Holon, Israel (1998)
Holon: A relationship with Holon predated its participation in the Sister City progam through the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton. Holon is a major industrial and cultural center
Holon* It has been over 60 years since settlers founded the very first neighborhoods on the sand soil later became the city of Holon. Today, with a population of 180,000, Holon is a flourishing and beautiful city, among the largest in Israel.
The city is lively and has many educational establishments, cultural and sport centers, unique public parks and gardens, modern shopping centers, high-rise buildings and one of the largest industrial zones in the country.
Holon offers its residents a high quality of life. In recent years, the city infrastructure was substantially restored. Special attention was given to cultivating the appearance of the city with “green lungs.” Educational institutions were significantly renovated. The neighborhood’s many recreation and leisure centers were upgraded. A more vibrant cultural life in the city was established and new and modern neighborhoods were built.
Today, Holon is one of the greenest cities in Israel, where green spaces spread over 300 acres — an area expected to multiply in the coming years. About 6,500 trees decorate the city’s boulevards and streets, and each year 150,000 seasonal flowers are planted all over the city. Special attention is put on the city’s appearance and there is a special unit at the municipality that deals, among other things, with planning and designing street accessories like, streetlights poles, street signs, benches, and bulletin boards.
The city uses innovative and diverse cleaning equipment and sponsors activities between residents and the city to help maintain Holon’s appearance. Sculptures from the best artists are spread throughout the city, which adds an artistic dimension to Holon’s parks and streets. Because of these efforts, for ten consecutive years the city earned a mark of “five beauty stars” from the Council for a Beautiful Israel, and in 2000, the city won the most prestigious prize in the “The Beauty Flag” contest. And in each of the last four years, the city again received the “five stars of beauty” mark.
Over the last decade, the city has established a name for itself as a national culture center that attracts many visitors from the city and from out of town. The wide – ranging and meaningful cultural activities are focused on events for children and families with the educational objective to turn the younger generation into a curious, educated, and sophisticated citizenry. This philosophy is articulated in projects that have become well renowned across the country, such as The Israeli Children’s Museum, The Mediatheque, the exhibitions displayed in seven galleries throughout the city, stories gardens, The Center for Digital Art, festivals and more.
Population:*
180,000
Country:*
Israel
City Website:*
http://www.holon.muni.il/OpenningEng.asp
Government:*
The Municipal Council
The municipal council is a public political establishment elected every five years by city citizens through sectarian local election process. The municipal council’s chairman of board is the city mayor, elected through personal and direct elections by city citizens. The municipal council, very much like the parliament, is consisted of coalition and opposition party members. The municipal council commences office by an inner vote appointing members upon sectarian division for several council committees’ duties.
The municipal council is in charge of city management within various regions: municipal budget determination, municipal law legislation, diverse legalization, municipal development, etc.
Mayor of Sarajevo*
Motty Sasson
Geographical facts:*
Holon’s area: 18,929 sq km.
Holon is located in the southern part of Gush Dan and borders Tel – Aviv in the north, Bat Yam in the west, Rishon Lezion in the south and Azur in the east. The main roads leading to Holon are Ayalon Highway (road 20) and Geha Road (Road 4).
Time zone:**
IST (UTC+2) -
Summer (DST): IDT (UTC+3)
Climate:**
Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), with hot, humid summers, unpredictably cool to warm springs and autumns, and typically cool, rainy winters. Humidity tends to be high year-round due to the city’s proximity to the sea. In winter, average temperatures are usually between 9 °C (48 °F) and 17 °C (63 °F), with temperatures as low as 6 °C (43 °F) on colder mornings. In summer, the average is 26 °C (79 °F), with daytime temperatures sometimes exceeding 32 °C (90 °F). Despite the high humidity, precipitation during summertime is rare. Tel Aviv averages 530.7 millimeters (20.9 in) of precipitation annually which usually occur from September through May. Winter is the wettest season, with thunderstorms occurring often. Snow is extremely rare, with the last snowfall occurring in February 1950, and the previous one in January 1825. Tel Aviv enjoys long daytime hours with more than 300 sunny days a year.
Historical Synopsis:**
Holon was founded on sand dunes six kilometers from Tel Aviv in 1935.[2] The Łódzia textile factory was established there by Jewish immigrants from Łódź, Poland, along with many other industrial enterprises.[2]
In the early months of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, with Jewish-Zionist and Arab-Palestinian militias fighting each other while the British were in the process of evacuating the country, Holon was on the front line, with constant shooting going on the border with the village of Tel A-Rish to its northwest—a suburb of Arab Jaffa—and clashes also in the direction of the town of Yazur to the east. An attack by the Holon-based Hagana militia units on Tel A-Rish was repulsed with considerable losses. However, the fall of Jaffa—center of the Palestinian Arab forces in this region—to an attack launched from Tel Aviv precipitated the fall of both Tel A-Rish and Yazur, as of numerous other Arab villages and towns in this region. Their inhabitants shared in the fate of many other Palestinians and ended up in refugee camps.[citation needed]
Following the war, Holon Mayor Haim Kugel, a supporter of David Ben Gurion’s ruling Mapai party, annexed Tel A-Rish (renamed “Tel Giborim”, “The Mound of the Heroes”) and of much of Yazur’s agricultural lands, formerly planted with orange groves. The built up area of Yazur, emptied of its inhabitants, was made into the new Israeli town of Azor, but in much narrower municipal boundaries.[citation needed]
Holon thus doubled its territory within a single year, with its population increasing accordingly, mainly with Jewish immigrants from Arab and Mulsim countries arriving in the 1950s. The orange groves were cut down and replaced with residential neighbourhoods, as well as Israel’s second-largest industrial zone. Some of the former buildings of Tel A-Rish still exist, now inhabited by Israelis, and a Muslim domed building marking the reputed grave of a Medieval Muslim saint is surrounded on all sides by Holon’s industrial zone.[citation needed] Otherwise, few remains of the pre-1948 villages are to be seen within Holon.
Holon, an important part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, is experiencing a new burst of building on the remaining sand dunes to its south, creating a continuum with Rishon Lezion. Environmentalist groups have been campaigning to preserve some of the sand dunes, with their unique flora and fauna, and prevent them from all being engulfed by the real estate boom.
* http://www.sarajevo.ba/en/
** Wikipedia®