Ashkelon is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel, 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of Tel Aviv, and 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The Ashkelon seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant is the largest in the world. In March 2006, it was voted “Desalination Plant of the Year” in the Global Water Awards.
The Arab village of al-Majdal or al-Majdal Asqalan, was established a few kilometres inland from the ancient site in the 16th century, under Ottoman rule. In 1918, it became part of the British Occupied Enemy Territory Administration and in 1920 became part of Mandatory Palestine. In the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, al-Majdal was the forward position of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force based in Gaza City. The village was occupied by Israeli forces on 5 November 1948, by which time most of the Arab population of 11,000 were forced to leave. Jews moved into the area later that year. The Israeli town was initially called Migdal Gaza, Migdal Gad and Migdal Ashkelon. In 1953, the nearby neighborhood of Afridar was incorporated and the name “Ashkelon” was readopted to the town. By 1961, Ashkelon was ranked 18th among Israeli urban centers with a population of 24,000. In 2010, the population of Ashkelon was 112,900.
In 1949 and 1950, three immigrant transit camps (Ma’abarot) were established alongside Majdal (renamed Migdal) for Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Romania and Poland. Northwest of Migdal and the immigrant camps, on the lands of the abandoned Arab village al-Jura, entrepreneur Zvi Segal, one of the signatories of Israel’s Declaration of Independence, established the upscale Barnea neighborhood. A large tract of land south of Barnea was handed over to the trusteeship of the South African Zionist Federation, which established the neighborhood of Afridar. Plans for the city were drawn up in South Africa according to the garden city model. Migdal was surrounded by a broad ring of orchards. Barnea developed slowly, but Afridar grew rapidly. The first homes, built in 1951, were inhabited by new Jewish immigrants from South Africa and South America, with some native-born Israelis. The first public housing project for residents of the transit camps, the Southern Hills Project or Zion Hill, was built in 1952.
The ancient site of Ashkelon is now a national park on the city’s southern coast. The walls that encircled the city are still visible, as well as Canaanite earth ramparts. The park contains Byzantine, Crusader and Roman ruins. The largest dog cemetery in the ancient world was discovered in Ashkelon.
