Maalot Tarshiha, Israel

Maalot Tarshiha is a mixed city in the North District in Israel, some 20 km east of Nahariya.The city was established in 1963 through a municipal merge of the Arab town of Tarshiha and the Jewish town of Ma'alot. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in December 2007 the city had a total population of 21,200.Tarshiha:Tarshiha is believed to have been built on the site of a Canaanite settlement, Haki[citation needed], dating back to the (2nd-3rd millennium BC. Excavations of a 4th century burial cave in the village unearthed a cross and a piece of glass engraved with a menorah.Crusader sources from the (12th and 13th century) refer to Tarshiha as Terschia, Torsia and Tersigha. During the Crusader period, Tarshiha was the site of battles between Christians and Arabs. Under Ottoman and British rule, the village became an administrative center between Safed to the east, and Acre to the west.Tarshiha was in the territory allotted to the Arab state under the 1947 UN Partition Plan[4] However, fierce battles erupted between Israeli and Arab forces in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The village was captured by the Israel Defense Forces in Operation Hiram, on October 29, 1948, by which time a large part of Tarshiha's Arab population had fled to Lebanon.Ma'alot Ma'alot was established as a development town for Jewish immigran:s from Romania, Iran, Lebanon and Morocco, in 1957. The first homes were built on Har HaRakafot (Cyclamen Hill), known in Arabic as Bab Al-Hauwa Gate of the Winds. In 1963, Maalot was merged with the larger Tarshiha and the unified town was renamed to reflect both origins. The inhabitants of Tarshiha hoped that the merger would improve the level of services.