Bat Yam

Infobox Israel municipality
name=Bat Yam


imgsize=120

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caption3=Bat Yam beach
imgsize3=250
hebname=Hebrew|בַּת יָם
arname=
meaning=Daughter of the sea
type=city
typefrom=1958
stdHeb=
altOffSp=
altUnoSp=
district=ta
population=129,900
popyear=2006
area_dunam=8000
founded=1926
mayor=Shlomo Lahyani

Bat Yam ( _he. בַּת יָם) is a city located on Israel's Mediterranean coast, on the central coastal strip, just south of Tel Aviv. Part of the Gush Dan metropolitan area, in the Tel Aviv District, the city is located on the Mediterranean Sea and is home to 130,000 people.

History

Early history

Bat Yam was established in 1926 as Bayit VaGan ( _he. בית וגן; House and Garden), and was geared toward Orthodox Jews. During the 1929 Palestine riots, Bayit VaGan came under attacks by Arab gangs from neighbouring Jaffa and was evacuated by British Authorities before being reestablished in 1930. In 1936 the town was given the status of local council, and in 1938, the name of the town was changed to Bat Yam.

Israeli Independence

Following the United Nations vote in favour of a partition plan on 29 November 1947 and the subsequent outbreak of violence, Bat Yam came under heavy attack from Jaffa, until Jaffa surrendered on 13 May 1948.

In the years following Israel's independence, Bat Yam grew dramatically due to mass immigration, gaining the status of a city in 1958. After this point, however, Bat Yam began to suffer from an Israeli version of "white flight". As more and more immigrants moved to the city, socio-economic problems began to appear. Relatively low real estate prices and a building boom during the 1970s and 1980s, saw even more migrants from lower socio-economic strata, mainly second- and third generation descendants of Jewish immigrants from Arab countries move into the city. As a result, middle-class veteran inhabitants of Bat Yam started to move out, primarily to the newer suburbs of Rishon LeZion, a boomtown south of Bat Yam.

The city gained a sizeable community of Jews from Turkey and has therefore hosted visits from the Turkish president, Süleyman Demirel, and prime minister, Tansu Ciller.

Recent history

Bat Yam once again experienced a period of rapid growth early 1990s with the mass-immigration from the former Soviet Union leading to many choosing Bat Yam as their new home due to its proximity to the industrial centres of the country, and relatively low real estate prices. The influx of Russians, however, did nothing to help the city's socio-economic crisis, and by the early 2000's, following financial scandals resulting from the declining local leadership, the city was placed at the brink of bankruptcy. Bat Yam became synonymous with urban decay, with a reputation for having waste left in streets, and poor sanitation.

In the 2003, a new mayor, Shlomo Lahiani, was elected and the city has slowly began to rejuvenate, with some areas having already been transformed. There remain to this day, however, some zones of the city which still suffer from the issues which plagued the whole of this city just a few years ago. A small Hasidic enclave of Bobover Hasidim, known as Kiryat Bobov, has also been established in Bat Yam.

While strolling on Bat Yam beach with her husband Alexander and two children, Margarita Lautin, 31 of Yehud was killed accidentally in a botched assassination attempt by the Abergil Crime Family. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1009595.html Reputed mob boss arrested over Bat Yam beach murder ] By Jonathan Lis, Haaretz Correspondent (05:55 08/08/2008), accessed 27 August 2008]

Tourism

The location of Bat Yam on the Mediterranean makes it popular with beach-goers. Furthermore the city has several museums, including the Bat Yam City Museum "Ben Ari", the Museum "Ryback" with a collection of paintings of the painter, Issachar Ber Ryback. There is also a museum in the memory of the Yiddish writer Sholem Asch who lived his last years in Bat Yam, and a small Holocaust museum.

Politics and government

port

The city's major football club, Maccabi Ironi Bat Yam, currently play in Liga Artzit, the third level of Israeli football. The club was formed by a 2004 merger of Hapoel Bat Yam (who had spent several seasons in the second division in the 1990s) and Maccabi Bat Yam.

Twin cities

*flagicon|Serbia Kragujevac Serbia
*flagicon|Germany Neukölln Germany
*flagicon|Italy Livorno Italy
*flagicon|Turkey Antalya Turkey
*flagicon|Poland Kutno Poland
*flagicon|France Villeurbanne France
*flagicon|Chile Valparaíso Chile
*flagicon|Germany Aurich Germany

Famous residents

*Sholem Asch (1880-1957) Polish-born, Yiddish writer, has a museum of his work in the city.
*Eli Cohen (1924-1965) Egyptian-born, Israeli spy who was executed in Damascus in 1965, has a main street in the city named after him.
*Matt Haimovitz (1970 - ) US celloist , born here
*Arye Kaspi (1945 - 2003) Israeli journalist
*Shlomo Lahiani (1965 - ) Israeli politician and businessman, mayor of the city
*Josef Bardanashvili(1948- ) Israeli composer born in Georgia
*Kobi Israel (1970 - ) Israeli-British photographer
*Rami Levi (1968 - ) Israeli ballet dancer
*Alon Oliarczyk Israeli pop composer and singer
*Avi Peretz (1966 - ) Israeli popular singer
*Alon Porat (1951 - ) Israeli painter
*Ronen Menachem (1969 - ) Israeli cinema director
*Peter Rott (1974 - ) Israeli pop singer and composer
*Itzik Zohar (1970 - ) Israeli soccer player

References

* [http://www.bat-yam.muni.il/show_item.asp?levelId=57600 Bat Yam's mayors on the official city website]

External links

* [http://www.bat-yam.muni.il/ Official website] he icon