Ashdod Travelers guide

Ashdod | Good to know 34 and tents) that was erected on the bare sand, without planning, access roads or proper water supply. At the beginning of 1957, they were joined by families from Egypt and Romania, and the settlement, then called " Ashdod-Yam ", numbered 370 families. In the summer of that year The Ashdod Company received the concession to build the city, which included construction on 40 thousand dunams. Two years later the city celebrated its establishment, and the first local council, headed by Dov Gur , was appointed in October 1959. A month later the plans to construct the Port of Ashdod were completed. In 1961 the name of the settlement was shortened to " Ashdod " (see "More on: From Ashdod-Yam to Ashdod"), and it had about 5,000 residents. More about: From Ashdod-Yam to Ashdod Ashdod's first elected Mayor, Robert Haim, had the city's name changed shortly after he came into office. In an interview conducted with him by students of a school in the south, he said : "One day, in 1961, I was invited to the Hasharon Hotel in Herzeliya. The well-known Edmond de Rothschild was expected to arrive, and I, who at the time was looking for funding to establish the municipal library, jumped at the opportunity hoping to find the right time during the meeting when he would agree to donate the funds required. When we arrived there, I was introduced to him as the mayor of Ashdod-Yam. At the right moment I approached him, and he said 'Ah, you are from Kibbutz Sdot Yam, right? '. I was most upset he thought I was from Kibbutz Sdot Yam. All of that night I tossed and turned in bed and early in the morning, I headed to the office of the then Minister of Interior Mr. Haim Shapira... 'I request that the name of Ashdod-Yam be changed to Ashdod immediately'. 'Well', he said, 'no problem'. 'Convene the city council, discuss the matter, vote, sign, and submit a request and I will approve it'. I did not want to wait. I went outside, wrote the request on a piece of paper, signed, went back into the office and announced, 'Please confirm the city's new name!'. And indeed, following this chain of events, the Minister of Interior approved my request".