006, the BBC said that Haaretz takes a moderate stance on foreign security. David Remnick in The New Yorker described Haaretz as "easily the most liberal newspaper in Israel", its ideology as left-wing and its temper as "insistently oppositional". According to Ira Sharkansky, Haaretz's op-ed pages are open to a variety of opinions. J. J. Goldberg, the editor of the American The Jewish Daily Forward, describes Haaretz as "Israel's most vehemently anti-settlement daily paper". Stephen Glain of The Nation described Haaretz as "Israel's liberal beacon", citing its editorials voicing opposition to the occupation, the discriminatory treatment of Arab citizens, the mindset that led to the Second Lebanon War.
A 2003 study in The International Journal of Press/Politics concluded that Haaretz's reporting of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict was more favorable to Israelis than to Palestinians, but less so than that of The New York Times. In 2016, Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, wrote "I like a lot of the people at Haaretz, many of its positions, but the cartoonish anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism can be grating". In 2016, the newspaper's readership fell to an all-time low of 3.9% on weekdays, far behind other national newspapers in Israel: Israel Hayom had an exposure rate of 39.7%, Yedioth Ahronoth 34.9%, Israel Post 7.2%, Globes 4.6%. Haaretz uses smaller headlines and print than other mass circulation papers in Israel. Less space is devoted to pictures, more to political analysis. Opinion columns are written by regular commentators rather than guest writers, its editorial pages are considered influential among government leaders. Apart from the news, Haaretz publishes feature articles on social and environmental issues, as well as book reviews, investigat
