| Page Views: 230 Last Visit to Haifa: - | Haifa by Martman - last update: Sep 2, 2006 |
Haifa חֵיפָה حَيْفَا
Haifa has a population of about a quarter million. It is considered the main city of northern Israel and is the chief port of Israel.
It has the country's main oil refining center. Industries include steel, shipbuilding, textiles and chemicals. I cannot write much about the city as I was here very briefly. I was about a few hours in total.
I do know that Haifa is the most cosmopolitan of the major Israel cities. In the main areas of Tel-Aviv (excluding Jaffa) most sings were in Hebrew. In Haifa, I saw far more signs in Arabic too, indicating a larger Arab population. (I do know that the majority of Israeli Arabs live in the Galilee-Northern Israel.) The various groups in Haifa live in relative harmony. They are clearly not all jumping for joy, but in relative peace. |
| I took this picture from my bus. |
|  | Meet Former Haifa Resident In Toronto I always enjoy meeting interesting people. I was once waiting in line at an agent I worked with. The two men just before of me in the line were talking in Hebrew. I am not fluent in Hebrew but can hold a good conversation. I could hear from their conversation that they were fluent. I started conversation one of them Hebrew. I asked him where he is from. He said that he was born and lived in Haifa all his life. He came to Toronto recently. Somewhere in his conversation, he mentioned that he is not Jewish. I then assumed he was Arabic. (Nearly all Israeli-Arabs are fluent in Hebrew even if they prefer not to speak it!) His name sounded Arabic too. He responded in Hebrew that he is not Arabic at all, though he speaks Arabic fluently too.
He was one interesting man. He was born and lived in Haifa all his life. He is fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic. His name sounded Arabic. Yet, he was not Jewish and not Arabic. I was stumped. Though it was not my business, I was curious enough to ask him how he considers himself.
He responded in Hebrew: Ani Druz.
which translates as I am a Druze.
I never even thought of that. He was a Druze! Druze is a religion in itself that originates from the Middle-East. I am sure that Haifa has many Druze. I just did not expect to meet one in Toronto. |
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