
- Order:
- Duration: 4:53
- Published: 09 Feb 2008
- Uploaded: 28 Jul 2011
- Author: desireandpassion
Name | Lod |
---|---|
Imgsize | 250 |
Image3 | Lod COA.png |
Imgsize3 | 60 |
Caption | Lod city centre |
Hebname | |
Iso | Lodd |
Arname | al-Ludd اَلْلُدّْ |
Type | city |
District | center |
Population | 70,000 |
Popyear | 2010 |
Area dunam | 12226 |
Mayor | Ilan Harari |
The name is derived from the Biblical city of Lod. When al-Ludd, as it was known by its Arab inhabitants before 1948, was captured by Israel, the Arab inhabitants fled or were expelled and the city was settled by Jewish immigrants, most from Arab countries. Of the former Arab population, only 1,056 inhabitants remained. It is today known as Lod, its Hebrew name.
Israel's main international airport, Ben Gurion International Airport (previously called Lydda Airport, RAF Lydda, and Lod Airport) is located in the city.
The city is mentioned several times in the Bible: in , 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 .
'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.
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. 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.
[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.
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. In the second half of the 19th century, Jewish merchants migrated to the city but left after the 1921 Jaffa riots. The proposal was rejected by the Arabs, and on May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence. 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, 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.
During 1948, the population rose to 50,000 people as Arab refugees fleeing other areas made their way there. to 1,056 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,. They were soon vastly outnumbered by the influx of Jewish immigrants who moved into the town from August 1948 onwards, most from Arab countries. The new Jewish immigrants came in waves, first from Morocco and Tunisia, and later from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union.. 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.
An Israeli government report in 2003 singled out Lod as a focal point for social and demographic problems. 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.
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.
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.