{"id":15080,"date":"2025-01-01T13:08:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T09:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/?p=15080"},"modified":"2025-01-12T13:35:51","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T10:05:51","slug":"many-of-the-properties-owned-by-the-bahai-world-centre-in-haifa-and-akka-were-acquired-from-the-israeli-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/?p=15080&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"Many of the properties owned by the Baha\u2019i World Centre in Haifa and Akka were acquired from the Israeli government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Battle of Haifa (1948)<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The\u00a0Battle of Haifa, called by the Jewish forces\u00a0Operation Bi’ur Hametz\u00a0(<\/strong>Hebrew<\/strong><\/a>:\u00a0<\/strong>\u05de\u05d1\u05e6\u05e2 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d7\u05de\u05e5<\/strong>\u00a0“<\/strong>Passover Cleaning<\/strong><\/a>“), was a\u00a0Haganah<\/a>\u00a0operation carried out on 21\u2013\u06f2\u06f2 April 1948 and a major event in the final stages of the\u00a0<\/strong>civil war in Palestine<\/strong><\/a>, leading up to the\u00a0<\/strong>\u06f1\u06f9\u06f4\u06f8 Arab-Israeli War<\/strong><\/a>. The objective of the operation was the capture of the Arab neighborhoods of\u00a0<\/strong>Haifa<\/strong><\/a>. The operation formed part of the\u00a0<\/strong>\u06f1\u06f9\u06f4\u06f8 Palestinian expulsion and flight<\/strong><\/a>, with approximately 15,000 Arab residents being displaced between April 21-22,<\/strong>[2]<\/sup><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and with only 4,000 remaining in the city by mid-May from a pre-conflict population of approximately 65,000.<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Battle_of_Haifa_%281948%29<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Many of the properties owned by the Baha\u2019i World Centre in Haifa and Akka were acquired from the Israeli government, \u201cmade possible by the precipitate flight of the former Arab owners.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

On November 12, 1952,\u00a0<\/strong>a cablegram<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0sent by Shoghi Effendi announced the “acquisition of vitally-needed property” of the\u00a0<\/strong>Mansion of Bahji<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and the area around it from “<\/strong>the Development Authority of the State of Israel<\/strong><\/a>…The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was made possible by the\u00a0<\/strong>precipitate flight of the former Arab owners<\/strong><\/a>.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acquisition of Vitally-Needed Property<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Announce to Bah\u00e1’\u00ed communities, East and West, on the joyous occasion of the hundred and thirty-fifth Anniversary of Bah\u00e1’u’ll\u00e1h’s Birthday, the successful termination of the protracted negotiations, initiated two years ago and culminating in the signature to the contract providing\u00a0the eventual, formal transfer by\u00a0<\/strong>the Development Authority of the State of Israel<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to the Palestine Branch of the American National Spiritual Assembly of the\u00a0extensive, long-desired, vitally-needed property surrounding and safeguarding for posterity the Most Holy Tomb of the Founder of the Faith, as well as the adjoining Mansion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The acquired area, raising Bah\u00e1’\u00ed holdings on the holy plain of &Akka from four thousand to one hundred and fifty-five thousand square meters, was exchanged against property donated by children of Zikrullah, grandchildren of M\u00edrz\u00e1 Muhammad Quli, Bah\u00e1’u’ll\u00e1h’s faithful half-brother and companion in exile.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This spontaneous offer contrasts with the shameful action of the family in the sale to non-Baha’is of the property in the neighborhood of the Jordan valley purchased through the instrumentality of `Abdu’l-Bah\u00e1 during Bah\u00e1’u’ll\u00e1h’s lifetime, pursuant to His instructions and alluded to in His writings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The forty acre property acquired in this single transaction almost equals the entire Bah\u00e1’\u00ed international endowments purchased in the course of sixty years in the vicinity of the B\u00e1b’s Sepulcher on the slope of Mount Carmel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The exchange of said property, including land and houses, was made possible by the\u00a0<\/strong>precipitate flight of the former Arab owners<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0traditional supporters of the old Covenant-breakers and descendants of the notorious enemy of `Abdu’l-Bah\u00e1 who placed his residence at the disposal of the Committee of Investigation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The signature to the agreement signalized the commencement of large-scale landscaping, aiming at the beautification of the immediate precincts of the holiest spot in the entire Bah\u00e1’\u00ed<\/a> world, itself the prelude to the eventual erection, as happened in the case of the B\u00e1b’s Sepulcher, of a befitting Mausoleum enshrining the precious Dust of the Most Great Name.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Desire to acknowledge the indefatigable efforts exerted by both Larry Hautz and Leroy Ioas enabling the consummation of the initial stage of the enterprise destined to eclipse in its final phase the splendor and magnificence of the B\u00e1b’s resting-place on Mount Carmel.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–Shoghi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

[Cablegram, November 12, 1952]<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Battle of Haifa (1948) The\u00a0Battle of Haifa, called by the Jewish forces\u00a0Operation Bi’ur Hametz\u00a0(Hebrew:\u00a0\u05de\u05d1\u05e6\u05e2 \u05d1\u05d9\u05e2\u05d5\u05e8 \u05d7\u05de\u05e5\u00a0“Passover Cleaning“), was a\u00a0Haganah\u00a0operation carried out on 21\u2013\u06f2\u06f2 April 1948 and a major event in the final stages of the\u00a0civil war in Palestine, leading up to the\u00a0\u06f1\u06f9\u06f4\u06f8 Arab-Israeli War. The objective of the operation was the capture of the Arab […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[823,985],"tags":[13225,8783,941,10157,13227,13221,7353,13223],"class_list":["post-15080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-articles","category-slidshow","tag-acquire","tag-akka","tag-bahai","tag-haifa","tag-israeli-government","tag-own","tag-properties","tag-world-centre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15080"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15082,"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15080\/revisions\/15082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaismiran.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}