Coordinates	21°24′30″N157°58′1″N
Name	Kfar Saba
Image3	KfarSaba2.jpg
Imgsize3	250px
Imgsize	80
Hebname
Iso	Kfar Sabaˀ
Meaning	Grandfather's village/Saba's village
Founded	1903
Type	city
Typefrom	1962
Stdheb	Kfar Sava
District	Central Israel
Population	83,600
Popyear	2009
Area dunam	14169
Mayor	Yehuda Ben-Hamo
Website	www.kfar-saba.muni.il

Kfar Saba (, lit. "Grandfather's Village"), officially Kfar Sava, is a city in the Sharon region, of the Center District of Israel. At the end of 2009, Kfar Saba had a total population of 83,600.

History

Kfar Saba (ancient Capharsaba) was an important settlement during the Second Temple period. is mentioned for the first time in the writings of Josephus, in his account of the attempt of Alexander Jannaeus to halt an invasion from the North led by Antiochus (Antiquities, book 13, chapter 15). Kfar Saba also appears in the Talmud in connection to corn tithing and the Capharsaba sycamore fig tree. The settlement was likely named after a person called Sava, though this person's importance is not known.

Excavations on the site have revealed the remains of a large Roman bathhouse. In the Byzantine periods the ruins of the bathhouse were first converted into fish pools, and later into some form of industrial installation.

In 1596, the Arab village of Kafr Saba was inhabited by 42 Muslim families. In the 1870s it was described as "a mud village of moderate size with mud-ponds around it and good water in the wells of Neby Yemin, to the east." The Jewish town of Kfar Saba was established in 1898 on 7,500 dunams of land purchased from the Arab village. Despite attractive advertisements in Jerusalem and London, attempts to sell plots to private individuals were unsuccessful, as the land was located in a desolate, neglected area far from any other Jewish settlement. The Ottoman pasha of Nablus, to whose governorate the land belonged, refused to give building permits, therefore the first settlers were forced to live in huts made of clay and straw. They earned their living by growing almonds, grapes and olives. Most of the manual laborers on the land were peasants from Qalqilya. Only in 1912 were permits given and the settlers moved to permanent housing.

In the Palestine campaign of World War I, Kfar Saba was on the front line between General Allenby's British Army and the Ottoman army, and was destroyed. At the same time about a thousand residents of Tel Aviv and Jaffa came to live in the town. They had been forcibly deported from their homes by the Ottomans.

Due to the Jaffa riots of 1921 these deportees returned to their original cities. In 1922 the original residents returned and in 1924 additional settlers joined them. In this period the cultivation of citrus fruit developed. The first elections for the local council were held.

In the time of the Arab Revolt, in 1936-1939, as in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Kfar Saba's population suffered from attacks by Arabs from the Arab village of Kafr Saba and other villages in the area. A short time before the Israeli declaration of independence these villages were taken in Operation Medina. In 1962 Kfar Saba was awarded city status, with head of the local council, Mordechai Surkis, becoming its first mayor.

Demographics

The census of 1922 listed the population of Kfar Saba as 14 Jews. By the census of 1931 it had grown to 307 Jews, 9 Christians, and one female of "no religion". In 1945, the town had a population of 4,320 Jews.

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2001, the ethnic makeup of the city was 99.9% Jewish and 0.1% Others. Additionally, there were 523 immigrant residents. Also according to the CBS, there were 37,000 males and 39,600 females in 2001. The population of the city was spread out with 31.1% 19 years of age or younger, 16.3% between 20 and 29, 17.7% between 30 and 44, 20.2% from 45 to 59, 3.5% from 60 to 64, and 11.3% 65 years of age or older. The population growth rate was 2.0% for that year.

The city is ranked high on the socio-economic scale (8 out of 10)

Economy

According to CBS, there were 31,528 salaried workers and 2,648 self-employed in Kfar Saba in 2000. The mean monthly wage in 2000 for a salaried worker was ILS 7,120, a real change of 10.1% over the course of 2000. Salaried males had a mean monthly wage of ILS 9,343 (a real change of 9.9%) versus ILS 5,033 for females (a real change of 9.7%). The mean income for the self-employed was 8,980. 1,015 people received unemployment benefits and 1,682 people received an income guarantee.

In May 2004 the exploration company Givot Olam said that the Meged-4 oil well, located northeast of Kfar Saba, has exceeded original predictions and contains an extremely valuable deposit of oil.

Education

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, Kfar Saba has 37 schools with a student population of 15,598. There are 20 elementary schools (6,684 students) and 21 high schools (8,914 students). 72.2% of Kfar Saba's 12th grade students earned a matriculation certificate in 2001. There are also two ulpans in Kfar Saba for new immigrants wanting to learn Hebrew.

Health

The population of Kfar Saba is served by Meir Hospital.

Landmarks

Nabi Yamin

A Mamluk caravanserai complex, including the mausoleum of Nabi Yamin, is located by the Kfar Saba – Qalqilyah road. The site contains an inscription dated to the 14th century. The site is believed to be the tomb of Benjamin, son of Jacob. North of this complex is a smaller tomb whose cupola has been painted green and is being maintained by local Palestinian Muslims, who consider it the "real" tomb. Jews and Muslims venerate Benjamin. Kfar Saba is in the heart of Dan's tribal area, but there are traditions that explain why Benjamin's tomb is located in the land of the tribe of Dan. The traditional burial place of Simeon, son of Jacob, lies close to Kfar Saba. It is a small domed structure that sits in a field not far from kibbutz Eyal. According to Meron Benvenisti, the site was until 1948 only holy to Muslims, and Jews ascribed no holiness to it. Today the dedicated inscriptions from the Mamluk period remain engraved on the stone walls of the tomb [but] the cloths embroidered with verses from the Qur´an, with which the gravestones were draped, have been replaced by draperies bearing verses from the Hebrew Bible.

First well

The development of Kfar Saba started when water was discovered by Jewish settlement institutions. The machinery is conserved in the khan (the first "hostel" built in Kfar Saba which serves as City Hall). The borehole exploits the Mountain Aquifer, providing excellent quality drinking and irrigation water to the early farmers. The nearest natural surface flow is the Shiloh river, which drains from the West Bank (from biblical Shiloh, nowadays a Ramallah neighborhood) into the Yarkon River, but its waters had been contaminated since historical times by malaria. Kfar Saba, therefore, was built on higher land, healthier but waterless.

Amrami's dairy farm

The dairy farm of Baruch Amrami – who transferred the administration of the Kfar Saba settlement from Petah Tikva to a local committee and founded the water company and the first bank of the village in the 1920s - still stands in the Amrami and Rothschild Street Corner. No memorial plaque signals the place, but the cowshed and Amrami's "office" is still standing.

Nordenstein house

Due to the lack of security during World War I, the settlement was abandoned. In 1922, the Nordenstein family returned and built the first defensible stone house. It took another two years for other families to return (mostly from Petah Tikva). The Nordenstein House is still standing on HaEmek Street, near the central bus station.

Kibbutz HaKovesh dining hall

A stone house on Tel Hai Street designed for defense (outlooks and sharp-shooting parapets) served as the communal dining room of Kibbutz HaKovesh. The pioneers themselves lived in tents. In 1948, the kibbutz moved north to secure the Kalkiliya front. The building now houses the Kfar Saba Civil Guard.

Archaeology

Remnants of an ancient Israelite village were discovered east of the city, and are believed to be the ruins of biblical Capharsaba. Some of archeological finds may be observed near the abandoned steel factory (Tzomet Pladah).

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Kfar Saba, which lies just across the Green Line from the Palestinian Arab town of Kalkilya, has been a frequent target of terrorist attacks. In May 2001, a Palestinian Arab suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt killed a doctor and wounded 50 at a bus stop in Kfar Saba. In March 2002, a Palestinian opened fire on passersby at a major intersection, killing an Israeli girl and wounding 16 before being shot dead. In April 2003, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up at the Kfar Saba train station during the morning rush hour, killing a security guard and wounding 10 bystanders.

Notable residents

Oz Almog, Israeli-Austrian artist

Moti Kirschenbaum, media personality

Gabi Ashkenazi, IDF Chief

Miki Berkovich, basketball player

Galit Chait, ice skater

David Klein, governor of the Bank of Israel

Idan Raichel, musician

Pinchas Sapir, politician

Harel Skaat, singer

Shelly Yachimovich, journalist and politician

Yehoshua Zettler, Lehi commander

Hanoch Kalai, Irgun Commander in Chief

Twin towns and sister cities

Kfar Saba is twinned with:

* Beit Jann, Israel

* Jinan, People's Republic of China

* Columbus, Ohio, USA

* Guatemala City, Guatemala

San José, Costa Rica>San José, Costa Rica

Mülheim, Germany

* Wiesbaden, Germany

* Delft, Netherlands (since 1971)

* Maracaibo, Venezuela

References

External links

Official municipal website Kfar Saba Museum Kfar Saba Portal

Green and Lean

Category:Cities in Israel Category:Populated places established in 1903 Category:Sharon plain Category:Tegart forts Category:Jewish villages in the Ottoman Empire