Acre, Israel

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The city of AcreModern spellings:

Hebrew עַכּוֹ

Arabic: عكّا‎ ‘Akká

Spoken word:

Other spellings and historical names of the city include Accho, Acco, and formerly Aak, Ake, Akre, Akke, Ocina, Antiochia Ptolemais (Greek: Αντιόχεια της Πτολεμαΐδος), Antiochenes, Ptolemais Antiochenes, Ptolemais or Ptolemaïs, Colonia Claudii Cæsaris, and St.-Jean d'Acre is in Western Galilee in the North District, Israel.

According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), at the end of 2003 the city had a total population of 45,600. It stands on a low promontory at the northern extremity of the Bay of Acre, 152 kilometers (95 miles) N.N.W. from Jerusalem.

It was long regarded as the "Key of Palestine," on account of its commanding position on the shore of the broad coastal plain that joins the inland plain of Esdraelon, and so affords the easiest entrance to the interior of the country.

Contents

Notable sights and places in Acre

The harbour at Acre in 2005

The old city of Acre has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and contains, among other sites, a tunnel leading to a 13th century fortress of the Knights Templar.

Since the 1990s, there are vast works of archeological excavations and preservations of ancient structures in progress. The works are carried out by the Old Acre Development Company (OADC).

The walls

The first notable thing which comes to sight when coming to Acre is the heavy land defense wall, built north and east to the city. This wall was built in 1800-1814 by Jezzar Pasha (called by the locals Al-Jezzar) and his Jewish advisor Haim Farkhi. This is a modern counter artillery fortification which includes a thick defensive wall, a dry moat, cannons' outposts and three Burges (large defensive towers).

In 1750, Daher El-Omar, the ruler of Acre, utilized the remnants of the Crusader walls as a foundation for his walls. They were reinforced between 1775 and 1799 by Jezzar Pasha and survived Napoleon's siege. The wall was thin, its height was 10-13 metres and its thickness was only 1 metre.

The sea wall, which remained mostly complete, is the original El-Omar's wall that was reinforced by al-Jezzar. However, the land wall which survived Napoleon's siege was replaced in 1800 with a modern wall by al-Jezzar.

The Great Mosque

The Al Jezzar mosque was built by Jezzar Pasha (d. 1804) from materials taken from Caesarea Palaestina: his tomb is within.

Hamam is a hot Turkish bath. Acre's Hamam is notable mainly because it was used by the Irgun as bridge to break into the citadel's prison.

The citadel

The current building which consists the citadel of Acre is an Ottoman forification, built on the foundation of the Hospitallerian citadel. The citadel was part of the city's defensive formation, reinforcing the northern wall.

During the 20th century the citadel was used mainly as prison and a gallows. During the British mandate period, activists of Jewish Zionist resistance movements were held prisoner there; some were executed there. In 1947, members of the Irgun broke into the citadel and released many prisoners.

Today, the citadel of Acre contains the following:

The Ottoman fortifications (including the tower and the moat).
Acre Old City Visitor Centers.
The "enchanted garden": a new garden that is planted according to historical description of the garden that was there during the Crusades period.
Acre's British prison and the gallows.
Memorial for Jewish resistance fighters, executed by the British mandate.
A Museum for the Jewish resistance prisoners, מוזיאון אסירי המחתרות .
Prison cell of Bahá'u'lláh, Founder of the Bahá'í Faith.
Knights' Halls (see below).

As of August 2004, the citadel is partly closed, due to preservation works.

The Knights' Halls

Under the citadel and prison of Acre, archeological excavations revealed a complex of halls, which was built and used by the Hospitallers Knights. This complex was a part of the Hospitallers' citadel, which was combined in the northern wall of Acre.

The complex includes:

Six semi-joint halls.
One large hall, recently excavated.
Dungeon.
Dining room (with a tunnel).
Posta and Crypta (remains of an ancient Gothic church).

Bahá'í holy places

The corner of the shrine where Bahá'u'lláh is buried.

There are many Bahá'í holy places in and around Acre. They originate from Bahá'u'lláh's imprisonment in the Citadel during Ottoman Rule. The final years of Bahá'u'lláh's life were spent in the Mansion of Bahjí, just outside Acre, even though he was still formally a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire.

Bahá'u'lláh died on May 29 1892 in Bahji, and his shrine is the most holy place for Bahá'ís — their Qiblih, the location that Bahá'ís should face when saying their daily obligatory prayers. It contains the remains of Bahá'u'lláh and is near the spot where he died in the Mansion of Bahji.

Other Bahá'í holy places in Acre include the House of `Abbúd and the House of `Abdu'lláh Páshá where Bahá'u'lláh resided in, and the Garden of Ridván where Bahá'u'lláh enjoyed spending the later part of his life.

History

Few towns have had a more chequered or calamitous history. Of great antiquity, Acre is probably to be identified with the Aak of the tribute-lists of Thutmoses III (c. 1500 B.C.), and it is certainly the Akka of the Amarna letters. To the Hebrews it was known as Acre (Revised Version spelling), but it is mentioned only once in the Old Testament, namely Judges 1:31, as one of the places from which the Israelites did not drive out the Canaanite inhabitants. Theoretically it was in the territory of the tribe of Asher, and Josephus assigns it by name to the district of one of Solomon's provincial governors. Throughout the period of Hebrew domination, however, its political connections were always with Syria rather than with the Philistines: thus, about 725 BC it joined Sidon and Tyre in a revolt against Shalmaneser V. It had a stormy experience during the three centuries preceding the Christian era.

The Greek and Roman periods

The Greek historians name it Ake (Josephus calls it also Akre); but the name was changed to Antiochia Ptolemais shortly after Alexander the Great's conquest, and then to Ptolemais, probably by Ptolemy Soter, after the partition of the kingdom of Alexander the Great.

Strabo refers to the city as once a rendezvous for the Persians in their expeditions against Egypt. About 165 BC Simon Maccabaeus defeated the Syrians in many battles in Galilee, and drove them into Ptolemais. About 153 BC Alexander Balas, son of Antiochus Epiphanes, contesting the Syrian crown with Demetrius, seized the city, which opened its gates to him. Demetrius offered many bribes to the Maccabees to obtain Jewish support against his rival, including the revenues of Ptolemais for the benefit of the Temple in Jerusalem, but in vain. Jonathan threw in his lot with Alexander, and in 150 BC he was received by him with great honour in Ptolemais. Some years later, however, Tryphon, an officer of the Syrians, who had grown suspicious of the Maccabees, enticed Jonathan into Ptolemais and there treacherously took him prisoner.

The city was also assaulted and captured by Alexander Jannaeus, by Cleopatra VII of Egypt and by Tigranes II of Armenia. Here Herod built a gymnasium, and here the Jews met Petronius, sent to set up statues of the emperor in the Temple, and persuaded him to turn back. St Paul spent a day in Ptolemais (Acts 21:7). A Roman colonia was established at the city, Colonia Claudii Cæsaris.

Arab rule and the Crusades

The Arabs captured the city in AD 638, and held it until they lost it to the crusaders in 1104. The latter made the town their chief port in Palestine. It was re-taken by Saladin in 1187, besieged by Guy of Lusignan in 1189 at the Siege of Acre, and again captured by Richard the Lionheart in 1191. It then became the capital of the remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1229 it was placed under the control of the Knights Hospitaller (whence came one of its alternative names). It was the final stronghold of the Crusader state, and fell to a bloody siege to the Mameluks in 1291. The Ottomans under Sultan Selim I captured the city in 1517, after which it fell into almost total decay. Maundrell in 1697 found it a complete ruin, save for a khan occupied by some French merchants, a mosque and a few poor cottages.

Ottoman rule

Towards the end of the 18th century it revived under the rule of Daher El-Omar, the local sheikh: his successor, Jezzar Pasha, governor of Damascus, improved and fortified it, but by heavy imposts secured for himself all the benefits derived from his improvements. About 1780 Jezzar peremptorily banished the French trading colony, in spite of protests from the French government, and refused to receive a consul.

In 1799 Napoleon, in pursuance of his scheme for raising a Syrian rebellion against Turkish domination, appeared before Acre, but after a siege of two months (March--May) was repulsed by the Turks, aided by Sir Sidney Smith and a force of British sailors. Having lost his siege cannons to Smith, Napoleon attempted to lay siege to the walled city defended by Ottoman troops on 20 March 1799, using only his infantry and small-caliber cannons, a strategy which failed, leading to his retreat two months later on May 21.

Jezzar was succeeded on his death by his son Suleiman, under whose milder rule the town advanced in prosperity till 1831, when Ibrahim Pasha besieged and reduced the town and destroyed its buildings. On November 4, 1840 it was bombarded by the allied British, Austrian and French squadrons, and in the following year restored to Turkish rule.

The British Mandate

The citadel of Acre was used by the British as a prison and a gallows, mainly for political prisoners. Jewish underground movement activists, such as Zeev Jabotinsky and Shlomo Ben-Yosef (Irgun activist) were jailed in the citadel-prison of Acre. Ben-Yosef was the first Jew to be executed by the British mandate.

On May 4, 1947, the Irgun broke into the Acre citadel prison in order to release Jewish activist imprisoned there by the British. 27 inmates succeeded in escaping (20 from the Irgun and 7 from Lehi). 9 were killed and 5 were captured during the raid.

Despite the heavy toll in human lives, the action was described by foreign journalists as "the greatest jail break in history." The London Ha'aretz correspondent wrote on May 5:

"The attack on Acre jail has been seen here as a serious blow to British prestige... Military circles described the attack as a strategic masterpiece."

The New York Herald Tribune wrote that the underground had carried out "an ambitious mission, their most challenging so far, in perfect fashion."

[Prison break]

Israeli rule

Acre fell under territory assigned by the 1947 UN Partition Plan to an Arab Palestinian State. It was occupied by the Jewish Haganah on May 17, 1948. About three-fourths of its Arab population (1944 est. pop. 13,000) fled from the city during the occupation. Israel has exercised sovereignty over the city since 1948.

Modern city outside of the Old City walls. See: Akko (modern city).
Archeological reservation works and excavations. See: Old Acre Development Company.

Transportation In Acre

Bus

Acre has a central bus station that is served by Egged buses. Services include fairly modest internal service and relatively extensive inter-city service. Due to its strategic location, Acre central bus station has bus links to major cities and towns as Haifa, Nahariya, Karmiel, Zefat, Kiryat Shmona, Sakhnin, as well as lines connecting it to nearby smaller villages.

Rail

Acre is a railway station on the main North-South costal line of Israel Railways (Nahariya – Haifa – Tel-Aviv – Ben-Gurion Airport Inter-City Service). The station is situated between Nahariya Station to the north and Kiryat Motzkin Station to the south. On weekdays Acre Station is served by 35 southbound and 28 northbound trains. The terminal building at Acre Station has been recently reconstructed.

Notes

External links

[Old City of Acre - The Official Website] (Old Acre Development Company - OADC )
[Acre's History] (Jewish Virtual Library)
[The Acre prison break] (Jewish Virtual Library)
[Names by which Acre has been known & pictures] (Bibleplaces.com)
[Hazlitt's Classical Gazetteer]
[Acre Walls] (OADC)

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