Aryeh Gur'el ( he, אריה גוראל, born 20 November 1918, died 28 October 2007)
was mayor of
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
from 1978 to 1993. He was affiliated with the
Israeli Labor Party
The Israeli Labor Party ( he, מִפְלֶגֶת הָעֲבוֹדָה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית, ), commonly known as HaAvoda ( he, הָעֲבוֹדָה, , The Labor), is a social democratic and Zionist political party in Israel. The p ...
.
Gur'el was born in
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, to parents Moshe and Tzila, and made
aliyah in 1935. After arriving in
Mandate Palestine
Mandatory Palestine ( ar, فلسطين الانتدابية '; he, פָּלֶשְׂתִּינָה (א״י) ', where "E.Y." indicates ''’Eretz Yiśrā’ēl'', the Land of Israel) was a geopolitical entity established between 1920 and 1948 i ...
, he joined the
Haganah. After the
1948 Arab-Israeli War, he studied
electrical engineering and worked in the establishment of telephone networks. From 1959 to 1968, he worked as a radio technician in the Haifa area and in northern Israel. Starting in 1968, he served as the General Director of the Ministry of Labour for ten years.
In 1978, Gur'el was elected
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...
of Haifa, and was instrumental in establishing the
cable car, as well as the promenade in the
Bat Galim neighborhood. Also during his time in office, air purification stations were established, and the pedestrian mall on Nordau Street and the Louis Promenade in
Merkaz HaCarmel were also built. His reign as mayor of Haifa is remembered by the numerous
promenade
An esplanade or promenade is a long, open, level area, usually next to a river or large body of water, where people may walk. The historical definition of ''esplanade'' was a large, open, level area outside fortress or city walls to provide cl ...
streets and the
funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite e ...
. He won reelection in
1983
The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call.
Events January
* January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...
and
1989
File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs ...
, before being defeated in the Labor Party
primary election for the
1993 mayoral election.
Gur'el published a number of articles on the topic of the absorption of electromagnetic rays from above the horizon.
References
Further reading
*Sarah and Meir Aharoni (1993), ''The people and the events of Haifa and the surrounding area''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gurel, Aryeh
1918 births
2007 deaths
Israeli civil servants
Israeli electrical engineers
Israeli Labor Party politicians
Jewish Israeli politicians
Mayors of Haifa
Polish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine