Jisr az-Zarqa

Jisr az-Zarqa (Arabic: جِسْر الزَّرْقَاء‎, Hebrew: גִ'סְּר א-זַּרְקָא‎ lit. bridge over the blue; often shortened as Jisr) is an Israeli Arab town on Israel's northern Mediterranean coastal plain. Located just north of Caesarea within the Haifa District, it achieved local council status in 1963. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) the town had a population of 11,100 residents at the end of 2005. The name Jisr az-Zarqa is a reference to Taninim Stream, which is known in Arabic as the "Blue Stream." The mayor is Az-Adin Amash.

History

Jisr az-Zarqa is the only remaining Arab town in Israel located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Before the establishment of the state, it was inhabited by Bedouin of the Ghawarina tribe. The intervention of Jews from the neighboring towns of Zikhron Ya'akov and Binyamina, who relied on the population of Jisr az-Zarqa for agricultural labor, prevented the dispersal of its population in 1948.

In November 2002, the Caesarea Development Corporation constructed a large earthen embankment running the length of the 160 meter-wide corridor between Jisr az-Zarqa and neighboring Caesarea. The embankment was built to block noise from the muezzin in local mosques, celebratory gunfire, and to reduce property crime in surrounding communities. Residents of Jisr az-Zarqa claim that the national park in the north, the embankment to the south, the highway to the east and the sea to the west, are keeping the town from expanding.