Wadi Salib

Wadi Salib ( _ar. وادي صليب, _he. ואדי סאליב) is a neighbourhood located on the lower northeastern slope of Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel, between the Hadar HaKarmel shopping district and Qiryat Rabin, not far from waterfront, and the historic center of Haifa's Old City. "Wadi Salib" is Arabic for the "Valley of the Crucifix".

History

Situated close to the Old City walls originally built in 1761 under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, Muslim and Christian Arabs lived in the Wadi Salib neighborhood and surrounding area until the mid-nineteenth century, when development in Haifa began pushing outwards to other parts of the city.cite web|title=Sifting Through the Ruins: Historic Wadi Salib Under Pressure.|author=Am Johal|publisher=Media Monitors Network|date=18 August 2004|url=http://usa.mediamonitors.net/headlines/sifting_through_the_ruins_historic_wadi_salib_under_pressure]

After the arrival of Jewish settlers in early 20th century, Wadi Salib and nearby Wadi Nisnas remained important Arab neighborhoods in Haifa. In the 1930s and 1940s, both were sites of numerous riots over British rule and increased Jewish immigration to British Mandate Palestine.By the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 60,000 Arabs had left the city and few were permitted to return to their homes in Wadi Salib and other areas, as most of the buildings of Wadi Salib that had belonged to Palestinian refugees and internally displaced Palestinians were confiscated under the Absentee Property Law. The 3,000 Arabs remaining in the city, circa 8.5% of the total urban population of 268,000 previously living in Haifa,Yfaat Weiss, "Invisible Cities. Wadi Salib, an Israeli Political Metaphor" 2003, IFK] largely concentrated in the nearby neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas.

Between May 1948 and March 1949, about 24,000 of all immigrants, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, were provided housing in the city and many of them (particularly Romanians) were settled in the former Arab quarters of Wadi Salib. Moroccan Jews were soon to follow.

Mizrahi Jewish settlement

In the 1950s, Mizrahi Jews moved into many of the "absentee" properties in Wadi Salib. Faced with discrimination from the establishment, they rioted for "bread and work" in 1959, directing their critique towards state institutions and elites in the Labor Party and the Histadrut. Yfaat Weiss, from the Department of Jewish History, University of Haifa, notes that "in the consciousness of the Israeli public, these Moroccan Jews and their history are associated with Wadi Salib, not the original Arab inhabitants."

The Wadi Salib events of 1959 awakened for the first time public awareness in Israel of the economic distress suffered by Jewish immigrants from the Arab countries, ushering in new changes for the community.Fact|date=May 2008 Eventually, many Mizrahi Jews moved out of Wadi Salib into newer neighborhoods in Haifa on the slope of Mt. Carmel.Fact|date=May 2008 Arabs that moved into the once-more-vacated buildings of Wadi Salib did not receive permits to build or renovate in the area and the neighborhood fell into disarray.

Today

In Wadi Salib today, most families that continue to live in the area, both Jewish and Arab, are considered squatters and have been gradually evicted over the years; many of Wadi Salib's buildings remain abandoned.

A series of Wadi Salib's most prominent remaining buildings have been transformed into taverns and a theater just off Shivat Zion Street. One of these is the Palace of the Pasha, built in Ottoman times. Adjacent is a Turkish bathhouse once used by local families. In a building now occupied by the Roof for Demobilized Soldiers, there was once an Oriental club that brought in musicians and dancers from Cairo.

Part of the old Muslim cemetery in Wadi Salib was uprooted and split in half to make way for the highway between Haifa and Nazareth, though the Istiklal mosque still operates in Wadi Salib.

Development plans

The Haifa Economic Corporation Ltd., is implementing plans to develop two 1,000 square meter lots to create "a site for office and commercial use that accentuates size and is inspired by the spirit and ambiance of the place including Turkish and Arab construction elements." On their website, they note that "Wadi Salib in general and this initiative in particular are located in proximity to the new government center including the court house hall, Israel Land Administration building, and additional government offices."

The current project is controversial due to the eviction of the last remaining families from the neighborhood, and the planned demolition of buildings including the former home of Palestinian intellectual Emil Touma. Another government center built in the same area in the early 1990s - in which many historic buildings were demolished - failed to boost the economy as expected. In the new plan, a few of Wadi Salib's remaining buildings will be renovated; however the rest will be destroyed.

References