Wadi Salib

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Wadi Salib 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. Wadi Salib is Arabic for the "Valley of the Cross".

1 History
2 Mizrahi Jewish settlement
3 Today
4 References

[edit] 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.^[1]

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.^[1] By the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, 60,000 Arabs had left the city of Haifa. The 3,000 Arabs remaining in the city were largely concentrated in the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood. In Wadi Salib, many buildings that had belonged to Palestinian refugees and internally displaced Palestinians were confiscated under the Absentee Owners Property Law in the early 1950s.^[1]

[edit] Mizrahi Jewish settlement

Mizrahi Jews that had immigrated to Israel moved into many of the “absentee” properties in Wadi Salib in the 1950s. Faced with discrimination from the “ruling clique of Occidental Jews”, they rioted for “bread and work” in 1959, directing their critique towards state institutions and elites in the Labor Party and the Histadrut. The Wadi Salib events of 1959 ushered in changes for this community. Eventually, many Mizrahi Jews moved out of Wadi Salib into newer neighborhoods in Haifa on the slope of Mt. Carmel.^[1]

[edit] Today

In Wadi Salib today, many of the buildings remain abandoned.

There are a series of buildings that have been transformed into taverns and a theater just off of Shivat Zion Street. One of these is the Palace of the Pasha, built in Ottoman times. Next to is a Turkish bathhouse that was 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.^[1]

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.^[1] The Haifa Economic Corporation Ltd.,^[2] 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."^[3]