Kiryat Yam ( he, קִרְיַת יָם, lit. ''Sea Town'') is a city in the

Haifa Bay The Bay of Haifa or Haifa Bay ( he, מפרץ חיפה, ''Mifratz Heifa''), formerly Bay of Acre, is a bay along the Mediterranean coast of Northern Israel. Haifa Bay is Israel's only natural harbor on the Mediterranean. ''Haifa Bay'' also re ...

district of Israel, north 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 ...

. One of a group of Haifa suburbs known as the

Krayot The Krayot ( he, הקריות, "townships") (plural of ''Kirya'') are a cluster of four small cities and two neighbourhoods of Haifa founded in the 1930s on the outskirts of the city of Haifa, Israel, in the Haifa Bay area. The Krayot include Ki ...

, it is located on the Mediterranean coast, between

Kiryat Haim Kiryat Haim ( he, קריית חיים , ar, كريات حاييم) is a neighborhood of Haifa, Israel. It is considered part of the Krayot cluster in the northern part of metropolitan Haifa. In 2008, Kiryat Haim had a population of just un ...

and the Tzur Shalom industrial area, east of

Kiryat Motzkin Kiryat Motzkin ( he, קִרְיַת מוֹצְקִין) is a city in the Haifa District of Israel, north of the city of Haifa. In it had a population of . The city is named after Leo Motzkin (1867-1933), one of the organizers of the First Zionis ...

. In it had a population of .

History

The area was acquired by the Jewish community as part of the

Sursock Purchase The Sursock Purchase of the Jezreel Valley and Haifa Bay, as well as other parts of Mandatory Palestine, was the largest Jewish land purchase in Palestine during the period of early Jewish immigration. The Jezreel Valley was considered the most f ...

, in which a large tract of land on the Haifa Bay was purchased from the

Sursock family The Sursock family (also spelled Sursuq) is a Greek Orthodox Christian family from Lebanon, and used to be one of the most important families of Beirut. Having originated in Constantinople during the Byzantine Empire, the family has lived in Beir ...

of Beirut by the American Zion Commonwealth in 1925. In 1928, the Bayside Land Corporation, a joint venture of the Palestine Economic Corporation and the

Jewish National Fund Jewish National Fund ( he, קֶרֶן קַיֶּימֶת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Keren Kayemet LeYisrael'', previously , ''Ha Fund HaLeumi'') was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Syria (later Mandatory Palestine, and subseq ...

, acquired 2,400 dunams of residential land in a deal related to the building of the IPC oil pipeline.Glass, 2002, p
236
/ref> Development of a residential area began in 1939, and the first houses were completed in 1940.

Demographics

Kiryat Yam has a population of 38,945. The northern area of the city is home to many immigrants from the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, North Africa and

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

in which the municipality and its mayor Shmuel Sisso worked to build dozens of centers and homes to help the immigrants settle. The city is ranked medium on the socio-economic scale.

Schools

Kiryat Yam has 15 preschools, eight elementary schools and 3 high schools (Rabin, Rodman & Levinson) with a student population of 10,000.

Israeli-Arab conflict

During the

2006 Lebanon War The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

, Kiryat Yam was hit by

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

rockets and suffered casualties and property damage.

Urban development

Urban development plans aimed at upgrading the old Gimmel neighborhood were blocked by

Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. ( he, רפאל - מערכות לחימה מתקדמות בע"מ, formerly Rafael Armament Development Authority), ("Rafael" from Hebrew acronym of "Authority for the Development of Armaments" - ) is an Israel ...

, whose main weapons development plant borders Kiryat Yam. In 2009, the

Haifa district Haifa District ( he, מחוז חיפה, ''Mehoz Ḥeifa''; ar, منطقة حيفا) is an administrative district surrounding the city of Haifa, Israel. The district is one of the Districts of Israel, seven administrative districts of Israel, a ...

planning committee approved high-rise construction for the neighborhood, overruling Rafael's objections.

Neighbourhoods

*Kiryat Yam (Dalet) - including Almogim *Kiryat Yam (Gimmel) - built in the 1950s *Kiryat Yam (Bet) *Kiryat Yam (Alef) *Savyoney Yam *Psagot Yam & Bne Beitkha

Notable people

Avner Shats Avner Shats ( he, אבנר שץ; born 1959) is an Israeli author and poet. Born in Kiryat Yam, Israel, he now lives in Haifa. Having attended the naval academy in Acre as a boy, Shats commanded a swift boat on the Dead Sea before going to work ...

(born 1959), author and poet *

Sam Vaknin Shmuel "Sam" Vaknin (born April 21, 1961) is an Israelis, Israeli writer and professor of psychology.Vaknin, Sam"Curriculum Vitae" samvak.tripod.com, accessed October 27, 2021 He is the author of ''Malignant Self Love: Narcissism Revisited'' (199 ...

(born 1961), writer *

Orel Grinfeld Orel Grinfeld ( he, אוראל גרינפלד; born 21 August 1981) is an Israeli football referee. He has been on the FIFA list of international referees since 2012, and took charge of his first international matches in March that year, offi ...

(born 1981), football referee *

Gil Vermouth Gil Vermouth ( he, גיל "גילי" ורמוט; born August 5, 1985) is an Israeli former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or winger. Club career Vermouth is Jewish, and was born in Kiryat Yam, Israel. Vermouth st ...

(born 1985), footballer

Twin towns – sister cities

Kiryat Yam is twinned with: *

Créteil Créteil () is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne department as well as the seat of the Arrondissement of Cré ...

île-de-France , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 = +01:00 , timezone1_DST = CEST , utc_offset1_DST = +02:00 , blank_name_sec1 = GRP , blank_info_sec1 = Ranked 1st , blank1_name_sec1 ...

(France) * Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, Berlin (Germany) *

Makó Makó (, german: Makowa, yi, מאַקאָווע Makowe, ro, Macău or , sk, Makov) is a town in Csongrád County, in southeastern Hungary, from the Romanian border. It lies on the Maros River. Makó is home to 23,272 people and it has an area ...

(Hungary) *

Poti Poti ( ka, ფოთი ; Mingrelian: ფუთი; Laz: ჶაში/Faşi or ფაში/Paşi) is a port city in Georgia, located on the eastern Black Sea coast in the region of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti in the west of the country. Built near t ...

(Georgia) *

Sighetu Marmației Sighetu Marmației (, also spelled ''Sighetul Marmației''; german: Marmaroschsiget or ''Siget''; hu, Máramarossziget, ; uk, Сигіт, Syhit; yi, סיגעט, Siget), until 1960 Sighet, is a city (Municipalities of Romania, municipality) in ...

(Romania)

References

{{Authority control Cities in Israel Krayot Cities in Haifa District