Petah Tikva ( , "Opening of
Hope") known as Em HaMoshavot ("Mother of the Moshavot"), is a city in the Center
District
of Israel
.
Petah Tikva's jurisdiction covers 35,868
dunams (~35.9 km² or 15 sq mi). The
population density is . According to the
Central Bureau of
Statistics, at the end of 2007, the city's population stood at
188,900, growing at an annual rate of 2.5%.
Etymology
The name of Petah Tikva was chosen by its founders in 1878 from the
prophecy of
Hosea (2:17), "And I will give her
vineyards from thence, and the Valley of Achor for an
opening
of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her
youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of
Egypt."
Petah Tikva's emblem appears on a
postage
stamp designed by
Yitzhak
Goldenhirsch, a founding member of Petah Tikva. The plow
symbolizes Petah Tikva's origins as an agricultural settlement, the
field symbolizes the drying of the
Yarkon
River swamps and cultivation of the land, and the orange tree
symbolizes Petah Tikva's citrus industry, starting with the first
tree planted by Rabbi
Arye Leib
Frumkin.
History

Petah Tikva in 1912

Workers in Petah Tikva in the
1930s
Petah
Tikva was founded in 1878 by religious pioneers from Europe, who were led by Yehoshua Stampfer, Moshe Shmuel Raab,
Yoel Moshe Salomon, Zerach Barnett and David Gutmann as well as
Lithuanian
Rabbi Aryeh Leib Frumkin and Zev Wolf
Branda. It was the first modern Jewish agricultural
settlement in
Ottoman Palestine and
has since grown to become one of Israel's most populous urban
centres.
Originally
intending to establish a new settlement in the Achor Valley, near Jericho
, the
pioneers purchased land in that area. However, the Turkish
Sultan cancelled the purchase and forbade them from settling there,
but they retained the name Petah Tikva as a symbol of their
aspirations.
Undaunted, the settlers purchased a modest area (3.40 square
kilometers) from the village of Mulabbis (variants:
Mlabbes,
Um-Labbes), near the source of the
Yarkon River.
The Sultan allowed the enterprise to proceed,
but because their purchase was located in what was a malarial swamp, they had to evacuate when the
malaria spread, founding the town of Yehud
near the
Arabic village Yehudiyya about to the south. With the
financial help of
Baron
Edmond de Rothschild they were able to drain the swamps
sufficiently to be able to move back in 1883, joined by immigrants
of the
First Aliyah, and later the
Second Aliyah.
During
World War I,
Petah Tikva served as a refugee town for residents of Tel Aviv and
Jaffa
, following their exile by the Turkish authorities
due to their refusal to serve the Turkish army to fight the
invading British forces. The town suffered heavily as it lay
between the Turkish and British fronts during the war.
Petah Tikva became the school for thousands of pioneer workers, who
studied the craft of farming there before they ventured out to
establish dozens of settlements in all parts of the country. The
agricultural schools are still active to this day.
Petah Tikva was also the birthplace of the
Labor Zionist Movement, inspired and
encouraged by the writings of
A.
D. Gordon
who lived in Petah Tikva before moving to
Degania in the
Galilee.
The first recorded Arab attack on Jews in
Palestine took place in Petah Tikva in 1886. Petah
Tikva was also the scene of Arab rioting in May 1921, which left
four Jews dead.
In the
1930s, the pioneering founders of Kibbutz Yavneh
from the Religious
Zionist movement immigrated to the British Mandate of
Palestine, settling near Petah Tikva on land purchased by a
Jewish-owned German company. Refining the agricultural
skills they learned in Germany, these pioneers began in 1941 to
build their kibbutz in its intended location in the south of
Israel, operating from Petah Tikva as a base.

Shlomo Stampfer and his son in their
orchard in the 1930s
In the early 1920s, industry began to develop in the Petah Tikva
region. In 1921, Petah Tikva was given the status of a
local council by the British
authorities, and in 1937 it was recognized as a city. Its first
mayor,
Shlomo Stampfer, was the son
of one of its founders,
Yehoshua
Stampfer.
After the
creation of the State of Israel in 1948, several adjoining villages
- Amishav and Ein Ganim to the east,
Kiryat Matalon to the west, towards
Bnei
Brak
, Kfar Ganim and Mahaneh
Yehuda to the south and Kfar Avraham on
the north - were merged into the municipal boundaries of Petah
Tikva, giving it a significant population boost to
22,000.
During the
Second Intifada, Petah
Tikva suffered three terrorist attacks.
- On May 27, 2002 a suicide bomber blew himself up at a small
cafe outside a shopping mall, leaving two dead, including a
baby.
- On December 25, 2003 a suicide bomber blew himself up at a bus
stop near the Geha bridge, killing 4 civilians.
- On February 5, 2006 a Palestinian got into a shuttle taxi,
pulled out a knife and began stabbing passengers. A worker from a
nearby factory hit him with a log, subduing him. Two civilians
died.
Economy
Petah
Tikva is the second largest industrial sector in Israel after the
northern city of Haifa
. The
industry is divided into three zones - Kiryat Aryeh (named after
Aryeh Shenkar), Kiryat Matalon (named
after
Moshe Yitzhak Matalon),
and Segula, and includes
textiles,
metalwork, carpentry,
plastics, processed
foods, tires and other rubber products, and soap.
In the last few years
many high-tech companies and start-ups
have moved into the Petah Tikva industrial zone, which now house
the Israeli headquarters for the Oracle Corporation, IBM, Intel
, Alcatel-Lucent, ECI
Telecom, and GlaxoSmithKline
Pharmecuticals. Furthermore, the Israeli
Teva company, the world's largest generic drug
manufacturer is headquartered in Petah Tikva, whilst one of
Israel's leading food processing corporations,
Osem opened in Petah Tikva in 1976 and has
since been joined by the company's administrative offices,
distribution center and sauce factory.
Over time, the extensive citrus groves that once ringed Petah Tikva
have disappeared as real-estate developers acquired the land for
construction projects. Many new neighborhoods are going up in and
around Petah Tikva. A quarry for building stone is located east of
Petah Tikva.
As well as general
hi-tech firms, Petah
Tikva has developed a position as a base for many communications
firms. As such, the headquarters of the
Bezeq International international phone
company is located in the Kiryat Matalon industial zone as are
those of the
Golden Lines Internet Service Provider. The
headquarters of
Internet Gold Internet Service Provider is
located in the Segula industrial zone whilst those of
Tadiran Telecom are in the Ramat Siv
industrial zone.
Arutz Sheva, the right
wing
Religious Zionist Israeli
media network operates an internet radio studio in Petah Tikva,
where Arutz Sheva internet TV is located as well as the printing
press for its B'Sheva newspaper.
Transportation
While Petah Tikva is not a major transportation hub, a large number
of intercity
Egged buses stop there, and the
city has a network of local buses operated by the
Kavim company.
The Dan bus
company operates lines to Ramat Gan
, Bnei
Brak
and Tel
Aviv
.
Petah
Tikva's largest bus terminal is the Petah Tikva Central Bus
Station, while other major stations are located near Beilinson
Hospital
and Beit Rivka.
A
rapid transit/light rail system is in the works which will
connect Petah Tikva to Bnei
Brak
, Ramat
Gan
, Tel
Aviv
and Bat
Yam
.
Israel Railways maintains two
suburban railroad stations in Segula and Kiryat Aryeh, in the
northern part of the city. A central train station near the main
bus station is envisioned as part of Israel Railways's long-term
expansion plan.
There are eight taxi fleets based in Petah Tikva, and the city is
bordered by three of the major vehicle arteries in Israel: Geha
Highway (
Highway 4) on the west,
the Trans-Samaria Highway (
Highway
5) on the north, and the Trans-Israel Highway (
Highway 6) on the east.
Local government and politics

Yehoshua Stampfer

Shlomo Stampfer

Petah Tikva City Hall
Petah Tikva's history of government goes back to 1880, when the
pioneers elected a council of seven members to run the new colony.
From from 1880 to 1921, members of the council were David Meir
Guttman, Yehoshua Stampfer, Ze'ev Branda,
Abraham Ze'ev Lipkis,
Yitzhak Goldenhirsch,
Chaim Cohen-Rice,
Moshe Gissin,
Shlomo Zalman Gissin and
Akiva Librecht. This governing body was
declared a local council in 1921, and Petah Tikva became a city in
1937.
Kadima, the political party founded by
former Israeli prime minister
Ariel
Sharon and now headed by
Tzipi
Livni, has its headquarters in Petah Tikva.
Council heads
Mayors
Education
Petah Tikva is home to 300 educational institutions from
kindergarten through high school, catering to the secular,
religious and
Haredi populations. There are
over 43,000 students enrolled in these schools, which are staffed
by some 2,400 teachers.In 2006, five schools participated in the
nationwide
Mofet program, which promotes
academic excellence.Petah Tikva has nine public libraries, the main
one located in the city hall building.
Religion

Great Synagogue in Petah Tikva
Some 70,000 Orthodox Jews live in Petah Tikva. The community of
Petah Tikva is served by 300 synagogues, including the 120-year old
Great Synagogue, eight
mikvaot (ritual baths)
and two major
Haredi yeshivot,
Lomzhe Yeshiva and
Or-Yisrael (founded by the
Chazon
Ish, Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz).
Yeshivat Hesder Petah Tikva, a
modern-orthodox
Hesder Yeshiva affiliated
with the
Religious Zionist
movement, directed by Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, is also located in Petah
Tikva.
Petah Tikva has two cemeteries: Segula Cemetery, east of the city,
and Yarkon Cemetery, to the northeast.
Neighborhoods
Petah Tikva is divided into 22 neighborhoods for municipal
purposes: Sgula Industrial Zone, Kiryat Aryeh Industrial Zone,
Ramat Siv Industrial Zone, Hadar HaMoshavot, New Hadar HaMoshavot,
Ahim Israelit, Neve Gan, Krol, Shifer,
Kfar
Avraham, Kiryat HaRav Solomon, Mishkanot Ganim, Shikun HaPo'el
HaMizrahi, Tkuma, Kiryat Alon, Kiryat
David
Elazar, Yoseftal, Kiryat Eliezer Perry, Tzameret Ganim, Ein
Ganim, City Center, Ramat Verber, Bar Yehuda, Neve Ganim, Kiryat
Matalon, Neve Oz, Kfar Ganim, Bat Ganim, Shikun Ahdut,
Sha'ariya,Amishav, Beilinson and Hadar Ganim.
Landmarks and cultural institutions

Calatrava bridge
- Santiago Calatrava
bridge
- Petah Tikva Zoo
- Beit Yad Labanim
- Petah Tikva Museum of Art
- Rothschild Arch
Sports
Petah Tikva has two
soccer teams -
Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. and
Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C..
The local baseball team, the
Petach Tikva Pioneers, played in the
inaugural 2007 season of the
Israel Baseball League. The league
folded the following year.
Health

Rabin Medical Center (Belinson)
Petah Tikva has the most extensive health coverage of any city in
Israel relative to the size of its population. Six hospitals are
located in the city.
The Rabin Medical Center
Beilinson complex includes the Beilinson Medical
Center, the Davidoff Oncologic Center, the Geha Psychiatric
Hospital, the Schneider Pediatric Hospital and Tel Aviv
University's Faculty of Medical Research. Other medical
facilities in Petah Tikva are HaSharon Hospital, the Beit Rivka
Geriatric Center, the Kupat Holim Medical Research Center and a
private hospital, Ramat Marpeh, affiliated with Assuta Hospital.
The Schneider Pediatric Center is one of the largest and most
modern children's hospitals in the Middle East. In addition, there
are many family health clinics in Petah Tikva as well as Kupat
Holim clinics operated by Israel's
Health maintenance
organizations.
Notable residents
- A. D.
Gordon, Labor Zionist ideologue
- Shmuel Dayan, Zionist activist
- Hanoch Bartov, (b. 1926 in Petah
Tikva), author and columnist
- Yehoshua Kenaz, (b. 1937 in Petah
Tikva), novelist
- Tamar Gozansky (b. 1940 in Petah
Tikva), politician
- Itzik Kol, (b. Petah Tikva),
television and movie producer
- Dudu Fisher, (b. 1951 in Petah
Tikva), cantor and stage performer
- Simcha Jacobovici (b. April 4,
1953 in Petah Tikva), filmmaker
- Avraham Grant (b. May 6, 1955 in
Petah Tikva), former coach of the Israel national football team
and Chelsea F.C.
- Tzofit Grant, (b. November 13, 1964
in Petah Tikva), Television personality and Avraham Grant's
wife.
- Idan Tal, (b. October 13, 1975 in Petah
Tikva), soccer player
- Israel Finkelstein (b. Petah
Tikva), archaeologist
- Rami Saari, (b. 1963 in Petah Tikva),
poet, translator, linguist and literary critic
- Tal Burstein (b. February 19, 1980
in Petah Tikva), professional basketball
player
- Leah Rabin, wife of assassinated
Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin,
lived in Petah Tikva from 1995 until her death on November 12,
2000
- Pnina Rosenblum (b. 1954 in
Petah Tikva), fashion model, businesswoman and politician.
- Nahum Stelmach (1936-1999),
legendary soccer player and figurehead of the local team, Hapoel Petah Tikva
International relations
Twin towns — Sister cities
Petah Tikva is
twinned with:
- Chicago, Illinois
, USA
- Laval, Quebec
, Canada
- Koblenz
, Germany
- Odense
municipality, Denmark
- Trondheim
, Sør-Trøndelag, Norway
- Bacau
,
Romania
- Rio de Janeiro, RJ
, Brazil - Lei criada pela vereadora
Patricia Amorim
- Kadıköy
, Turkey
Gallery
File:PT-Haim Ozer2.jpg|Haim-Ozer st., Petah TikvaFile:PT-Haim
Ozwe3.jpg|Haim-Ozer st., Petah Tikva
File:PT-Phone Booth.jpg|In 2008 ten K6 telephone
boxes were imported from the United Kingdom
to Petah Tikva and installed on its main street,
Haim Ozer.File:Petah Tikva CBS.jpg|Petah Tikva, the Central
Bus Station.
References
http://www.rishonim.org.il/petach-tikva/info/founder_show.aspx?id=51
External links