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Karmiel
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Karmiel (lit. Vineyard of God) is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, from Safed and from Acre. Karmiel has a population of 44,400, although its municipality claims to have reached 50,000.
iel was one of the first cities in Israel to be established according to an urban master plan.
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Encyclopedia
Karmiel (lit. Vineyard of God) is a city in northern Israel. Established in 1964 as a development town, Karmiel is located in the Beit HaKerem Valley which divides upper and lower Galilee. The city is located south of the Acre-Safed road, from Safed and from Acre. Karmiel has a population of 44,400, although its municipality claims to have reached 50,000.
History
Karmiel was one of the first cities in Israel to be established according to an urban master plan. It was built as part of the Central Galilee Development Project. Work began in 1963, and the official inauguration ceremony took place in October 1964. The first 16 families moved in at that time. In 1981, Karmiel was awarded the Beautiful Israel prize and the Kaplan Prize for Management and Services. Karmiel achieved city status on November 20, 1986. The first mayor was Baruch Venger, followed by Adi Eldar, who has remained in this position until today. Some 18,000 new immigrants settled in Karmiel between 1990 and 2002.
Conception and initial work
Karmiel was built according to a master plan, which was completed by the Housing Ministry by February 1963. The tender for the construction of Karmiel's main roads was issued in the same month. In the same year, Mekorot created a water pipe network connecting Karmiel, Rameh, Sha'ab and other nearby villages, in order to pump water from a location near Karmiel.
IsraeliArab conflict
Land disputes
In 1956, about of land in the Israeli Arab villages of Deir al-Asad, Bi'ina and Nahf were declared "closed areas" by Israeli authorities. This area, near the main road between Acre and Safed, had been an important marble quarrying site. In 1961, the Israeli authorities expropriated the land to build Karmiel. The villagers offered "equally good land" in the area, but when Moshe Sneh (Maki) and Yusef Khamis (Mapam) brought the case to the Knesset on behalf of the villagers, the Knesset established that there was no such land. According to the Haredi newspaper She'arim, about (394 lots) were confiscated by a court order on 4 March 1963, at the request of the Israel Development Authority. However, the land was rocky, uninhabited and unfit for agriculture.
In 1964, when local Arabs applied for permission to move into the town, Minister of Housing Yosef Almogi replied that "Karmiel was not built to solve the problems for the people in the surrounding area." In February 1965, 400 protesters marched from Tel Aviv to protest against "discrimination of a group of our citizens". Representatives went to a local police station, informing the police that they were staying in the area without permission. Eventually the perceived leaders were arrested and tried before a military tribunal.
Second Lebanon War
During the Second Lebanon War in 2006, Hezbollah fired 180 Katyusha rockets into Karmiel and the neighboring villages, leading to casualties and damage to buildings, roads, and cars.
Geography
Karmiel is located on the AcreSafed road, on the northern edge of the Lower Galilee. It lies in the Beit HaKerem Valley and its elevation is 330 m.
The Hilazon Stream passes slightly to the south of Karmiel. Its tributaries, the Shezor and Shagor Streams pass through Karmiel on the east and north, respectively. Karmiel sits on the Shagor mountain range, which stretches from Mount Hazon in the east (584 m, next to Maghar) to Mount Gilon in the west (367 m, at Gilon). Western Karmiel was built on the Karmi (362 m) and Makosh (315 m) mountains.
Demographics
As of 2007, the city encompasses an area of about 24,000 dunams (24 km²) with a population of about 50,000 residents approximately 40% of whom are immigrants from 75 countries. Since 1990, 16,000 immigrants have arrived in Karmiel, the majority of whom are from the Former Soviet Union. According to the national master plan, by 2020 Karmiel will have a population of approximately 120,000 residents. There are currently several Arab families living in Karmiel, as well as several Arab-owned businesses which have thrived for the past 25 years. Since 1980, six new neighborhoods have been developed and populated, and a technical college has been serving the community since 1989.
Education
Today there are four high schools, four junior high schools, a vocational training center, nine state run elementary schools, one state run religious school including high school, an independent education elementary school, a school for gifted children and an educational farm, many kindergartens, nursery school and day care centers as well as a network of community youth and sports centers and the international ORT Braude College of Engineering with a student body of 3,500 studying computers, electronics, industrial administration, biotechnology and other subjects. A biotechnology research and development center will also open at the college.
Culture
The city is known for the Karmiel Dance Festival, a yearly event since 1988. The festival is usually held for 3 days and nights in July, and includes dance performances, workshops, and open dance sessions. The festival began as a celebration of Israeli folk dance, but today it features many different dance forms from all around the globe, and attracts thousands of dancers and hundreds of thousands of spectators from many countries.
Environmental protection
Karmiel was the first Israeli city to receive ISO 9002 certification for the quality of its services. It is one of the few Israeli cities with ISO 1410 certification for environmental standards. Karmiel has enacted by-laws to protect the environment and prevent pollution, and become a center for clean industries and advanced technology enterprises that abide by these standards.
Politics and government
Adam Tal was the first official head of the group that founded Karmiel in 1964. Avraham Argov replaced him, and was himself replaced in 1968 by Baruch Wagner. Wagner continued heading the municipality of Karmiel through its declaration as a city on November 20, 1986. Wagner died in office on November 22, 1988 and Adi Eldar was elected to replace him. Eldar was re-elected several times, most recently in November 2008.
Sister cities
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States
Denver, Colorado, United States
Metz, France
Hamar, Norway
Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Germany
Kisvarda, Hungary
Bibliography
- Sabri Jiryis: The Arabs in Israel 1st American edition 1976 ISBN 0-85345-377-2 (updated from the 1966 ed.) With a foreword by Noam Chomsky. (First English edition; Beirut, Institute for Palestine Studies, 1968). Chapter 5.
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