The Tel Aviv reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004
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Tel Aviv

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Tel Aviv-Yafo (תל אביב-יפו) is a coastal city and also a metropolitan area in Israel. 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. Though Israel subsequently designated Jerusalem to be its capital, that designation was regarded as a breach of international law and not accepted by the diplomatic community (with just two exceptions) nor by any international state organisations, all of whom continue to regard Tel Aviv as the de jure Israeli capital, as a result basing all their embassies and consulates there. The Congress of the United States recognized Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, but the president was given permission to prevent the moving of the US embassy from Tel Aviv. 1

The name "Tel Aviv" in Hebrew means hill of spring, the title given to the Hebrew translation of Theodor Herzl's book Altneuland or Oldnewland; 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 1.1 million people living in the 14 km sprawl along the Mediterranean coast and around 365,000 in Tel Aviv-Yafo itself, making it the second largest city in Israel. Bat Yam, Holon, Ramat Gan, Givatayim, Bnei-Brak, Petah Tikva, Rishon LeZion, Ramat Ha-Sharon and Herzliya are the other major cities in the area known as Gush Dan2.

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. In 1950 Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united in a single municipality - Tel Aviv-Yafo.

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

In July, 2003, Tel Aviv's White City was announced unanimously by the UNESCO council as a World Heritage Site, due to its massive assemblage of the Bauhaus International Style buildings, the city's most precious architecture style.

Tel-Aviv holds some of the top sports teams in Israel, and in one case even in the world:

The Maccabi Tel-Aviv Sports Club was founded at 1906 and homes over 10 sport branches, such as a Basketball club (43 times Israeli champion, 33 times Israeli cup holder and 3 times European Champion's cup holder), a Soccer club (18 times Israeli champion, 21 times Israeli cup holder, twice Israeli Toto cup holder and twice Asia cup holder), and a Judo club (Ya'el Arad of Maccabi Tel-Aviv won a silver medal in the 1992 Olympic Games).

Hapoel Tel-Aviv's Basketball club (5 Israeli championships, 4 Israeli cups) and Soccer club (13 Israeli championships, 10 Israeli cups, one Toto cup and once Asia champion) have always been amongst the top Israeli clubs.

Bnei-Yehuda Tel-Aviv's Soccer Club (Once Israeli champion, twice Israeli cup holder and twice Israeli Toto cup holder) is the only Israeli Soccer team on the highest Israeli soccer league (Ligat Ha-Al) that repreasent only a neighborhood - Schunat Hatikva (The Hope Neighborhood) in Tel-Aviv - And not an entire city.

Ben Gurion International Airport, which serves the city, is located near the city of Lod.

Footnote

1 Jerusalem is accepted as Israel's capital by two countries, Costa Rica and El Salvador.

2 Ramat Ha-Sharon and Herzliya, though neighboring Tel Aviv, are not considered part of Gush Dan, but rather of an area named Sharon

External links