Atlit

Atlit (Hebrew עתלית [ at'lit ] ) is a small regional agricultural town south of Haifa, on Israel's Mediterranean coast. The village was founded in 1903 on land of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. It has about 4,900 inhabitants. Had Atlit 1950-2004 the status of a local association.

Geography

Atlit is located on the Carmel coast at the foot of Mount Carmel; are located in the immediate vicinity kibbutzim Neve Jam and En Carmel. The coastal village of En Hod is just a few kilometers away.

History

Prehistoric settlement

Atlit was since the early Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period, a fishing village whose name has been handed down as Atlit - Jam.

Years ago, about 8000, this fishing village was abandoned, as the region was flooded by the sea. Archaeologists disagree whether this was done by the slowly rising sea levels as a result of consumable ice sheets at the end of the Ice Age. Due to sudden events, such as tsunamis as the Etna tsunami Today, the area is about 300 yards off shore in about 10 feet of water.

Crusader Citadel

The ruins of the Chateau Pelerin - once one of the largest crusader castles in the Holy Land and the last, which Baibars resistance - are still visible on the coast at Atlit. Further afield there are the ruins of the older castle Le Destroit.

Atlit recently

In 1909 was founded by the botanist Aharon Aharonson from Zichron Yaakov an agricultural experiment station. Aharonson was one of the founders of the Nili spy unit that supported the British during the First World War against the Turks. The experimental station served as camouflage and was used as an intermediary to British warships. In 1917, the network was uncovered, as happens to be a carrier pigeon was intercepted.

During the Second World War, Britain established the refugee camp in Atlit, in which the authorities of illegal Jewish immigrants to Palestine were interned. On October 10, 1945, the internees were freed in a planned by Yitzhak Rabin action of the Hagana.

In Atlit is the headquarters of the Special Forces Schajetet 13, the frogmen of the Israeli Navy.

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