Editing Ashkelon (section)

===State of Israel===
[[File:Ashkelon region in the 1950s.jpg|thumb|The beginnings of the modern city of Ashkelon shown in the 1950s [[Survey of Israel]]. The built up area labeled אשקלון (Ashkelon) is the area previously known as Majdal. To the left is Afridar. The ruins of [[Hamama]], [[Al-Jura]], [[Ni'ilya]] and [[Al-Khisas, Gaza|Al-Khisas]] are also shown.]]

Majdal was occupied by the Egyptian army in the early stages of the [[1948 Palestine war|1948 war]], along with the rest of the Gaza region that had been allocated to the Arab State in the United Nations plan. Over the next few months, the town was subjected to Israeli air-raids and shelling.<ref name="1948After"/> All but about 1,000 of the town's residents were forced to leave by the time it was captured by Israeli forces as a sequel to [[Operation Yoav]] on 4 November 1948.<ref name="1948After"/> General [[Yigal Allon]] ordered the expulsion of the remaining Palestinians but the local commanders did not do so and the Arab population soon recovered to more than 2,500 due mostly to refugees slipping back and also due to the transfer of Palestinians from nearby villages.<ref name="1948After"/><ref name="Orna"/> Most of them were elderly, women, or children.<ref name="Orna"/> During the next year or so, the Palestinians were held in a confined area surrounded by barbed wire, which became commonly known as the "ghetto".<ref name="Golan">{{cite journal | doi=10.1080/714003467 | author=Golan, Arnon | title=Jewish Settlement of Former Arab Towns and their Incorporation into the Israeli Urban System (1948–1950) | journal=Israel Affairs | year=2003 | volume=9 | issue=1–2 | pages=149–164 | s2cid=144137499  | issn=1353-7121}}</ref><ref name="Orna"/><ref name="MorrisBirth">Morris, 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA528 528] −529.</ref> [[Moshe Dayan]] and Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] were in favor of expulsion, while [[Mapam]] and the Israeli labor union [[Histadrut]] objected.<ref name="1948After"/> The government offered the Palestinians positive inducements to leave, including a favorable currency exchange, but also caused panic through night-time raids.<ref name="1948After"/> The first group was deported to the [[Gaza Strip]] by truck on 17 August 1950 after an expulsion order had been served.<ref>[[Sabri Jiryis|S. Jiryis]], The Arabs in Israel (1968), p.57</ref> The deportation was approved by Ben-Gurion and Dayan over the objections of [[Pinhas Lavon]], secretary-general of the Histadrut, who envisioned the town as a productive example of equal opportunity.<ref name="Kafkafi">{{cite journal | doi=10.1017/S0020743800066216 | author=Kafkafi, Eyal | title=Segregation or integration of the Israeli Arabs – two concepts in Mapai | journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies | year=1998 | volume=30 | issue=3 | pages=347–367 | s2cid=161862941 }}</ref> By October 1950, twenty Palestinian families remained, most of whom later moved to [[Lod|Lydda]] or Gaza.<ref name="1948After"/> According to Israeli records, in total 2,333 Palestinians were transferred to the Gaza Strip, 60 to Jordan, 302 to other towns in Israel, and a small number remained in Ashkelon.<ref name="Orna"/> Lavon argued that this operation dissipated "the last shred of trust the Arabs had in Israel, the sincerity of the State's declarations on democracy and civil equality, and the last remnant of confidence the Arab workers had in the Histadrut."<ref name="Kafkafi"/> Acting on an Egyptian complaint, the Egyptian-Israel [[Mixed Armistice Commission]] ruled that the Palestinians transferred from Majdal should be returned to Israel, but this was not done.<ref>{{cite journal | year = 1952 | title = Security Council | journal = International Organization | volume = 6 | issue = 1| pages = 76–88 | doi=10.1017/s0020818300016209| s2cid = 249414466 }}</ref>

Majdal was granted to Israel in the [[1949 Armistice Agreements]]. Re-population of the recently vacated Arab dwellings by Jews had been official policy since at least December 1948, but the process began slowly.<ref name="Golan"/> The Israeli national plan of June 1949 designated al-Majdal as the site for a regional [[Urban area|urban center]] of 20,000 people.<ref name="Golan"/> From July 1949, new immigrants and [[demobilization|demobilized]] soldiers moved to the new town, increasing the Jewish population to 2,500 within six months.<ref name="Golan"/> These early immigrants were mostly from [[Yemen]], [[North Africa]], and [[Europe]].<ref>{{cite web |script-title=he:מגדל־גד בהתפתחותה,בחירות ב־26 בפברואר – דבר |url=http://jpress.org.il/Olive/APA/NLI_Heb/SharedView.Article.aspx?parm=o9Sbi1WIsHdoejWFtHsh3QLn0DMAzo4d0FWipSdDt34n%2BE0l6hHZL8hFphABg7HQYw%3D%3D&mode=image&href=DAV%2f1950%2f02%2f10&page=9&rtl=true |website=jpress.org.il |language=he}}</ref>

In 1949, the town was renamed Migdal Gaza, and then Migdal Gad. Soon afterwards it became Migdal Ashkelon. The city began to expand as the population grew. In 1951, the neighborhood of Afridar was established for Jewish immigrants from [[South Africa]],<ref>{{cite web |last1=Benzaquen |first1=John |title=Neighborhood Watch: Ashkelon's 'Anglo quarter' |url=https://www.jpost.com/Local-Israel/Around-Israel/Neighborhood-Watch-Ashkelons-Anglo-quarter |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com|date=19 November 2010 }}</ref> and in 1953 it was incorporated into the city. The current name Ashkelon was adopted and the town was granted [[Local council (Israel)|local council]] status in 1953.

In 1955, Ashkelon had more than 16,000 residents. By 1961, Ashkelon ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000.<ref name="Golan"/> This grew to 43,000 in 1972 and 53,000 in 1983. In 2005, the population was more than 106,000.

In 1949 and 1950, three immigrant transit camps ([[ma'abarot]]) were established alongside Majdal (renamed Migdal) for Jewish refugees from [[Arab world|Arab countries]], [[Romania]] and Poland. Northwest of Migdal and the immigrant camps, on the lands of the depopulated [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] village [[al-Jura]],{{sfn|Khalidi|1992|p=117}} entrepreneur [[Zvi Segal]], one of the signatories of Israel's Declaration of Independence, established the upscale Barnea neighborhood.<ref name="haaretz.com">{{cite news|last=Margalit |first=Talia |url=http://www.haaretz.com/general/periphery-without-a-center-1.107172 |title=Periphery without a center|work=[[Haaretz]] |access-date=2011-08-10}}</ref>

A large tract of land south of Barnea was handed over to the trusteeship of the South African Zionist Federation, which established the neighborhood of Afridar. Plans for the city were drawn up in South Africa according to the [[Garden city movement|garden city]] model. Migdal was surrounded by a broad ring of orchards. Barnea developed slowly, but Afridar grew rapidly. The first homes, built in 1951, were inhabited by new Jewish immigrants from [[South Africa]] and South America, with some native-born Israelis. The first public housing project for residents of the transit camps, the Southern Hills Project (Hageva'ot Hadromiyot) or Zion Hill (Givat Zion), was built in 1952.<ref name="haaretz.com"/>

Under a plan signed in October 2015, seven new neighborhoods comprising 32,000 housing units, a new stretch of highway, and three new highway interchanges will be built, turning Ashkelon into the sixth-largest city in Israel.<ref>{{cite web |title=With 32,000 New Housing Units Ashkelon to Become Israel's 6th Largest City |url=http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/with-32000-new-housing-units-ashkelon-to-become-israels-6th-largest-city/2015/10/30/ |website=jewishpress.com|date=30 October 2015 }}</ref>{{update inline|date=June 2023}}

<gallery>
The area around Isdud and Majdal in the UN Palestine Partition Versions 1947 (cropped).jpg|The area around Majdal had been allocated to the Arab state in the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]].
Ashqelon.jpg | High-rise residential development along the beach (2007)
Harlington Hotel, Ashkelon, 2004.jpg | Harlington Hotel and 13th-century tomb of Sheikh Awad
</gallery>