Tel Aviv is a Hebrew name that combines the concepts of antiquity and newness. The city’s astonishing diversity can be seen in its distinct and very different neighbourhoods and also in the extremes of ‘old’ and ‘new’ to be found here.

The port at Jaffa was the principal seaport for Jerusalem during Temple times and has a history going back 4,000 years, making it the oldest port in the world. In 1468 BC, the Israelites lost the port to the Egyptians, although Jewish scholars remained in the Jaffa area up until the 13th century, when they were killed off by the Mamaluks.

By the late 19th century, overcrowded conditions in Jaffa led to a number of Jews moving out and building a new neighbourhood to the north, which they named Neve Tzedek.

Further developed ensued and in 1909, a number of families bought land stretching from the recently settled Neve Tzedek to the Yarkon River, largely consisting of sand dunes overlooking the Mediterranean. They called their new town the ‘housing project,’ which was renamed shortly afterwards as ‘Tel Aviv.’

Throughout the war years, Tel Aviv was a centre for Zionist resistance against Britain’s anti-immigration policy. In 1947, the United Nations voted in favour of creating a homeland for Jews, in Israel and on 14 May 1948, statehood was declared.

War broke out after this declaration, with much of Jaffa’s Arab population fleeing the city. Not long afterwards, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were united as joint citiesand by the mid-1960s, Tel Aviv’s population had grown to 400,000, including large numbers of Jewish immigrants. In subsequent years, Tel Aviv absorbed vast numbers of refugees from many parts of the world.