Ashkelon
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| Basic data | |||
| hebrew : | אשקלון | ||
| arabic : | عسقلان | ||
| State : |
 Israel
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| District : | south | ||
| Coordinates : | 31 ° 40 ' N , 34 ° 34' E | ||
| Height : | 36 m | ||
| Area : | 47.788 km² | ||
| Residents : | 140,968 (as of 2018) | ||
| Population density : | 2,950 inhabitants per km² | ||
| Community code : | 7100 | ||
| Time zone : | UTC + 2 | ||
| Postal code : | 78001-78816 | ||
| Community type: | City administration | ||
| Website : | |||
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Ashkelon ( Hebrew אשקלון[aʃkɛ'lɔn], Arabic عسقلان, DMG ʿAsqalān , Akkadian Iš-qi-il-lu-nu, Latin Ascalon ) is a city in the southern district of Israel . It is located north of Gaza City on the south-eastern Mediterranean coast .
geography
The center of today's Ashkelon is the Afridar district . The city has an extensive sandy beach. On the southern outskirts of the city there is an archaeological park with the ruins of the ancient settlements by the sea.
history
Ashkelon was an important trading city and an important fortified place on the traffic routes between Egypt and Palestine from the Middle Bronze Age to the Middle Ages . There are also older finds on site, for example from the Stone Age . After the crusades, the place sank into insignificance. At the end of the Ottoman Empire there was a small Arab settlement here. In order to promote Ashkelon in the State of Israel , it was given the status of a development city .
Residents
The Israeli Central Statistical Office gives the following population figures for Ashkelon in the censuses of May 22, 1961, May 19, 1972, June 4, 1983, November 4, 1995 and December 28, 2008:
| Year of the census | 1961 | 1972 | 1983 | 1995 | 2008 | 2016 |
| Number of inhabitants | 24,310 | 43,000 | 52,894 | 80,938 | 110,416 | 134.454 |
economy
The largest reverse osmosis system in the world is currently (2006) in Ashkelon . It feeds 370,000 cubic meters of desalinated seawater into the Israeli drinking water network every day . This corresponds to 6 to 7% of the total Israeli fresh water requirement or 15% of the drinking water requirement. A further expansion of the plant is planned.
The Rutenberg coal-fired power station near Ashkelon supplies the region, including the Gaza Strip , with electricity .
traffic
The city is connected to the Israel Railways network. Connections to Tel Aviv and Lod lead to the north, the Ashkelon – Be'er Scheva railway line to the south and a route to Kirjat Gat, which is only used by freight trains .
mayor
- Benny Vaknin (until 2013)
- Itamar Shimoni (2013-2017)
- Tomer Glam (since 2017)
Sports
The Sala stadium holds 10,000 spectators and is home to the Hapoel Ashkelon football club . Ashkelon was planned as the venue for the Israel Grand Prix in November 1970 , an automobile sport event based on Formula 2 criteria. The race had to be canceled due to serious safety deficiencies.
Town twinning
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sons and daughters of the town
- Yaël Abecassis (* 1967), actress
- Antiochus of Ascalon (140 BC - 67 BC), Greek philosopher
- Eutokios of Ascalon (5th century AD), Greek mathematician and philosopher
- Barak Itzhaki (* 1984), football player
- Israel Katz (* 1955), politician
- Maor Levi (* 1988), music producer and DJ
- Oriana Schrage (* 1977), actress
More worth knowing
Ashkelon is also home to the Shikma Prison , which was previously named after the city.
Web links
- Site of the city of Ashkelon
- In the black whale at Askalon (German student song on Wikisource )
Individual evidence
- ↑ אוכלוסייה ביישובים 2018 (population of the settlements 2018). (XLSX; 0.13 MB) Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , August 25, 2019, accessed May 11, 2020 .
- ^ Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
- ↑ Ashkelon Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) Plant, Israel . Water Technology.
- ↑ Israel and Occupied Territories . ( Memento of March 14, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) amnesty.de, March 28, 2002; Retrieved March 29, 2011.