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( Tel Aviv)
Tel Aviv-Yafo (Hebrew ???????????-?????; Arabic ?? ?????, Tal ?Abib)[2], usually Tel Aviv, is the second-largest city in Israel, with an estimated population of 390,100.[1] The city is situated on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline, with a land area of 51.8&_160;square kilometres (20.0&_160;sq&_160;mi). It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, home to 3.15&_160;million people as of 2008.[3] The city is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, headed by Ron Huldai.[4] Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Hebrew ??????, Yafo; Arabic ?????, Yaffa). The growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa, which was largely Arab at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Modernist-style buildings.[5][6][7] Tel Aviv is Israel's economic hub, home of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and many corporate offices and research and development centers.[8] Its beaches, cafés, upscale shopping and secular lifestyle have made it a popular tourist destination.[9] It is the country's cultural capital and a major performing arts center.[10] According to 2005 estimates, the Tel Aviv-Jaffa urban area is the Middle East's second biggest city economy,[1] and is 52nd in the world's list of cities by GDP. In the 2008 Mercer cost of living survey, Tel Aviv was ranked as the most expensive city in the Middle East and the 14th&_160;most expensive in the world.[11] The name Tel Aviv (literally "Hill of Spring") was chosen in 1910 from many suggestions, among them "Herzliya". Tel Aviv is the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl's book Altneuland ("Old New Land"), translated from German by Nahum Sokolow. Sokolow took the name from the Book of Ezekiel "Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel Aviv, that lived by the river Chebar, and to where they lived; and I sat there overwhelmed among them seven days."[12] This name was found fitting as it embraced the idea of the renaissance of the ancient Jewish homeland. Aviv is Hebrew for "spring", symbolizing renewal, and tel is an archaeological site that reveals layers of civilization built one over the other.[13] Theories vary about the etymology of Jaffa or Yafo in Hebrew. Some believe that the name derives from yafah or yofi, Hebrew for "beautiful" or "beauty". Another tradition is that Japheth, son of Noah, founded the city and that it was named for him.
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