Nahariya (Hebrew: נַהֲרִיָּה) is a city in the North District of Israel. In 2005, the city's population was about 50,000.

Located on the Mediterranean sea, just south of the Lebanese border at Rosh HaNikra, Nahariya is Israel's northernmost coastal city, and a popular tourist destination. Sderot Ga'aton, the city's elegant main avenue, runs east-west and is divided down the middle by the Ga'aton River. The city gets its name from this river (nahar means "river" in Hebrew). Shaded by the thick greenery of towering old-growth eucalyptus trees and lined with numerous shops, boutiques, open-air cafes, restaurants and fashionable ice cream parlors, Sderot Ga'aton is Nahariya's main tourist attraction and its central business and entertainment district. .

Nahariya's public transportation hub is conveniently located at the eastern end of Sderot Ga'aton, near the intersection with the main coastal highway, and contains the Nahariya Railway Station and the Nahariya Central Bus Station. From there, Sderot Ga'aton runs westward where the mouth of the Ga'aton River empties into the Mediterranean Sea. The beach area is an attraction in its own right, with a public park, a waterfront promenade, two public beaches, several hotels, a small marina and a lively nightlife in the multitude of beachfront cafes, bars, restaurants and nightclubs.

History

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Nahariya was founded by German Jewish immigrants from the fifth aliyah in the 1930s. Construction of homes started in 1933, and the first two families permanently settled in Nahariya on February 10, 1935, which is now considered the official founding date of Nahariya.

Nahariya was first intended to be an agricultural village, but the residents soon realized that agriculture in the area was impractical at best, and therefore used the natural setting and beaches of the area to encourage tourism. During the British mandate of Palestine, many British officers coming from Khartoum stopped in Nahariya.

Despite the failure of agriculture as an economic backbone, Nahariya's hard-working, industrious inhabitants turned to manufacturing. Indeed, Nahariya is home to some of Israel's leading entrepreneurs - the Strauss, Soglowek and Wertheimer families, and several of Israel's most successful private sector industial enterprises were founded in Nahariya, e.g. the Strauss dairy company (now Strauss-Elite food conglomerate), Soglowek meat processing company, and Iscar - the high-precision metalworks and tool-making giant, which was recently purchased by Berkshire Hathaway for US$5 billion.

Just beyond the city limits is the beach at Akhziv, which is part of a national park. There was once an important settlement and station on the ancient coastal road that linked Egypt and Phoenicia. Jews have lived in Nahariya since the Second Temple period. The Crusaders built a castle here and called it Le’imbert.

Over the years, due to its geographic location -- only 6 miles down the coast from Israel's border with Lebanon, Nahariya has been a frequent target both of direct cross-border terrorist attacks, as well as of indirect mortar and Katyusha rocket fire. As recently as in July-August 2006, Nahariya sustained a barrage of several hundreds of Katyusha rockets launched by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. As a result,...