The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20111130015910/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lod

Lod

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
For other uses, see Lod (disambiguation).
Lod
Hebrew transcription(s)
 • Hebrew לֹד, לוֹד
 • ISO 259 Lodd
Arabic transcription(s)
 • Arabic الْلُدّ al-Ludd
Lod city centre

Logo
Lod is located in Israel
Lod
Coordinates: 31°56′54.59″N 34°53′20.4″E / 31.9484972°N 34.889°E / 31.9484972; 34.889Coordinates: 31°56′54.59″N 34°53′20.4″E / 31.9484972°N 34.889°E / 31.9484972; 34.889
District Center
Government
 • Type City
 • Mayor Ilan Harari
Area
 • Total 12,226 dunams (12.2 km2 / 4.7 sq mi)
Population (2010)[1]
 • Total 70,000

Lod (Hebrew: לוֹד‎‎; Arabic: الْلُدّ‎, al-Ludd; Greco-Latin Lydda, Diospolis) is a city located on the Sharon Plain 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) southeast of Tel Aviv in the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2010, it had a population of 70,000, roughly 75 percent Jewish and 25 percent Arab.

The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod.[2] When al-Ludd, as it was known by its Arab inhabitants was captured by Israel, the Arab inhabitants fled or were expelled[3] and the city was settled by Jewish immigrants, most refugees fled or were expelled from Arab countries.[4][5] Of the former Arab population, only 1,056 inhabitants remained.[4] It is today known as Lod, its Hebrew name.[6]

Israel's main international airport, Ben Gurion International Airport (previously called Lydda Airport, RAF Lydda, and Lod Airport) is located in the city.

Contents

[edit] Etymology

The Hebrew name Lod appears in the bible as a town of Benjamin, founded by Shamed or Shamer (1 Chronicles 8:12; Ezra 2:33; Nehemiah 7:37; 11:35). In the New Testament it appears as its Greek form, Lydda.[7][8] The city also finds reference in an Islamic Hadith, as the location of the battlefield where 'Dajjal' (the Anti-Christ) will be slayed before the Day of Judgment.[9][10]

[edit] Ancient history

[edit] Canaanite period

Old map showing the location of the town

Pottery finds have dated the city's initial settlement to 5600–5250 BC.[11] The earliest written record is in a list of Canaanite towns drawn up by the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III at Karnak in 1465 BC.[12]

[edit] Jewish period

From the 5th century BC until the Roman conquest in 70 AD, the city was a Jewish city, and a well-known centre of Jewish scholars and merchants.[13] According to Martin Gilbert, during the Hasmonean period, Jonathan Maccabee and his brother Simon Maccabaeus enlarged the area under Jewish control, which included conquering the city.[14]

The city is mentioned several times in the Bible: in Ezra 2:33, it is mentioned as one of the cities whose inhabitants returned after the Babylonian captivity, and in the New Testament, it is the site of Peter's healing of a paralytic man in Acts 9:32-38.[15]

Saint George's tomb

In 43 AD, Cassius, the Roman governor of Syria, sold the inhabitants of Lod into slavery. During the First Jewish–Roman War, the Roman proconsul of Syria, Cestius Gallus, razed the town on his way to Jerusalem in 66 AD. It was occupied by Emperor Vespasian in 68 AD.[16]

During the Kitos War, the Roman army laid siege to Lod, then called Lydda, where the rebel Jews had gathered under the leadership of Julian and Pappus. The distress became so great that the patriarch Rabban Gamaliel II, who was shut up there and died soon afterwards, permitted fasting even on Ḥanukkah. Other rabbis condemned this measure.[17] Lydda was next taken and many of the Jews were executed; the "slain of Lydda" are often mentioned in words of reverential praise in the Talmud.[18]

[edit] Roman period

In 200 AD, emperor Septimius Severus elevated the town to the status of a city, calling it Colonia Lucia Septimia Severa Diospolis.[19] The name Diospolis ("city of gods") may have been bestowed earlier, possibly by Hadrian.[20] At that point, most of its inhabitants were Christian.

In 415, the Council of Diospolis was held here to try Pelagius; he was acquitted.

In the sixth century the city changed its name again to Georgiopolis[21] after St. George, a soldier in the guard of the emperor Diocletian, who was born there between 256 and 285 AD.[22] The city's Church of St. George was built as a memorial.[12]

[edit] Arab period

It became an important city after the Arab conquest of Palestine by Khalid ibn al-Walid in 636 AD during the Muslim conquests, when it served as the capital, though this was later moved to Ramla.[13][23]

[edit] Crusader period

The Crusaders occupied the city in 1099 and named it St. Jorge de Lidde.[13] It was briefly conquered by Saladin, but retaken by the Crusaders in 1191. For the English Crusaders, it was a place of great significance as the birthplace of Saint George. The Crusaders made it the seat of a Latin rite diocese,[24] and it remains a titular see.[25] According to the Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela, there was one Jewish family living there in 1170.[26]

[edit] Modern history

[edit] Ottoman period and the British Mandate

Lydda in 1903
In 1920
In 1948

The missionary Dr. William M. Thomson visited Lydda in the mid 19th century, describing it as:

[A] flourishing village of some 2,000 inhabitants, embosomed in noble orchards of olive, fig, pomegranate, mulberry, sycamore, and other trees, surrounded every way by a very fertile neighborhood. The inhabitants are evidently industrious and thriving, and the whole country between this and Ramleh is fast being filled up with their flourishing orchards. Rarely have I beheld a rural scene more delightful than this presented in early harvest ... It must be seen, heard, and enjoyed to be appreciated.[27]

In 1870, under the rule of the Ottoman empire, the current Church of Saint George was built. In 1892 the first railway station in the entire region was established in the city.[28] In the second half of the 19th century, Jewish merchants migrated to the city but left after the 1921 Jaffa riots.[28] By this time, Lydda was under the administration of the British Mandate in Palestine, as per a League of Nations decree that followed World War I. During World War II, the British set up supply posts in and around Lydda and its railway station, also building an airport, renamed Ben Gurion Airport after the establishment of Israel in 1948.[28]

[edit] Arab–Israeli conflict

Main article: Exodus from Lydda

Until 1948, Lydda was an Arab town with a population of around 20,000—18,500 Muslims and 1,500 Christians.[29][30] In 1947, the United Nations proposed dividing Palestine into two states, one Jewish state, one Arab; Lydda was to form part of the proposed Arab state.[31] Several Arab states attacked, and in the ensuing war Israel captured Arab towns outside the area the UN had allotted it, including Lydda.

The Israel Defence Forces entered Lydda on July 11, 1948. The following day, under the impression that it was under attack,[32] the 3rd Battalion was ordered to shoot anyone "seen on the streets." According to the Israeli army, 250 Arabs (men, women, and children) were killed. Other estimates are higher: Palestinian historian Aref al Aref estimated 400, and Nimr al Khatib 1700.[33][34]

An image of the Arab's three-day march out of Lydda

During 1948, the population rose to 50,000 people as Arab refugees fleeing other areas made their way there.[28] All but 700[35] to 1,056[4] were expelled by order of the Israeli high command, and forced to walk 17 kilometers to Arab Legion lines on one of the hottest days of the year. Many died from exhaustion and dehydration; estimates vary from a handful to 355.[36][37] The town was subsequently sacked by the Israeli army. The few hundred Arabs who remained in the city were not permitted to live in their own homes,.[38] They were soon vastly outnumbered by the influx of Jewish immigrants who moved into the town from August 1948 onwards, most from Arab countries.[4] as a result of which Lydda became a predominantly Jewish town.[30][39] The new Jewish immigrants came in waves, first from Morocco and Tunisia, and later from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.[1]. The city continues to influence the work of Israeli artists and thinkers, such as Dor Guez's 2009 exhibit Georgeopolis at the Petach Tikva art museum.

Within the city of Lod, a three meter-high wall has been erected to separate Jewish districts from Arab ones. Arab suburbs have been restricted from growing, while the Israeli government has encouraged building in Jewish areas. Some municipal services, such as street lighting and rubbish collection, are only provided to Jewish areas.[40]

[edit] Demographics and Society

Synagogue, mosque and church in Lod

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the population of Lod in 2010 was 69.5 thousand people.[41] Of these about 25 percent are Arabs, the rest Jewish Israelis. Thirty-three percent of the population are "olim", or new Jewish immigrants to Israel. See Population groups in Israel.

An Israeli government report in 2003 singled out Lod as a focal point for social and demographic problems.[42] The report noted the high rate of drug use and crime, the large number of poor and social service cases (about 10 percent of the population), and, in particular, the cramped and substandard living conditions of Lod's Arab population. According to the report, 60 percent of the city's Arabs lived in overcrowded or substandard housing.[42]

According to CBS, there are 38 schools and 13,188 pupils in the city. They are spread out as 26 elementary schools and 8,325 elementary school pupils, and 13 high schools and 4,863 high school pupils. 52.5% of 12th grade pupils were entitled to a matriculation certificate in 2001.

[edit] Economy and income

Old Khan
Ben Gurion International Airport

The airport and related industries are a major source of employment for the residents of Lod. The Jewish Agency Absorption Centre, the main facility for handling olim arriving in Israel, is also located in Lod. According to CBS figures for 2000, there were 23,032 salaried workers and 1,405 self-employed. The mean monthly wage for a salaried worker was NIS 4,754, a real change of 2.9% over the course of 2000. Salaried men had a mean monthly wage of NIS 5,821 (a real change of 1.4%) versus NIS 3,547 for women (a real change of 4.6%). The mean income for the self-employed was NIS 4,991. There were 1,275 people receiving unemployment benefits and 7,145 receiving an income supplement.

Plagued by a poor image for decades, projects are under way to improve services in Lod. New upscale neighborhoods are expanding the city to the east, among them Ganei Ya'ar and Ahisemah.[43]

[edit] Archaeology

A well-preserved mosaic floor dating to the Roman period was excavated in 1996 as part of a salvage dig conducted on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Municipality of Lod, prior to widening HeHalutz Street. The mosaic was covered over with soil at the conclusion of the excavation for lack of funds to conserve and develop the site.[44] The mosaic is now part of the Lod Mosaic Archaeological Center.

[edit] Sports

The city's major soccer club, Hapoel Bnei Lod, plays in Liga Leumit (the second division). Its home base is Lod Municipal Stadium. The club was formed by a merger of Bnei Lod and Rakevet Lod in the 1980s. Two other clubs in the city play in the regional leagues: Hapoel MS Ortodoxim Lod in Liga Bet and Maccabi Lod in Liga Gimel.

Hapoel Lod played in the top division during the 1960s and 1980s, and won the State Cup in 1984. The club folded in 2002. A new club, Hapoel Maxim Lod (named after former mayor Maxim Levy) was established soon after, but folded in 2007.

[edit] Notable residents

[edit] International Relations

[edit] Twin towns - sister cities

Lod is twinned with:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

Notes
  1. ^ "Table 3 - Population of Localities Numbering Above 2,000 Residents and Other Rural Population". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2010-06-30. http://www.cbs.gov.il/population/new_2010/table3.pdf. Retrieved 2010-11-26. 
  2. ^ The Madaba Mosaic Map, Jerusalem 1954, 61-62
  3. ^ Shapira, Anita, “Politics and Collective Memory: the Debate Over the 'New Historians' in Israel” in History and Memory, 7 (1) (Spring 1995), pp. 9ff, 12–13, 16–17.
  4. ^ a b c d Encyclopedia of Islam, By Sir H. A. R. Gibb, 1983 edition, ISBN 9789004071643, Page 897
  5. ^ Morris, Benny. (2004) The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge University Press, pp. 414-461.
  6. ^ Yacobi, Haim. The Jewish-Arab City, Taylor & Francis, 2009, p. 29: "The occupation of Lydda by Israel in the 1948 war did not allow the realization of Pocheck's garden city vision. Different geopolitics and ideologies began to shape Lydda's urban landscape ... [and] its name was changed from Lydda to Lod, which was the region's biblical name."; also see Pearlman, Moshe and Yannai, Yacov. Historical sites in Israel. Vanguard Press, 1964, p. 160. For the Hebrew name being used by inhabitants before 1948, see A cyclopædia of Biblical literature: Volume 2, by John Kitto, William Lindsay Alexander. p. 842 ("... the old Hebrew name, Lod, which had probably been always used by the inhabitants, appears again in history."); And Lod (Lydda), Israel: from its origins through the Byzantine period, 5600 B.C.E.-640 C.E., by Joshua J. Schwartz, 1991, p. 15 ("the pronunciation Lud began to appear along with the form Lod")
  7. ^ Bible Dictionary, "Lydda".
  8. ^ International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "Lod; Lydda"
  9. ^ http://www.missionislam.com/nwo/signsdajjal.htm
  10. ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masih_ad-Dajjal
  11. ^ Schwartz, Joshua J. Lod (Lydda), Israel: from its origins through the Byzantine period, 5600 B.C.-640 A.D.. Tempus Reparatum, 1991, p. 39.
  12. ^ a b "Excursions in Terra Santa". Franciscan Cyberspot. http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/sbf/escurs/TS/02_TSen.html. Retrieved 2007-02-22. 
  13. ^ a b c "Lod," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009.
  14. ^ Gilbert, Martin. Dearest Auntie Flori: The Story of the Jewish People. Harper Collins 2002, p. 82; also see Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 14:208
  15. ^ "Lod," Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009. "And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda," Acts 9:32-38.
  16. '^ Michael Avi-Yonah, Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. "Lydda"
  17. ^ Ta'anit ii. 10; Yer. Ta'anit ii. 66a; Yer. Meg. i. 70d; R. H. 18b
  18. ^ Pes. 50a; B. B. 10b; Eccl. R. ix. 10
  19. ^ Cecil Roth, Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1972, p. 619.
  20. ^ E. Mary Smallwood, The Jews under Roman rule: from Pompey to Diocletian : a study in political relations, p. 491. BRILL, 2001. ISBN 9780391041554
  21. ^ Yoram Tsafrir, Leah Di Segni, Judith Green, Tabula Imperii Romani Iudaea-Palestina: Eretz Israel in the Hellenistic , Roman and Byzantine Periods; Maps and Gazetteer, p. 171. Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1994. ISBN 9789652081070
  22. ^ Frenkel, Sheera and Low, Valentine. "Why Lod, the other land of St George, isn't for the faint-hearted", The Times, April 23, 2009.
  23. ^ Petersen, Andrew. Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. Routledge 1996, p. 230.
  24. ^  "Lydda". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
  25. ^ Lydda Catholic-hierarchy.org
  26. ^ Pringle, 1993, p. 11.
  27. ^ Thomson, W.M. (1861). The Land and the Book. T Nelson and Sons, p. 525.
  28. ^ a b c d Shahin, 2005, p. 260.
  29. ^ "Lod," January 2, 1949, IS archive Gimel/5/297 in Yacobi, Haim. The Jewish-Arab City, Taylor & Francis, 2009, p. 31.
  30. ^ a b Monterescu and Rabinowitz, 2007, pp. 16-17.
  31. ^ Sa'di and Abu-Lughod, 2007, pp. 91-92.
  32. ^ Tal, David. War in Palestine, 1948: Strategy and Diplomacy. Routledge, 2004, p. 311.
  33. ^ Sefer Hapalmah ii (The Book of the Palmah), p.565; and KMA-PA (Kibbutz Meuhad Archives - Palmah Archive). Quoted in Morris, 1987.
  34. ^ Morris, 1987, p. 205. Morris writes: "[...] dozens of unarmed detainees in the mosque and church in the centre of the town were shot and killed."
  35. ^ The figure comes from Bechor Sheetrit, the Israeli Minister for Minority Affairs at the time, cited in Yacobi, Haim. The Jewish-Arab City, Taylor & Francis, 2009, p. 32.
  36. ^ Spiro Munayyer, The Fall of Lydda, Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Summer, 1998), pp. 80-98. See also Yitzhak Rabin's diaries, quoted here.
  37. ^ Holmes et al., 2001, p. 64.
  38. ^ Hoffman, Carl (16 December 2008). "Lod: In need of a major makeover". © 2008-2009 The Jerusalem Post. http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1228728141422&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull. Retrieved 2009-06-02. 
  39. ^ Yacobi, Haim. The Jewish-Arab City, Taylor & Francis, 2009, p. 29.
  40. ^ Pulled apart (The Economist, Oct. 14, 2010)
  41. ^ Israel Central Bureau of Statistics Annual Report 2010
  42. ^ a b The City of Lod:Information and Statistics (Knesset Research Bureau 2003), available at www.knesset.gov.il/mmm/data/docs/m00975.doc
  43. ^ Ganei Ya'ar in Lod The Jerusalem Post, 7 February 2008
  44. ^ Lod mosaic
  45. ^ "Piatra Neamţ - Twin Towns". © 2007-2008 Piatra-Neamt.net. http://www.piatra-neamt.net/en/twin_towns.php. Retrieved 2009-09-27. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lod
v · d · eIsraeli cities with a 50,000+ population
500,000+
200,000 – 499,999
100,000 – 199,999
50,000 – 99,999
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lod&oldid=461800515"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages
Morty Proxy This is a proxified and sanitized view of the page, visit original site.