Haifa

Background

Haifa Bay ( Hebrew: מפרץ חיפה ‎ , Mifratz Haifa) is a small bay along the Mediterranean coast of Northern Israel. Fed by the Kishon River, the cities of Haifa and Acre mark its southern and northern capes, while its centre is lined with dunes and the suburban HaKerayot neighbourhoods. Mount Carmel rises from the southern edge, while the mountains of the Western Galilee run up to the shore at the northern boundary.

Haifa Bay is Israel's only natural harbor on the Mediterranean, though the country has a man-made harbor at Ashdod and a Red Sea outlet at Eilat.

Haifa Bay - is home to a bustling industrial zone, housing many shore-based oil refineries and chemical plants. These have caused much pollution to the bay, and are often blamed for an increased desease rate in the surrounding communities. [1] The Kishon River is also quite polluted. The huge, twin 76 meter towers of the Bazan company have become a nationally recognized icon for the city.

Mount Carmel - The phrase Mount Carmel has been used in three distinct ways:

• To refer to the 39-km-long (24-mile long) mountain range, stretching as far in the southeast as Jenin.
• To refer to the northwestern 19 km (12 miles) of the mountain range.
• To refer to the headland at the northwestern end of the range.

The range is about 6.5 to 8 km (4 to 5 miles) wide, sloping gradually towards the southwest, but forming a steep ridge on the northeastern face, 525.4 m (1,742 feet) high; the Jezreel Valley lies to the immediate northeast. The range forms a natural barrier in the landscape, just as the Jezreel Valley forms a natural passageway, and consequently the mountain range and the valley had much impact on migration and invasions through the Levant. The mountain formation is an admixture of limestone and flint,containing many caves, and covered in several volcanic rocks.The sloped side of the mountain is covered with luxuriant vegetation, including oaks, pines, olives, and laurels. Several towns are located on the range, including Yoknam on the eastern ridge, Zikhron Ya'aqov on the southern slope, the Druze town of Carmel City (formed in 2003 from the towns of Daliyat al-Karmel and Isfiya) on the more central part of the ridge, and the towns of Nesher, Tirat Hakarmel, and the city of Haifa, on the far northwestern promontory and its base.

Mount Carmel is considered a sacred place for Bah?'?s around the world, and is the location of the Bah?'? World Centre and the Shrine of the B?b. The location of the Bah?'? holy places has its roots to the imprisonment of the religion's founder, Bah?'u'll?h, near Haifa by the Ottoman Empire during the Ottoman Empire's rule over Palestine.

The Shrine of the B?b is a structure where the remains of the B?b, the founder of B?bism and forerunner of Bah?'u'll?h in the Bah?'? Faith, have been laid to rest. The shrine's precise location on Mount Carmel was designated by Bah?'u'll?h himself and the the B?b's remains were laid to rest on March 21, 1909 in a six-room mausoleum made of local stone. The construction of the shrine with a golden dome was completed over the mausoleum in 1953, and a series of decorative terraces around the shrine were completed in 2001.

Bah?'u'll?h, the founder of the Bah?'? Faith, writing in the Tablet of Carmel, designated the area around the shrine as the location for the administrative headquarters of the religion; the Bah?'? administrative buildings were constructed adjacent to the decorative terraces, and are referred to as the Arc, on account of their physical arrangement.