Giv'at Shmuel

Giv'at Shmuel
  • גִּבְעַת שְׁמוּאֵל
  • جفعات شموئيل
Hebrew transcription(s)
  ISO 259 Gibˁat Šmuˀel

Coat of arms
Giv'at Shmuel
Coordinates: 32°4′41.23″N 34°50′51.22″E / 32.0781194°N 34.8475611°E / 32.0781194; 34.8475611Coordinates: 32°4′41.23″N 34°50′51.22″E / 32.0781194°N 34.8475611°E / 32.0781194; 34.8475611
District Central
Founded 1944
Government
  Type City (from 2007)
  Mayor Yossi Brodny (Likud)
Area
  Total 2,579 dunams (2.579 km2 or 637 acres)
Population (2012)[1]
  Total 23,706

Giv'at Shmuel (Hebrew: גִּבְעַת שְׁמוּאֵל, English: Samuel Hill) is a city in the Center District of Israel. It is located in the eastern part of the Gush Dan Metropolitan Area and is surrounded by the larger cities Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak to the West, Kiryat Ono to the South and Petah Tikva to the East and North. Giv'at Shmuel has a population of about 23,706 people (end of 2012).[1]

The city is named after the Romanian Zionist leader Samuel Pineles, the founder and president of the Zionist Congress in Focşani and the Vice-President of the First Zionist Congress in Basel. It has recently undergone a major expansion and doubled its population from 1998 to 2005. On November 5, 2007, the Israeli Minister of Interior accepted a committee recommendation to change the municipal status of Giv'at Shmuel to 'city'.

Social Life

Ilan Ramon park
Residential tower
Historical water tower

A leisure and sports center is being established on an area of about 32 dunams in northeastern Givat Shmuel (town plan 3107), which incorporates tennis courts, fitness rooms, swimming pools, a roller skating rink, a cafeteria and other services, along with water park, covering an area of about 5 dunams.[2]

Education

Giv'at Shmuel is considered a highly educated town, with 81.5% of high school graduates being eligible for a matriculation certificate in the school year 2012-13. Adjacent to the South-Western edge of Giv'at Shmuel is the campus of Bar Ilan University. While technically in Ramat Gan, the campus has been expanding in recent years to the effect that it now separates the southern Ramat Ilan neighbourhood of Giv'at Shmuel from the rest of the city.

Sports

Maccabi Habik'a, formerly Maccabi Giv'at Shmuel, are a basketball team that played in Ligat HaAl, the top division of Israeli basketball, until relegation in 2007. They reached the State Cup final in 2003, but lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Commencing April 30, 2010 a local running race has been inaugurated which is intended to take place annually. During the first race, 350 runners from all over the country participated in a 10 km (6 mi) heat and over 750 youngsters in a 2 km (1 mi) non-competitive heat. The 10 km (6 mi) competitive heat was led by the country's top long distance runners.

Expat Community

Giv'at Shmuel is home to Israel's largest community of lone immigrants,[3] at approximately 950 students, young professionals, and newly married couples. It also has the highest rate of "successful aliyah"[1] - the amount of immigrants who stay in Israel after 5 years - in the country. Whereas the international community in Giv'at Shmuel used to be comprised primarily of Bar-Ilan University students and alumni, that percentage has dwindled to approximately 50%. This has been attributed to the university's recent unfavorable policies targeting immigrant policies.[4]

In 2013, Nefesh B'Nefesh began to take an active interest in the international community's success. It began to unofficially support various events and activities, and worked closely with local leaders to expand programming neglected by Bar-Ilan University. As a direct result, The GSC - Givat Shmuel Community (R.A.) was formed, creating an infrastructural backbone for all English-speaking activities in the area.

International Relations

Sister cities - Twin towns

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 15, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.