Editing Haifa (section)

==History==
{{main|History of Haifa}}
{{For timeline}}
[[File:Tell Abu Hawam 006.jpg|thumb|Jars excavated at Tell Abu Hawam]]

===Bronze Age: Tell Abu Hawam===
A town known today as Tell Abu Hawam was established during the Late Bronze Age (14th century BCE).<ref name=Judaica/> It was a port and fishing village.

===In the Hebrew Bible===
[[Mount Carmel]] and the [[Kishon River]] are mentioned in the [[Hebrew Bible]].<ref name=kings>{{Bibleverse|1|Kings|19:9|HE}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Kishon.html |title=Kishon |publisher=[[Encyclopedia.com]]  |access-date=20 March 2008 |archive-date=19 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080219072600/http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Kishon.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

A grotto on the top of Mount Carmel is known as the "Cave of Elijah",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.triptern.com/guide/haifa-Cave-of-Elijah |title=Trip Tern &#124; Cave of Elijah, Haifa |access-date=2013-04-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615220103/http://www.triptern.com/guide/haifa-Cave-of-Elijah |archive-date=15 June 2013}}</ref> traditionally linked to the Prophet [[Elijah]] and his apprentice, Elisha.<ref name=kings/> In Arabic, the highest peak of the Carmel range is called the ''Muhraka'', or "place of burning", harking back to the burnt offerings and sacrifices there in Canaanite and early Israelite times.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bahai-library.com/ullian_israel_haifa |title=Book Excerpt: Frommer's Guide to Israel, "Haifa" |publisher=Bahai-library.com |date=21 April 1948 |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-date=18 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018182422/http://bahai-library.com/ullian_israel_haifa |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Persian and Hellenistic period: near Shikmona===
In the sixth century BCE, during the Persian period, Greek geographer [[Scylax of Caryanda|Scylax]] wrote of a city "between the bay and the Promontory of Zeus" (i.e., the Carmel), which may be a reference to [[Shikmona]], a locality in the Haifa area.<ref name=Judaica/>

By [[Hellenistic]] times, the city had moved to a new site south of what is now the [[Bat Galim]] neighborhood of modern Haifa because the old port's harbour had become blocked with sand.<ref name=Judaica/> A [[Greek language|Greek]]-speaking population living along the coast at this time was engaged in commerce.<ref>''Haifa'', The Guide to Israel, Zev Vilnay, Jerusalem, 1970, p.382</ref>

====Shikmona====
Haifa was located near the town of Shikmona, a center for making the traditional [[Tzitzit#Tekhelet|Tekhelet]] dye used in the garments of the high priests in the Temple. The [[archaeological site]] of Shikmona is southwest of Bat Galim.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://mushecht.haifa.ac.il/hecht/abstract/15e/Abstracts.pdf |title=Two Tombstones from Zoar in the Hecht Museum Collection |publisher=Haifa University |access-date=25 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226230016/http://mushecht.haifa.ac.il/hecht/abstract/15e/Abstracts.pdf |archive-date=26 February 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Early Haifa is believed to have occupied the area which extends from the present-day [[Rambam Health Care Campus|Rambam Hospital]] to the Jewish Cemetery on Yafo Street. The inhabitants engaged in fishing and agriculture.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www1.haifa.muni.il/aliya/pagesForPrint.aspx?pageName=History |title=Haifa Municipality – Aliya Web Site – Print Version |access-date=6 April 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151216125342/http://www1.haifa.muni.il/aliya/pagesForPrint.aspx?pageName=History |archive-date=16 December 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Roman period===
In about the 3rd century CE, Haifa was first mentioned in Talmudic literature, as a Jewish fishing village and the home of Rabbi [[Avdimi of Haifa|Avdimi]] and other Jewish scholars. According to the Talmud, fishermen caught [[Murex]], sea snails which yielded purple dye used to make ''[[tallit]]'' (Jewish prayer shawls) from Haifa to the [[Ladder of the Tyrians]]. Tombs dating from the Roman era, including [[Rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel|Jewish burial caves]], have been found in the area.<ref name=Judaica/><ref name=JVL>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/viehaifa.html |title=Haifa |encyclopedia=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |access-date=20 January 2008 |date=|archive-date=10 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071210162145/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/viehaifa.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=jsource2>{{cite web |title=History & Overview of Haifa |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-haifa |website=www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org |access-date=20 August 2020 |archive-date=1 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200701175819/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/history-and-overview-of-haifa |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Byzantine period===
Under Byzantine rule, Haifa continued to grow but did not assume major importance.<ref>{{cite book |page=213 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27nq65cZUIgC&pg=PA213 |title=Archaeological encyclopedia of the Holy Land |first1=Avraham |last1=Negev |first2=Shimon |last2=Gibson |edition=4th, revised, illustrated |publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group |date=1 July 2005 |isbn=978-0-8264-8571-7 |access-date=31 May 2020 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802231716/https://books.google.com/books?id=27nq65cZUIgC&pg=PA213 |url-status=live}}</ref> A ''[[kinah]]'' speaks of the destruction of the Jewish community of Haifa along with other communities when the Byzantines reconquered the country from the [[Sasanian Empire]] in 628 during the [[Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628|Byzantine-Sasanian War]].<ref name=jsource2/>

===Early Muslim period===
Following the Arab conquest of Palestine in the 630s–40s, Haifa was largely overlooked in favor of the port city of [[Acre, Israel|'Akka]].<ref name=Bosworth/> Under the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], Haifa began to develop.<ref name=Grabois>{{cite journal |last=Grabois |first=Aryeh |title=Haifa and Its Settlement in the Middle Ages |journal=Ariel: Haifa and Its Sites |date=March 1985 |issue=37–39 |pages=48–49 |editor1-first=Eli |editor1-last=Shiller |editor2-first=Yossi |editor2-last=Ben-Artzi |language=he}}</ref>

In the 9th century under the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad]] and [[Abbasid Caliphate]]s, Haifa established trading relations with Egyptian ports and the city featured several shipyards. The inhabitants, [[Arabs]] and Jews, engaged in trade and maritime commerce. Glass production and dye-making from marine snails were the city's most lucrative industries.<ref name=Grabois/>

===Crusader, Ayyubid and Mamluk rule===
[[File:Haifa and Mount Carmel (before 1899).jpg|thumb|Mount Carmel before 1899]]
Prosperity ended in 1100 or 1101, when Haifa was besieged and blockaded by European Christians shortly after the end of the [[First Crusade]], and then conquered after a fierce battle with its Jewish inhabitants and Fatimid garrison. Jews comprised the majority of the city's population at the time.<ref name=jsource2/><ref name=AlCarmel>{{Cite book |first=Alex |last=Carmel |year=2002 |title=The History of Haifa Under Turkish Rule |edition=4th |publisher=Pardes |location=Haifa |isbn=978-965-7171-05-9 |language=he |page=17}}</ref><ref name=634to1099>{{cite book |title=A History of Palestine, 634-1099 |first=Moshe |last=Gil |year=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=829 |isbn=978-0-521-40437-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tSM4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA829 |quote=Haifa was taken [...] in August 1100 or June 1101, according to Muslim sources which contradict one another. Albert of Aachen does not mention the date in a clear manner either. From what he says, it appears that it was mainly the Jewish inhabitants of the city who defended the fortress of Haifa. In his rather strange Latin style, he mentions that there was a Jewish population in Haifa, and that they fought bravely on the walls of the city. He explains that the Jews there were protected people of the Muslims (the Fatimids). They fought side by side with units of the Fatimid army, striking back at Tancred's army from above the walls of the citadel (... ''Judaei civis comixtis Sarracenorum turmis'') until the Crusaders overcame them and they were forced to abandon the walls. The Muslims and the Jews then managed to escape from the fortress with their lives, while the rest of the population fled the city ''en masse''. Whoever remained was slaughtered, and huge quantities of spoils were taken. [...] [Note #3: Albert of Aachen (Albericus, Albertus Aquensis), ''Historia Hierosolymitanae Expeditionis'', in: [[Recueil des historiens des croisades|''RHC'']] (Occ.), IV. p. 523; etc.] |access-date=17 May 2015 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803011751/https://books.google.com/books?id=tSM4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA829 |url-status=live}}</ref> Under the Crusaders, Haifa was reduced to a small fortified coastal stronghold.<ref name=AlCarmel /> It was a part of the [[Principality of Galilee]] within the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]. Following their victory at the [[Battle of Hattin]], [[Saladin]]'s [[Ayyubid dynasty|Ayyubid]] army captured Haifa in mid-July 1187 and the city's Crusader fortress was destroyed.<ref name=Judaica/>{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=219}} [[Second Crusade|The Crusaders]] under [[Richard I of England|Richard the Lionheart]] retook Haifa in 1191.{{sfn|Lane-Poole|1906|p=309}}

In the 12th century religious hermits started inhabiting the caves on Mount Carmel, and in the 13th century they formed a new Catholic monastic order, the [[Carmelites]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Origins of the Carmelites |publisher=Carmelite.org.uk |url=http://www.carmelite.org.uk/History.html |access-date=20 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510031519/http://www.carmelite.org.uk/History.html |archive-date=10 May 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Under Muslim rule, the church which they had built on Mount Carmel was turned into a mosque, later becoming a hospital. In the 19th century, it was restored as a Carmelite monastery, the [[Stella Maris Monastery]]. The altar of the church as we see it today, stands over a cave associated with Prophet Elijah.<ref name=Frommers>{{cite web |title=Stella Maris Lighthouse, Church and Carmelite Monastery |publisher=Frommers |url=http://www.frommers.com/destinations/haifa/A36285.html |access-date=11 April 2008 |url-status=live |archive-date=26 March 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080326201914/http://www.frommers.com/destinations/haifa/A36285.html}}</ref>

In 1265, the army of [[Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)|Mamluk]] sultan [[Baibars]] [[Fall of Haifa (1265)|captured Haifa]], destroying its fortifications, which had been rebuilt by King [[Louis IX of France]], as well as the majority of the city's homes to prevent the European Crusaders from returning.<ref name=byz>{{cite web |url=http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/40/c2 |title=Haifa in the Middle Ages |publisher=Tour-Haifa.co.il |access-date=15 February 2008 |archive-date=15 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415121923/http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/40/c2 |url-status=live}}</ref> From the time of its conquest by the Mamluks to the 15th century, Haifa was an unfortified small village or uninhabited. At various times there were a few Jews living there and both Jews and Christians made pilgrimages to the [[Cave of Elijah]] on Mount Carmel.<ref name=jsource2/> During Mamluk rule in the 14th century, al-Idrisi wrote that Haifa served as the port for [[Tiberias]] and featured a "fine harbor for the anchorage of galleys and other vessels.<ref name=Strange>{{Cite book |title=Palestine Under the Moslems: A Description of Syria and the Holy Land from A.D. 650 to 1500 |url=https://archive.org/stream/palestineundermo00lestuoft/palestineundermo00lestuoft_djvu.txt |first1=Guy |last1=le Strange |year=1890 |publisher=Committee of the Palestine Exploration Fund |page=446 |access-date=26 July 2009}}</ref>

===Ottoman period===
[[File:Haifa from hill side 1898.jpg|thumb|Haifa in 1898]]
Haifa was apparently uninhabited at the time the Ottoman Empire conquered Palestine in 1516. The first indication of its resettlement was given in a description by German traveller [[Leonhard Rauwolf]], who visited Palestine in 1575.<ref name=jsource2/> In 1596, Haifa appeared in Ottoman tax registers as being in the ''[[Nahiya]]'' of Sahil Atlit of the ''[[Liwa (Arabic)|Liwa]]'' of Lajjun. It had a population of 32 Muslim households and paid taxes on wheat, barley, summer crops, olives, and goats or beehives.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hütteroth |first1=W.-D.|author-link1=Wolf-Dieter Hütteroth  |first2=K. | last2=Abdulfattah |author-link2=Kamal Abdulfattah |title=Historical Geography of Palestine, Transjordan and Southern Syria in the Late 16th Century |year=1977 |publisher=Erlanger Geographische Arbeiten, Sonderband 5. Erlangen, Germany: Vorstand der Fränkischen Geographischen Gesellschaft |page=158}}</ref> Haifa was subsequently mentioned in the accounts of travelers as a half-ruined impoverished village with few inhabitants. The expansion of commercial trade between Europe and Palestine in the 17th century saw Haifa's revival as a flourishing port as more ships began docking there rather than [[Acre, Israel|Acre]].<ref name=JVL/>

In 1742, Haifa was a small village and had a Jewish community composed mainly of immigrants from [[Morocco]] and [[Algeria]] which had a synagogue.<ref name=JVL/> It had 250 inhabitants in 1764–5. It was located at Tell el-Semak, the site of ancient Sycaminum.<ref name=Seikalyp15/><ref name=Hohlfelderp42>{{cite book |last=Hohlfelder |first=Robert L. |page=42 |title=Mediterranean cities: historical perspectives |editor1=Irad Malkin |editor2=Robert L. Hohlfelder |edition=Illustrated, annotated, reprint |publisher=Routledge |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-7146-3353-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CZt8xkmEwVwC&pg=PA42 |access-date=2 July 2011 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803000733/https://books.google.com/books?id=CZt8xkmEwVwC&pg=PA42 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1765, [[Zahir al-Umar]], the Arab ruler of Acre and the [[Galilee]], moved the population to a new fortified site {{cvt|1.5|mi|km|abbr=off}} to the east and laid waste to the old site.<ref name=Seikalyp15/><ref>Haifa in the Late Ottoman Period, 1864–1914: A Muslim Town in Transition By Mahmud Yazbak BRILL, 1998, {{ISBN|978-90-04-11051-9}} p 14</ref> According to historian Moshe Sharon, the new Haifa was established by Zahir in 1769.<ref>{{cite book |title=Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae: H-I |volume=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1uNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 |first=Moshe |last=Sharon |author-link=Moshe Sharon |year=2013 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-25481-7 |page=262 |access-date=25 June 2015 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803025047/https://books.google.com/books?id=X1uNAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA263 |url-status=live}}</ref> This event marked the beginning of modern Haifa.<ref name=Seikalyp15/> After al-Umar's death in 1775, the town remained under Ottoman rule until 1918, with the exception of two brief periods.

In 1799, [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]] conquered Haifa during his unsuccessful campaign to conquer Palestine and [[Syria]], but he soon had to withdraw; in the campaign's [[French Campaign in Egypt and Syria#Acre|final proclamation]], Napoleon took credit for having razed the fortifications of "Kaïffa" (as the name was spelled at the time) along with those of [[Gaza City|Gaza]], [[Jaffa]] and Acre.
[[File:HaifaColony.jpg|left|thumb|[[German Colony, Haifa|German Colony]] in the 19th century]]

Between 1831 and 1840, the Egyptian viceroy [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]] governed Haifa, after his son [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]] had wrested control over it from the Ottomans.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/37/c2 |title=Haifa during the British Mandate Period |publisher=Tour-Haifa.co.il |access-date=15 February 2008 |archive-date=15 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415121907/http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/37/c2 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=modern>{{cite web |url=http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/38/c2 |title=Modern Haifa |access-date=15 February 2008 |publisher=Tour-Haifa.co.il |archive-date=15 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080415121913/http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/38/c2 |url-status=live}}</ref> When the Egyptian occupation ended and Acre declined, the importance of Haifa rose. In 1858, the walled city of Haifa was overcrowded and the first houses began to be built outside the city walls on the mountain slope.<ref name=JVL/> The British Survey of Western Palestine estimated Haifa's population to be about 3,000 in 1859.<ref>Carmel, Alex: ''Ottoman Haifa: A History of Four Centuries under Turkish Rule'' (2010)</ref>

Haifa remained majority Muslim throughout this time but a small Jewish community continued to exist there. In 1798, Rabbi [[Nachman of Breslov]] spent [[Rosh HaShana]] with the Jewish community of Haifa. In 1839 the Jewish population numbered 124.<ref>[[Encyclopaedia Judaica|Encyclopedia Judaica]], ''Haifa'', Keter Publishing, Jerusalem, 1972, vol. 7, p. 1137.</ref> Due to the growing influence of the Carmelite monks, Haifa's Christian population also grew. By 1840 approximately 40% of the inhabitants were Christian Arabs.<ref name=jsource2/>

[[File:Location of Haifa German Templar Colony in the PEF Survey of Palestine.png|thumb|The new [[German Colony, Haifa]] is shown prominently in the 1880 [[PEF Survey of Palestine]] map.]]
The arrival of German messianics, many of whom were [[Templers (religious believers)|Templers]], in 1868, who settled in what is now known as the [[German Colony, Haifa|German Colony]], was a turning point in Haifa's development.<ref name=modern/> The Templers built and operated a steam-based [[power station]], opened factories and inaugurated carriage services to Acre, [[Nazareth]] and Tiberias, playing a key role in modernizing the city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://schumacher.haifa.ac.il/templers.htm |title=Templers |access-date=27 January 2008 |publisher=University of Haifa |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701120321/http://schumacher.haifa.ac.il/templers.htm |archive-date=1 July 2007}}</ref>
[[File:Haifa 1942.jpg|thumb|right|Haifa 1942 1:20,000]]

The first major wave of Jewish immigration to Haifa took place in the mid-19th century from Morocco, with a smaller wave of immigration from [[Turkey]] a few years later.<ref name=History>{{cite web |last=Gaon |first=Moshe David |url=https://www.hebrewbooks.org/36725 |title=The History of the Sephardi Jews in Israel |access-date=22 May 2021 |archive-date=8 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808044114/https://www.hebrewbooks.org/36725 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the 1870s, large numbers of Jewish and Arab migrants came to Haifa due to the town's growing prosperity. Jews constituted one-eighth of Haifa's population, almost all of whom were recent immigrants from Morocco and Turkey who lived in the Jewish Quarter, which was located in the eastern part of the town. Continued Jewish immigration gradually raised the Jewish population of Haifa, and included a small number of [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] families, most of whom opened hotels for Jewish migrants coming into the city. In 1875, the Jewish community of Haifa held its own census which counted the Jewish population at about 200.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPseCvbPsKsC&pg=PA107 |title=Haifa in the Late Ottoman Period, 1864–1914: A Muslim Town in Transition |isbn=978-90-04-11051-9 |last1=Yazbak |first1=Mahmoud |last2=Yazbak |first2=Maḥmūd |year=1998 |publisher=BRILL |access-date=11 November 2020 |archive-date=28 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528161938/https://books.google.com/books?id=DPseCvbPsKsC&pg=PA107 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[First Aliyah]] of the late 19th century and the [[Second Aliyah]] of the early 20th century saw Jewish immigrants, mainly from Eastern Europe, arrive in Haifa in significant numbers. In particular, a significant number of Jewish immigrants from [[Romania]] settled in Haifa in the 1880s during the First Aliyah period. The Central Jewish Colonisation Society in Romania purchased over {{cvt|1000|acre|km2}} near Haifa. As the Jewish settlers had been city dwellers, they hired the former [[fellah]]in tenants to instruct them in agriculture.<ref>Oliphant, Laurence. (1886) ''Haifa, or Life in Modern Palestine''. Adamant Media Corporation, pp. 11–12</ref> The Jewish population rose from 1,500 in 1900 to 3,000 on the eve of [[World War I]].<ref>Carmel, Alex: ''Ottoman Haifa: A History of Four Centuries under Turkish Rule''</ref>

[[File:PikiWiki Israel 4802 Haifa 1930.jpg|thumb|View of Haifa from Mount Carmel in 1930]]In the early 20th century, Haifa began to emerge as an industrial port city and growing population center. A branch of the [[Hejaz Railway]], known as the [[Jezreel Valley railway]], was built between 1903 and 1905. The railway increased the city's volume of trade, and attracted workers and foreign merchants.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}} In 1912, construction began on the Technion Institute of Technology, a Jewish technical school that was to later become one of Israel's top universities, although studies did not begin until 1924.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Devine |first1=Mary Elizabeth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tntEAgAAQBAJ&dq=1912,+construction+began+on+the+Technion+Institute+of+Technology,&pg=PA391 |title=International Dictionary of University Histories |last2=Summerfield |first2=Carol |date=2 December 2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-26217-5 |language=en}}</ref> The Jews of Haifa also founded numerous factories and cultural institutions.

==== Baháʼí faith's shrine ====
In 1909, Haifa became important to the [[Baháʼí Faith]] when the remains of the [[Báb]], founder of the Bábí Faith and forerunner of [[Baháʼu'lláh]] in the Baháʼí Faith, were moved from Acre to Haifa and [[Shrine of the Báb|interred in the shrine]] built on Mount Carmel. Baháʼís consider the shrine to be their second holiest place on Earth after the [[Shrine of Baháʼu'lláh]] in Acre. Its precise location on Mount Carmel was shown by Baháʼu'lláh himself to his eldest son, [[ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]], in 1891. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá planned the structure, which was designed and completed several years later by his grandson, [[Shoghi Effendi]]. In a separate room, the [[Shrine of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá|remains of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]] were buried in November 1921.<ref>{{cite news |title=Golden anniversary of the Queen of Carmel |url=http://news.bahai.org/story/252 |publisher=Baháʼí World News Service |date=12 October 2003 |access-date=12 May 2007 |archive-date=26 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526195914/http://news.bahai.org/story/252 |url-status=live}}</ref>

===British Mandate===
{{Further|Battle of Haifa (1918)}}
[[File:Indian lancers in Haifa 1918.jpg|thumb|Indian troops marching in Haifa in 1918]]
[[File:Kings Way in Haifa 2.jpg|thumb|right|Kingsway (now HaAtzmaut Road) in the 1930s]]
[[File:חיפה - מראה חלקי-JNF013403.jpeg|thumb|Haifa 1945]]
Haifa was captured from the Ottomans in September 1918 by Indian horsemen of the British Army armed with spears and swords who overran Ottoman positions.<ref name=India>{{cite web |last=Eyadat |first=Fadi |url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/on-haifa-day-india-salutes-wwi-troops-1.315380 |title=On Haifa Day India salutes World War I troops |work=Haaretz |date=24 September 2010 |access-date=24 March 2013 |archive-date=2 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102100519/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/on-haifa-day-india-salutes-wwi-troops-1.315380 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 22 September, British troops were heading to Nazareth when a reconnaissance report was received indicating that the Turks were leaving Haifa. The British made preparations to enter the city and came under fire in the [[Balad al-Sheikh]] district (today [[Nesher]]). After the British regrouped, an elite unit of Indian horsemen were sent to attack the Turkish positions on the flanks and overrun their artillery guns on Mount Carmel.<ref name=India/>

Under the [[Mandate for Palestine|British Mandate]], Haifa saw large-scale development and became an industrial port city.<ref name=modern/><ref>{{cite book |author1=Michael Dumper |author2=Bruce E. Stanley |title=Cities of the Middle East and North Africa: A Historical Encyclopedia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&pg=PA161 |year=2007 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-57607-919-5 |pages=161– |access-date=1 July 2015 |archive-date=3 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803001340/https://books.google.com/books?id=3SapTk5iGDkC&pg=PA161 |url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Baháʼí Faith]] in 1918 and today has its administrative and spiritual centre in the environs of Haifa.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.homestead.com/watsongregory/files/knighthood.html |title=Knighthood&nbsp;— Sir ʻAbdu'l-Bahá ʻAbbas Effendi |access-date=17 October 2013 |archive-date=18 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018154241/http://www.homestead.com/watsongregory/files/knighthood.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.upliftingwords.org/bahai-faith-articles/abdul-baha-the-master |publisher=Uplifting Words |title=ʻAbdu'l-Baha |date=26 December 2018 |access-date=26 December 2018 |archive-date=26 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181226232742/https://www.upliftingwords.org/bahai-faith-articles/abdul-baha-the-master |url-status=live}}</ref> Many Jewish immigrants of the [[Fourth Aliyah]] and [[Fifth Aliyah]] settled in Haifa. The port was a major source of income, and the nearby Jewish towns of the [[Krayot]] were established in the 1930s. At the same time, the Arab population also swelled by an influx of migrants, coming mainly from surrounding villages as well as the Syrian [[Hauran]].<ref name=Schulze98>Reinhard Schulze. ''A modern history of the Islamic world''. p.98.</ref> The Arab immigration mainly came as a result of prices and salary drop.<ref name=Schulze98 /> The [[1922 census of Palestine]], conducted by the British authorities, recorded Haifa's population as 24,634 (9,377 Muslims, 8,863 Christians, 6,230 Jews, 152 [[Baháʼí Faith|Baha'i]], and 12 [[Druze]]).<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/PalestineCensus1922 |title=Palestine Census ( 1922)}}</ref> By the time of the [[1931 census of Palestine]], this had increased to 50,403 (20,324 Muslims, 15,923 Jews, 13,824 Christians, 196 Baha'i, 126 Druze, and 10 with no religion).<ref>Bosworth, C. Edmund: ''Historic Cities of the Islamic World''</ref><ref name=Census1922>{{harvnb|Barron|1923|p= [https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n8/mode/1up 10]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/palestine-census-1931 |title=Palestine Census 1931}}</ref> Between the censuses of 1922 and 1931, the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian populations rose by 217%, 256%, and 156%, respectively.<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=J. B. |editor-last=Barron |title=Palestine: Report and General Abstracts of the Census of 1922 |publisher=Government of Palestine |year=1923 |at=[https://archive.org/stream/PalestineCensus1922/Palestine%20Census%20%281922%29#page/n35/mode/1up Table XI ]}}; {{cite book |editor=E. Mills |title=Census of Palestine 1931. Population of Villages, Towns and Administrative Areas |publisher=Government of Palestine |location=Jerusalem |year=1932 |page=91}}</ref> In 1938, 99,000 people (including 48,000 Jews) lived in Haifa.{{sfn|Seikaly|2002|p=51}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VillageStatistics1938orig.pdf |title=Village Statistics |year=1938 |pages=24}}</ref>

Haifa's development owed much to British plans to make it a central port and hub for Middle-East crude oil. The British Government of Palestine developed the port and built [[Consolidated Refineries|refineries]], thereby facilitating the rapid development of the city as a center for the country's heavy industries. Haifa was also among the first towns to be fully electrified. The Palestine Electric Company inaugurated the Haifa Electrical Power Station already in 1925, opening the door to considerable industrialization.<ref>Shamir, Ronen (2013) ''Current Flow: The Electrification of Palestine''. Stanford: Stanford University Press</ref> The State-run [[Palestine Railways]] also built its main workshops in Haifa.

By 1945 the population was 138,300 (75,500 Jews, 35,940 Muslims, 26,570 Christians, and 290 "other").<ref>Supplement to a Survey of Palestine (p. 12–13) which was prepared by the British Mandate for [[United Nations|the United Nations]] in 1946–47.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www1.haifa.muni.il/aliya/pages.aspx?pageName=History |title=Haifa Municipality – Aliya Web Site |publisher=.haifa.muni.il |access-date=13 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012143611/http://www1.haifa.muni.il/aliya/pages.aspx?pageName=History |archive-date=12 October 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://users.cecs.anu.edu.au/~bdm/yabber/census/VillageStatistics1945orig.pdf |title=Village Statistics |year=1945 |pages=13}}</ref> In 1947, about 70,910 Arabs (41,000 Muslims and 29,910 Christians) and 74,230 Jews were living there.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Maps/Story574.html |title=Supplement to a Survey of Palestine |access-date=11 April 2008 |archive-date=14 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140814220537/http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Maps/Story574.html |url-status=live}}</ref> The Christian community were mostly [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church|Greek-Melkite Catholics]].

===1947–1948 Civil War in Palestine===
[[File:PikiWiki Israel 20690 The Palmach.jpg|thumb|upright|Haifa July 1947. British soldiers remove injured passenger from [[SS Exodus]]]]{{Further|Battle of Haifa (1948)}}
The [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine|1947 UN Partition Plan]] in late November 1947 designated Haifa as part of the proposed [[Jewish state]]. Arab protests over that decision evolved into violence between Jews and Arabs that left several dozen people dead during December.<ref>Palestine Post, many issues December 1947.</ref> The Arab city was in a state of chaos. The local Arab national committee tried to stabilize the situation by organizing garrison, calming the frightened residents and to stop the flight. In a public statement, the national committee called upon the Arab residents to obey orders, be alert, keep calm, and added: "Keep away the cowards who wish to flee. Expell them from your lines. Despise them, because they harm more than the enemy". Despite the efforts, Arab residents abandoned the streets which bordered Jewish neighborhoods and during the days of the general strike instigated by the [[Arab Higher Committee]], some 250 Arab families abandoned the Khalisa neighborhood.<ref>[[Yoav Gelber]], ''Independence Versus Nakba''; Kinneret–Zmora-Bitan–Dvir Publishing, 2004, {{ISBN|978-965-517-190-7}}, pp.136–137</ref>

On 30 December 1947, members of the [[Irgun]], a Jewish underground militia, threw bombs into a crowd of Arabs outside the gates of the [[Consolidated Refineries]] in Haifa, killing six and injuring 42. In response, Arab employees of the company killed 39 Jewish employees in what became known as the [[Haifa Oil Refinery massacre]].<ref>{{Citation |title=The Israel/Palestine Question |author-link=Ilan Pappé |first=Ilan |last=Pappé |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-415-16947-9}}</ref> The Jewish [[Haganah]] militia retaliated with a raid on the Arab village of [[Balad al-Shaykh]], where many of the Arab refinery workers lived, in what became known as the [[Balad al-Shaykh massacre]].<ref>Benny Morris, ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited'', p101.</ref>

[[British Armed Forces|British forces]] in Haifa redeployed on 21 April 1948, withdrawing from most of the city while still maintaining control over the port facilities. According to Ilan Pappé, although the Jewish mayor of the city, [[Shabtai Levy]], urged the Arab residents to stay, in other parts of town loudspeakers could be heard ordering Arabs to leave "before it's too late."<ref>Pappe, Ilan. ''The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'', p. 95</ref>

On 21 April, the downtown, controlled by a combination of local and foreign (ALA) Arab irregulars, was assaulted by [[Yishuv|Jewish]] forces in [[Battle of Haifa (1948)|Operation Bi'ur Hametz]] by the [[Barak Armored Brigade|Carmeli Brigade]] of the Haganah, commanded by [[Moshe Carmel]]. Arab neighborhoods were attacked with mortars and gunfire,<ref name="Eugene Rogan 2012 330">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LILdBDrm-ksC&q=eugene+rogan+history+of+arabs|title=The Arabs: A History – Third Edition|author=Eugene Rogan|page=330|publisher=Penguin|year=2012|isbn=9780718196837 }}</ref> which, according to [[Ilan Pappé]], culminated in an attack on a Palestinian crowd in the old marketplace using three-inch (76&nbsp;mm) mortars on 22 April 1948.<ref>Pappé, Ilan (1992). ''The Making of the Arab Israeli Conflict 1947–1951''. I B Tauris, p.72 {{ISBN|978-1-85043-819-9}}</ref><ref>Morris, Benny (2001). "Revisiting the Palestinian exodus of 1948", in ''The War for Palestine: Rewriting the History of 1948'' (pp. 37–59). Cambridge: [[Cambridge University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-521-79476-3}}</ref><ref>Pappe, Ilan. ''The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine'', p. 96, citing Zadok Eshel, "The Carmeli Brigade in the War of Independence", p. 147.</ref>

[[Rashid al-Haj Ibrahim]], a Palestinian Arab municipal leader, described attacks "provoking terror among the women and children, who were very influenced by [[w:Deir Yassin massacre|the horrors of Dayr Yasin]]", and provided an eyewitness account of the flight of Haifa's Arab residents:<ref name="Eugene Rogan 2012 330"/>

{{cquote|Thousands of women, children and men hurried to the port district in a state of chaos and terror without precedent in the history of the Arab nation. They fled their houses to the coast, barefoot and naked, to wait for their turn to travel to Lebanon. They left their homeland, their houses, their possessions, their money, their welfare, and their trades, to surrender their dignity and their souls.}}

The operation led to a massive displacement of Haifa's Arab population, and was part of the larger [[1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight]]. According to ''The Economist'' at the time, only 5,000–6,000 of the city's 62,000 Arabs remained there by 2 October 1948.<ref name=Refugee>{{cite web |url=http://www.mideastweb.org/refugees1.htm |title=The Palestine Refugee Problem |publisher=Mideastweb.org |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-date=1 May 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501153754/http://www.mideastweb.org/refugees1.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Morris quotes British sources as stating that during the battles between 22 and 23 April 100 Arabs were killed and 100 wounded, but he adds that the total may have been higher.<ref>Morris, Benny (1987), ''The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947–1949''. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-33028-2}}. Page 315. Quoting CP v/4/102, Stockwell Report. He comments: "Nor is there any evidence that a "massacre" took place in the town."</ref>

Historian [[Walid Khalidi]] described "the mass exodus of Haifa’s Arab population" as "the spontaneous reaction to the ruthless combination of terror and psychological warfare tactics adopted by the Haganah during the attack."[https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/attachments/jps-articles/haifa.pdf]

===State of Israel===
[[File:Haifa Bay.JPG|thumb|left|View of Haifa Bay from Mount Carmel in 2004]]

After the [[Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel]] on 14 May 1948 Haifa became the gateway for Jewish immigration into Israel. During the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], the neighborhoods of Haifa were sometimes contested. After the war, Jewish immigrants were settled in new neighborhoods, among them [[Kiryat Haim|Kiryat Hayim]], Ramot Remez, Ramat Shaul, [[Kiryat Sprinzak]], and [[Kiryat Eliezer, Haifa|Kiryat Eliezer]]. [[Bnai Zion Medical Center|Bnei Zion Hospital]] (formerly [[Rothschild family|Rothschild]] Hospital) and the Central Synagogue in [[Hadar HaCarmel]] date from this period. In 1953, a master plan was created for transportation and the future architectural layout.<ref name=autogenerated4>{{cite web |title=History since Independence |access-date=9 April 2008 |url=http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/36/c2 |publisher=Haifa Municipality |archive-date=12 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212183755/http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/modules/article/view.article.php/36/c2 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 1959, a group of [[Sephardi]] and Mizrahi Jews, mostly [[Moroccan Jews]], [[Wadi Salib riots|rioted]] in [[Wadi Salib]], claiming the state was discriminating against them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtStEngPE.jhtml?itemNo=1099078&contrassID=2&subContrassID=15&title=%27The%20Makings%20of%20History%20%2F%20So%20much%20for%20the%20melting%20pot%20%27&dyn_server=172.20.5.5|title=So much for the melting pot, Tom Segev|access-date=30 July 2009|archive-date=8 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808024256/https://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArtStEngPE.jhtml?itemNo=1099078&contrassID=2&subContrassID=15&title=%27The%20Makings%20of%20History%20%2F%20So%20much%20for%20the%20melting%20pot%20%27&dyn_server=172.20.5.5|url-status=dead}}</ref> Their demand for "bread and work" was directed at the state institutions and what they viewed as an Ashkenazi elite in the [[Israeli Labor Party|Labor Party]] and the [[Histadrut]].<ref name=Johal/>

Tel Aviv gained in status, while Haifa suffered a decline in the role as regional capital. The opening of [[Ashdod]] as a port exacerbated this. Tourism shrank when the Israeli Ministry of Tourism placed emphasis on developing Tiberias as a tourist centre.<ref>Kellerman, Aharon (1993) Society and Settlement: Jewish [[Land of Israel]] in the Twentieth Century SUNY Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-1295-4}} p 236</ref> Nevertheless, Haifa's population had reached 200,000 by the early 1970s, and mass immigration from the [[Post-Soviet states|former Soviet Union]] boosted the population by a further 35,000.<ref name=modern/> The Matam high-tech park, the first dedicated high-tech park in Israel, opened in Haifa in the 1970s. Many of Wadi Salib's historic Ottoman buildings have now been demolished, and in the 1990s a major section of the Old City was razed to make way for a new municipal center.<ref name=modern/><ref name=Johal>{{cite web |title=Sifting Through the Ruins: Historic Wadi Salib Under Pressure. |first=Am |last=Johal |publisher=Media Monitors Network |date=18 August 2004 |url=http://usa.mediamonitors.net/headlines/sifting_through_the_ruins_historic_wadi_salib_under_pressure |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928015832/http://usa.mediamonitors.net/headlines/sifting_through_the_ruins_historic_wadi_salib_under_pressure |archive-date=28 September 2007}}</ref>

From 1999 to 2003, several [[List of Palestinian suicide attacks|Palestinian suicide attacks]] took place in Haifa (in [[Maxim restaurant suicide bombing|Maxim]] and [[Matza restaurant suicide bombing|Matza]] restaurants, [[Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing|bus 37]], and others), killing 68 civilians. In 2006, Haifa was hit by 93 [[Hezbollah armed strength|Hezbollah rockets]] during the [[2006 Lebanon War|Second Lebanon War]], killing 11 civilians and leading to half of the city's population fleeing at the end of the first week of the war.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5318424.stm |title=In focus: Haifa |access-date=9 April 2008 |work=BBC News |date=6 September 2006 |archive-date=6 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806173551/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5318424.stm |url-status=live}}</ref> Among the places hit by rockets were a train depot and the oil refinery complex.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276392,00.html |title=8 killed in rocket attack on Haifa – Israel News, Ynetnews |newspaper=Ynetnews |publisher=Ynetnews.com |date=20 June 1995 |access-date=12 March 2013 |archive-date=14 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314214958/http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3276392,00.html |url-status=live |last1=Raved |first1=Ahiya}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/840990.html |title=Katyusha rocket hit Haifa oil refineries complex during Second Lebanon War |work=Haaretz |access-date=5 May 2009 |archive-date=24 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724135023/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/840990.html |url-status=live}}</ref>