Netanya
Netanya, or Natanya, is a city in the Central District of Israel, and is the capital of the surrounding Sharon plain. It is north of Tel Aviv, and south of Haifa, between the Poleg stream and the Wingate Institute in the south and the Avihayil stream in the north.
Netanya was named in honor of Nathan Straus, a prominent Jewish American merchant and philanthropist in the early 20th century who was the co-owner of Macy's department store. The of beaches have made the city a popular tourist resort.
In, Netanya had a population of, ranking it as the 7th largest city in Israel by population. An additional 150,000 people live in the local and regional councils within of Netanya, which serves as a regional center for them. The city mayor was Miriam Feirberg, who died in 2025.
History
Before the 20th century, parts of Netanya belonged to the Forest of Sharon, a hallmark of the region's historical landscape. It was an open woodland dominated by Mount Tabor Oak, which extended from Kfar Yona in the north to Ra'anana in the south. Arabs who lived in the area used it for pasture, firewood and intermittent cultivation. The intensification of settlement and agriculture in the coastal plain during the 19th century led to deforestation and subsequent environmental degradation known from Hebrew sources.Netanya was established near the ancient site of Poleg by the Bnei Binyamin association in Zikhron Ya'akov. It was named in honor of Nathan Straus, co-owner of Macy's department store, New York City Parks Commissioner, and president of the New York City Board of Health, who gifted two-thirds of his personal fortune to projects benefiting Jews and Arabs in Mandatory Palestine. "Netanya...was named for Straus in the hope he would donate money to them. When he told them he had no more money to give they were disappointed, but decided to keep the city's name anyway."
The funds for the project of building Netanya were raised by Itamar Ben-Avi and Oved Ben-Ami, who embarked on a fundraising trip to the United States to raise the money. In 1928 members of Bnei Binyamin and Hanotea, an organisation set up after Straus was informed of the establishment of the settlement, purchased of Umm Khaled lands. On December 14, 1928, a team led by Moshe Shaked began digging for water at the site. After water was discovered in February 1929, the first five settlers moved onto the land. In the weeks that followed, more settlers began arriving. Development was set back due to the 1929 Palestine riots and massacre of Jews. By September, however, development was back on track with the cornerstones for the first 10 houses being laid on Sukkot.
The first kindergarten opened in 1930 and the first school in 1931. In the 1931 census of Palestine, Netanya was recorded as having 253 residents. In 1933, the British architect Clifford Holliday drew up a plan for Netanya as a tourist resort. Holliday also designed urban projects in Jaffa, Tiberias, Lydda and Ramla. The first urban plan divided the city into three sections with a tourism district along the coastline, housing, farms and commerce in the center, and agriculture and industry to the east. That year also saw the completion of the Tel Aviv Hotel, the first hotel in Netanya, as well as the establishment of two new neighborhoods, Ben Zion and Geva.
In 1934, the first Aliyah Bet ship arrived at the shores of Netanya, carrying 350 immigrants. By 1939, over seventeen more ships had followed. An industrial zone was established, and the first synagogue and school was built.
In 1937 the cornerstone was laid for a new commercial center and the connection of Netanya to the Tel Aviv-Haifa road. In 1939, the Ophir diamond polishing plant, the first diamond polishing plant in Palestine, was opened by Asher Daskall and Zvi Rosenberg. In 1940, the British Mandate government defined Netanya as a local council of which Oved Ben-Ami was elected head. In 1944, Netanya had a population of 4,900. The first high school in Netanya opened in 1945.
During the Jewish insurgency in Palestine, the Jewish underground group Irgun launched several attacks against British military and police forces in the Netanya area. The town itself was a bastion of support for the Irgun. The most infamous incident happened in July 1947, in what became known as the Sergeants affair. After three Irgun fighters had been sentenced to death by the British, the Irgun abducted two British sergeants on a Netanya street, and hid them in an abandoned factory. The British responded by declaring martial law and placing Netanya and the surrounding area under curfew. The British Army searched the town and interrogated residents, but did not find the sergeants. After the three Irgun fighters were hanged, the Irgun hanged the two sergeants in the factory and re-hanged and booby-trapped their bodies in an orange grove.
In November 1947, an Egged bus driving from Netanya to Jerusalem was attacked in Petah Tikva. In 1948, following the withdrawal of British forces from Netanya and the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, a large military base was established in the city.
On December 3, 1948, Netanya was declared a city in the newly established State of Israel. Ramat Tiomkin, Ein Hatchlelet, Pardes Hagdud, and Ramat Ephraim were annexed to Netanya. At this time, Netanya had a population of 11,600.
The Kiryat Eliezer Kaplan Industrial Zone was inaugurated in 1949 and Neve Itamar, founded in 1944, was annexed to Netanya. The Netanya railway station opened in 1953.
With Israel experiencing a wave of Jewish immigration from Europe, elsewhere in the Middle East, and North Africa, Netanya's population expanded. In the years following independence, approximately 14,000 Libyan Jewish immigrants settled in Netanya. The population reached 31,000 in 1955. To accommodate the influx of newcomers, the Israeli Housing Ministry built housing units of 50 square meters. The cornerstone of Kiryat Sanz, a religious neighborhood was laid in 1956. The first stock exchange built in Israel was built in Netanya. By 1961, the city's population had grown to 41,300.
During the Six-Day War in 1967, Netanya was hit by Jordanian artillery, and Jordanian planes made sorties near Netanya, but failed to cause major damage. A lone Iraqi bomber attacked Netanya, dropping several bombs which damaged a factory and caused some casualties, shortly before being shot down. In 1972, Netanya had a population of 71,100.In the 1990s, large numbers of immigrants from the former Soviet Union settled in Netanya, greatly expanding the city's population and resulting in large-scale housing construction.
Netanya suffered from several Palestinian bombings during the Second Intifada, including the Netanya Market bombing and, in the same month, the Passover massacre which caused the death of 29 people. Such attacks were cited as justification for the construction of the Israeli West Bank barrier which has proved effective in stemming suicide attacks.
In the 2000s and 2010s, Netanya became one of the primary destinations of French Jewish aliyah. Thousands of French immigrants settled in Netanya, influencing the local culture.
Geography
Netanya is located on the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain, the historic land bridge between Europe, Africa, and Asia. The city is the capital of the Sharon plain, a geographic region stretching from the Mediterranean in the west to the Samarian hills in the east, and the modern-day Gush Dan metropolitan area in the south northwards to Mount Carmel. Although the capital of a densely populated region, Netanya itself is relatively separate from settlements to the north, south, and east, although, over time, growth has incorporated some into what makes up modern-day Netanya.Apart from some small moshavim and kibbutzim, south of Netanya is relatively clear of settlement until Herzliya and the start of the Gush Dan metropolitan area. Likewise, to the north is clear of large settlement until Hadera, and to the east until Tulkarm in the West Bank. The area to the east of Netanya does, however, have a large concentration of kibbutzim and moshavim in the Hefer Valley Regional Council and local councils of Kfar Yona, Kadima-Tzoran and Even Yehuda.
Netanya itself is divided into a large number of neighborhoods, recently growing southwards out of the city to create several high-end coastal neighborhoods with industrial areas inland. Netanya is home to the Poleg nature reserve and the Irises Dora Rainpool nature park containing the world's largest population of iris atropurpurea. At the center of the park is a rainpool which fills up with water in the winter months, and dries up over the summer months. Signs along the rain pool include information on the types of flora and fauna that populate the ecosystem.
Demographics
In, Netanya was home to people. The population density of the city is 7,115 per square kilometer. The population is expected to be around 320,000 in 2035. According to a 2001 survey by the CBS, 99.9% of the population are Jewish and other non-Arabs. In 2001 alone, the city became home to 1,546 immigrants. According to CBS, in 2001 there were 78,800 males and 84,900 females with the population of the city being spread out, with 31.1% 19 years of age or younger, 15.3% between 20 and 29, 17.2% between 30 and 44, 17.4% from 45 to 59, 4.2% from 60 to 64, and 14.9% 65 years of age or older.In terms of the origin of Netanya's residents, 63,800 originate from Europe and America, 30,200 from North Africa, 18,100 from Asia, 10,500 from Ethiopia and 38,100 from Israel in 2008. That same year, 90,200 of the residents of Netanya were born in Israel, while 71,300 were born abroad. A significant number of Ethiopian Jews in Israel have settled in Netanya with over 10,500 Ethiopian Jewish residents in the city. Netanya is also the center of the Persian Jewish community of Israel.
As of 2000, the city had 58,897 salaried workers and 4,671 self-employed with the mean monthly wage in 2000 for a salaried worker in the city being NIS 4,905, a real change of 8.6% over the course of 2000. Salaried males have a mean monthly wage of NIS 6,217 versus NIS 3,603 for females. The mean income for the self-employed is 6,379. There are 3,293 people who receive unemployment benefits and 14,963 people who receive an income guarantee.
In terms of religion, Netanya is made up approximately of 50% secular Jews. It is also the home of the Sanzer dynasty and has a large Chabad Lubavitch presence.