Tel Aviv

Tel-Aviv (תל-אביב) is a coastal city and also a metropolitan area in Israel. The name "Tel Aviv" in Hebrew means hill of spring, the title given to the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's book Altneuland or Old-new Land; the name "Tel Aviv" was borrowed by the translator, Nahum Sokolov[?], from the Book of Ezekiel.

The larger metropolitan area comprises a number of separate municipalities with around 1 million people living in the 14 km sprawl along the Mediterranean coast and around 425,000 in Tel Aviv-Jaffa itself, making it the largest city in Israel. Bat Yam, Holon, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Bnei-Brak, Petach-Tikva, Ramat Ha-Sharon and Herzliya are the other major cities in the area.

The settlement in the area of modern Southern Tel-Aviv (neighborhoods of Neve-Shalom and Neve-Tsedek) was started in the 1880s as a substitute for the rather expensive Arab neighborhoods of Jaffa. However the city of Tel-Aviv itself was established only in 1909. It quickly grew to become the center of Israeli urban life, and it remains one up until today. For a period of 8 months (May through December 1948) until the seizure of Jerusalem it also served as the de facto capital of Israel. Most foreign embassies are based in the Tel Aviv area, rather than in the capital Jerusalem, which is not internationally recognized. In 1950 Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united in a single municipality - Tel-Aviv-Yafo.

Tel Aviv's airport, Ben Gurion International Airport, is Israel's main airport.

Tel-Aviv University, the largest university in Israel, is located in north Tel-Aviv (Ramat-Aviv).

External link

• Tel Aviv official website (English) (http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english/index.htm) (Hebrew) (http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/)
• Interactive detailed city map (Hebrew) (http://194.90.126.5/iview/viewer.htm)