Haifa's glorious history allows for optimism about its future • Commentary

(live here in the mirror of time) - Haifa knew days of prosperity and great promise, until it was said that it would be the "New York of the Near East". It is still possible.

When I come to write about Haifa and its future, I must start from a historical point of view, whether it is about Haifa of decades or hundreds of years ago, or in this case, I will go back to the ancient period, because in my opinion, then the fate of Haifa was determined, although it did not yet exist in those days. A few thousand years ago, several ports operated in Israel, such as Acre, Jaffa and Caesarea and other ports.

The port of Acre was the most important of the ports in the north of the country, and it is said that it has been operating for about 4,000 years.

At the end of the 19th century, Acre was of central importance when it came to maritime trade, it had huge warehouses for goods that arrived from overseas, and also those that left Acre for the Greek islands and the Mediterranean ports. What then, happened to Acre, which 200 years ago was a military fortress that stood with dignity against Napoleon's army. The same Napoleon who conquered Egypt, but failed to conquer Acre?

The reasons for this were the strong fortifications of the Akko wall, and also, apparently, the French army was dressed in beautiful uniforms, but did not know how to act in the Hamsinim of the Land of Israel...

There were several events that put Haifa on the map, which was then a fishing town:
In the middle of the 18th century, D'Ahr al-Omar al-Zidani took control of the area, and he developed Haifa and built new neighborhoods in it.

The German Templars, who were educated Europeans, settled in Haifa over 150 years ago and they built the first modern street that is now known as Ben Gurion Boulevard. They also brought modernization to Haifa in many other areas.

Among other things, the Templars developed a unique construction method: spacious German-style houses, built of hewn stones.

Another event was the decision of the Turkish Ottomans to build the Hijaz railway, which was supposed to leave our Gulf region, through the Jezreel Valley and Beit Shan to Zemach, and from there to Jordan, Syria and even to Saudi Arabia. The train was built in order to serve the Muslim passengers to reach Hajj in Mecca.

For this purpose, the Turks turned to a German railway engineer in Berlin, and he planned and even supervised the construction. The Turks made a fatal error in their construction, and instead of building a standard broad-gauge train for traveling at a speed of up to 150 km/h, they preferred to build narrow railway tracks that are used in Europe for traveling to small towns and villages at a low speed of about 50 km/h.

Since the Turks lacked building material, and especially wood for the plows and to draw the locomotives, they extensively mowed the land of Israel which was forested. It is worth noting that the many trees that exist today in Israel were planted by the National Fund for Israel.

The development of Haifa:

Surprisingly, the Turks decided that the starting station of the train would be in Haifa and not in Acre. and why? Until the middle of the 19th century, sailing ships were used, which moved using the energy of the wind. They were relatively small, and their speed depended on the direction and strength of the wind. Ships like these would arrive in Acre for thousands of years.

In the 19th century, with the development of steam engines, trains were invented as well as steamships, which were much larger than sailing ships, and due to their size, they needed a berth with deep water. Acre could not provide this, since around it there are rocks at a great depth in the sea. The Turks chose Haifa because of the relatively quiet bay in which it lies.

The large ships arrived in Haifa and unloaded the goods into wide boats that took the goods to the small pier, which was in the area of ​​today's Hoof Shemen. It can be said that technology promoted Haifa to become a very important city in the eastern basin of the Mediterranean Sea.

The British in Haifa

13 years after the Haifa East railway station opened in 1905, the British entered Israel after their victory in the First World War. They came from Egypt first to the south and center of the country and later also came to Haifa.

The Turkish governors of Haifa were filled with fear, they sold their property for pennies and fled from here. The English were then at the height of their glory, and ruled a third of the world. It was important for them to establish contact with the oil countries, and also the establishment of a land route to India that was under their control.

In 30 years they did miracles and wonders in Haifa. Among other things, they built railways to the north, to Lebanon and Syria, south to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Gaza and Sinai, as far as Egypt. It is worth watching the train schedules from 1938. They installed an oil pipeline from Kirkuk in Iraq to Haifa, built refineries and various factories, and the Jews who came from Germany and other European countries also participated in the construction of our city of Haifa.

The architects believed in the great capabilities of this beautiful city. Jewish immigrants from Germany founded the Reali School and the Technion in the second decade of the 20th century. The Jewish founders of Haifa had a lot of imagination and vision, and they enjoyed cooperation with a large part of Haifa's westerners. For a certain period the mayor of Haifa was Hassan Shukri the Arab, who was in good contact with the city's Jews. Haifa engineers (among them Yosef Miller) also built industrial plants in the past of the Jordan.

"New York of the Near East"

Haifa represented so much promise for this region that it was said that Haifa would be the "New York" of the Near East. The British decided to build in Haifa the largest industrial center in their empire outside of England. The many industries in Haifa helped the British forces with technical help and fuel supply during World War II.

The port of Haifa served all of Israel, and goods were sent and arrived from Jordan, Syria, Iraq and even Iran.

It seemed that some of the financiers of the city of Tel Aviv did not look favorably on the "Haifai mix" - the friendship with the British, as well as the political strengthening of the city, which until 1968 was the second largest city in Israel.

The economic fall in Haifa occurred after the War of Independence, after the defeat of seven Arab armies. The Arab countries imposed a boycott on Israel. Suddenly, goods from the surrounding countries stopped arriving, the imports into Israel only amounted to the needs of a population of less than a million people in the country, in contrast to the millions of residents in the neighboring countries in the Middle East before 1948. Indeed, the port of Haifa received millions of immigrants from Europe and North Africa, and the country developed nicely, but suddenly another blow fell on Haifa. Due to domestic political calculations, it was decided to build refineries and a competing port in Ashdod. Millions were spent on construction in an area that is not suitable geographically (it does not have a bay), and ship traffic has been divided since 1963 between the two ports. (Although Haifa could easily serve as a port large enough for the entire country at the same time).

Israel developed rapidly, and from the mid-70s, high-tech factories were established there. Among the first was the American INTEL company. It was not for nothing that they chose Haifa, as this city has human capital and metal, chemical and energy industries.

But over time, many of Haifa's young people began to prefer Tel Aviv and move there.

Many of the Haifa people who move to the center of the country live there densely in apartments too small to accommodate them. And what about the Haifaites? They are always complaining, until they started to think that Haifa is a small city that forgets God. The people of Haifa like to complain about the municipality (all these years) because in their opinion the municipality is responsible for the current status of Haifa. The municipalities in Haifa for generations have, in my humble opinion, done everything in their power to return Atara to its former glory, but one thing has eluded them - the ability to restore Haifa's economic hinterland as it was before 1948.

Even if we don't emphasize the technological value of the city, there are extraordinary things in Israel, such as the Carmel tunnels, the Carmelite, the cable car, bus stations that are integrated with the train, knowledge-rich factories, and even Raphael dwells with us.

Around Haifa there is a wonderful environment: the national park in Carmel, the prosperous Kiryats, valleys, Druze villages and all these places can be reached within minutes of driving.

A good friend of mine who lived for many years abroad, including 10 years in New York, told me that the area that starts near the cable car at Stella Maris and runs along the watershed to the cable car at the university, is the most beautiful and best place to live in terms of climate, quality of life and human landscape! (The streets : Tschernihovsky, the President, Moriah and Abba Khushi and their affiliates).

In conclusion,
A wonderful thing is happening in Haifa and it is the fulfillment of the promise of the Abrahamic agreements. Suddenly there are countries that are interested in cooperating with us (and those that are not interested are worth nothing, because of the murderous civil wars that are going on in them).

The newest train line leads to Beit Shean. When they install another short section, the train will be able to reach Jordan, and from there, at reasonable distances, are Iraq and the countries bordering them.

Do you think that the representatives of the two largest countries in the world came to us asking for cooperation with us? It's not for nothing that the Chinese bought rights to the new Carmel port and the Indians bought the Haifa port. As the major powers in Asia, they may see what we have not noticed regarding the unlimited possibilities of Haifa, which may serve as a sea and land gateway to Asia and Europe and an international technological and commercial center.

The day will not be far and Haifa will once again be a candidate for the title of "New York of the Middle East".

• Naftali Laban - Overhand, October 2022, written on an El Al flight from Berlin to Tel Aviv.