Neighborhoods of Beersheba
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This article relates to the neighborhoods of the Israeli city of Beersheba
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[edit] Old City
As the name suggests, the Old City (Hebrew: עיר העתיקה, Ir HaAtika) is the historical centre of Beersheba. Based on the core of the old Ottoman town, it was expanded by the British during the Mandate era. Street signs in English from the Mandate era are still visible on many street corners. Laid out in a grid pattern, it consists mostly of one and two storey stone buildings, although some high-rise buildings have recently gone up. Scant efforts have been made to gentrify the Old City, and sadly much work remains to be done. The old Turkish buildings dating back about 100 years are mostly in a sorry state of neglect although some valuable exceptions can be found where private individuals or organisations have renovated them to their previous glory. Until the late 1990s, the Old City was the commercial hub of Beersheba, but since the opening of a large shopping mall, Kanyon HaNegev (Hebrew: קניון הנגב, lit. Negev Mall) near the Central Bus Station, and a number of smaller neighbourhood malls, many of the leading chain stores have moved out. There are some sites of Historical interest in the Old City: Abraham's Well, the Negev Art Museum, Allenby Garden, the Turkish Train Station, the British War Cemetery and the Aljama Mosque.
[edit] Alef
Alef (Hebrew: א, lit. A or 1) is located to the immediate north of the Old City. It was the first neighbourhood built after Israeli independence (in the 1950s) and provided housing for immigrants from Morocco, Iraq, Yemen and India. Shechuna Alef consists of rows of semi-detached houses and a few apartment blocks.
[edit] Bet
Bet (Hebrew: ב, lit. B or 2) is located northwest of Alef. It was also built in the 1950s, and provided housing for immigrants from Poland, Egypt, and later Libya (1960s) Georgia and Russia (1970s). Shechuna Bet is home to the Vasermil Stadium, home of Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the city's major football club.
[edit] Gimmel
Gimmel (Hebrew: ג, lit. G or 3) is northeast of the Old City. Soroka Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev are located here. Many students live in the neighborhood and the university dormitories are situated here. It consists largely of apartment blocks.
[edit] Dalet
Dalet (Hebrew: ד, lit. D or 4) is located north of Bet and west of Gimel. It is a low income neighbourhood where many students rent apartments. Most of the housing consists of tenement buildings, with a small number of private homes. The neighborhood comprises two sections - Dalet and North Dalet, with the Shani Elyahu Park and the Karo School dividing between them.
Dalet neighbourhood is considered one of the most criminal neighbourhoods in Israel.[citation needed]
[edit] Hei
Hei (Hebrew: ה, lit. H or 5) is located northwest of the Old City, and west of Alef and Bet.
[edit] Vav
Vav (Hebrew: ו, lit. V or 6) is located in the northwest of the city, north of Bet and west of Daled. It consists of a combination of apartment blocks and private homes, and has its own shopping mall (Kanyon Avia).
[edit] Tet
Tet (Hebrew: ט, lit. T or 9) is located to the west of the Old City. It consists almost entirely of tower blocks.
[edit] Yud Alef
Yud Alef (Hebrew: י"א, lit. IA or 11) is located to the west of Tet. Most of the homes are detached or semi-detached.
[edit] Nahal Ashan
Nahal Ashan (Hebrew: נחל עשן, Smoke River), also known as Neve Menachem (Hebrew: נווה מנחם, Menachem Oasis) is the westernmost neighbourhood in Beersheba. It was built in the past decade and consists largely of private homes.
[edit] Nahal Beka
Nahal Beka (Hebrew: נחל בקע, Valley Stream) is the city's southernmost neighbourhood, located to the southwest of Neve Noy. It was built in the 1990s to house new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The caravans and prefabricated homes are now being replaced.
[edit] Naot Lon
Naot Lon (Hebrew: נאות לון) is located in the west of the city, west of Tet. It is built around woodland and consists largely of detached and semi-detached houses.
[edit] Neve Noy
Neve Noy (Hebrew: נווה נוי, lit. Beauty Home) is located directly south of the Old City. It was founded in 1952 as an agricultural settlement consisting of small stone cottages with vegetable gardens, known as Mishkay Ezer (Hebrew: משקי עזר). The first residents were immigrants from Morocco and Tunisia who had been living in ma'abarot (transit camps). It was renamed Neve Noy in 1979, and consists largely of detached two-storey homes. Streets in this neighborhood are named after plants that grow in the Negev, such as Atad, Shita and Tzabar. Neve Noy is home to the second largest Karaite community in Israel, as well as Maccabi Be'er Sheva, Beersheba's second football team.
[edit] Neve Ze'ev
Neve Ze'ev (Hebrew: נווה זאב, lit. Wolf Home) is located in the southwest of the city, south of Tet. It consists almost entirely of large tower blocks in an area carved out of the surrounding hillside. Many construction projects are under way.
[edit] Ramot
Ramot (Hebrew: רמות, lit. Heights) is the northernmost and westernmost neighbourhood in the city, located northwest of Gimmel, and named for the fact that it is built on hills. It consists of a mixture of tower blocks and houses, and is still being expanded.
