Editing Lod (section)

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{{Infobox settlement
| name                   = Lod
| native_name            = {{Hlist
 | {{Lang|he|לוד}}
 | {{Lang|ar|اللِّد}}
 }}
| settlement_type        = [[List of cities in Israel|City]]
| image_skyline          = File:LodJune132022 01.jpg
| image_caption          = 
| image_blank_emblem     = [[File:Coat of arms of Lod.svg|60px]]
| pushpin_map_alt        = 
| pushpin_map            = Israel
| pushpin_mapsize        = 150
| pushpin_label_position = 
| pushpin_map_caption    = 
| coordinates            = {{coord|31|57|7|N|34|53|17|E|region:IL|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type       = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
| subdivision_name       = {{ISR}}
| subdivision_type1      = 
| subdivision_name1      = 
| subdivision_type2      = [[Districts of Israel|District]]
| subdivision_name2      = [[Central District (Israel)|Central]]
| subdivision_type3        = Subdistrict
| subdivision_name3        = [[Ramla Subdistrict]]
| established_title      = Founded
| established_date       = 5600–5250 BCE <small>(Initial settlement)</small><br>1465 BCE <small>(Canaanite/Israelite town)</small>
| leader_title           = Mayor
| leader_name            = Yair Revivo
| unit_pref              = dunam
| area_total_dunam       = {{formatnum:12226|R}}
| population_footnotes   = {{Israel populations|reference}}
| population_total       = {{Israel populations|Lod}}
| population_as_of       = {{Israel populations|Year}}
| population_density_km2 = auto
}}

'''Lod''' ({{langx|he|לוד}}, or [[ktiv menuqad|fully vocalized]] {{lang|he|לֹד}}), also known as '''Lydda''' ({{langx|grc|Λύδδα}}) and '''Lidd''' ({{langx|ar|اللِّد|al-Lidd}}, or {{langx|ar|اللُّد|al-Ludd|label=none}}), is a city {{convert|15|km|mi|frac=2|abbr=on}} southeast of [[Tel Aviv]] and {{convert|40|km|mi|abbr=on}} northwest of [[Jerusalem]] in the [[Central District (Israel)|Central District]] of [[Israel]]. It is situated between the lower [[Shephelah]] on the east and the [[Israeli coastal plain|coastal plain]] on the west. The city had a population of {{Israel populations|Lod}} in 2019.{{Israel populations|reference}}

Lod has been inhabited since at least the [[Neolithic]] period.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Commenge |first=Catherine |title=Lod Newe Yarak: a roman pottery kiln and Pottery Neolithic A remains |url=https://www.academia.edu/30034227}}</ref> It is mentioned a few times in the [[Hebrew Bible]] and in the [[New Testament]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lod {{!}} City, Israel, Palestine, & History {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Lod |access-date=25 June 2022|website=britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> Between the 5th century BCE and up until the late [[Roman Empire|Roman]] period, it was a prominent center for [[Jews|Jewish]] scholarship and trade.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/663773367 |title=Corpus inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae: a multi-lingual corpus of the inscriptions from Alexander to Muhammad |publisher=[[de Gruyter]] |others=Eran Lupu, Marfa Heimbach, Naomi Schneider, Hannah Cotton |year=2018 |isbn=978-3-11-022219-7 |volume=IV: Iudaea / Idumaea |location=Berlin |pages=77–85 |oclc=663773367}}</ref> Around 200 CE, the city became a [[Roman colony]] and was renamed {{lang|la|Diospolis}} ({{langx|grc|Διόσπολις||city of [[Zeus]]|links=no}}). Tradition identifies Lod as the 4th century martyrdom site of [[Saint George]];<ref>{{Citation |last=Mahoney |first=Lisa |title=Art and efficacy in an icon of St George * |date=2020-04-14 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781351185592-11 |work=The Eloquence of Art |pages=188–203 |place=Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY|publisher=Routledge |doi=10.4324/9781351185592-11 |isbn=978-1-351-18559-2 |s2cid=218824016 |quote=By 1099 crusading armies had captured the city of Lydda, the site of St George’s martyrdom and tomb. |access-date=27 June 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Howell |first=David |title=St. George as Intercessor |date=1969 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44169945 |journal=Byzantion |volume=39 |pages=121–136 |jstor=44169945 |issn=0378-2506}}</ref> the [[Church of Saint George and Mosque of Al-Khadr]] located in the city is believed to have housed his remains.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walter |first=Christopher |date=1995 |title=The Origins of the Cult of Saint George |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/rebyz.1995.1911 |journal=Revue des études byzantines |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=295–326 |doi=10.3406/rebyz.1995.1911 |issn=0766-5598|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 

Following the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant|Arab conquest of the Levant]], Lod served as the capital of [[Jund Filastin]]; however, a few decades later, the seat of power was transferred to [[Ramla]], and Lod slipped in importance.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Under [[Kingdom of Jerusalem|Crusader]] rule, the city was a Catholic [[diocese]] of the [[Latin Church]] and it remains a [[titular see]] to this day.{{cn|date=November 2022}}

Lod underwent a major change in its population in the mid-20th century.<ref name="Rabinowitz Monterescu 2008">{{cite journal | last1=Rabinowitz | first1=Dan | last2=Monterescu | first2=Daniel | title=RECONFIGURING THE "MIXED TOWN": URBAN TRANSFORMATIONS OF ETHNONATIONAL RELATIONS IN PALESTINE AND ISRAEL - International Journal of Middle East Studies | journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies | volume=40 | issue=2 | date=2008-05-01 | issn=1471-6380 | doi=10.1017/S0020743808080513 | pages=208–210 | s2cid=162633906 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/reconfiguring-the-mixed-town-urban-transformations-of-ethnonational-relations-in-palestine-and-israel/5AB0B676A0679858F98AB3DA8AC20B6A/share/c4e2722f72e7ade9c6e43f8b7dc8253663029555 | quote=The Palestinian quarters of Safad, Tiberias, Haifa, Jaffa, and West Jerusalem and the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem were in a state of sociological catastrophe, with no community to speak of to even bury the dead and mourn the old existence... By late 1949 only one of the five towns that had been effectively mixed on the eve of the war, namely, Haifa, still had a Palestinian contingent. Even there, however, the urban mix had been transformed beyond recognition. The 3,000 remaining Palestinians, now representing less than 5 percent of the original community, had been uprooted and forced to relocate to downtown Wadi Ninas... More relevant for our concerns here are Acre, Lydda, Ramle, and Jaffa, which, although exclusively Palestinian before the war of 1948, became predominantly Jewish mixed towns after. All of them had their residual Palestinian populations concentrated in bounded compounds, in one case (Jaffa) surrounded for a while by barbed wire. As late as the summer of 1949, all of these compounds were subjected to martial law.| url-access=subscription }}</ref> Exclusively Palestinian Arab in 1947,<ref name="Rabinowitz Monterescu 2008"/> Lod was part of the area designated for an Arab state in the [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]]; however, in July 1948, the city was occupied by the [[Israel Defense Forces]], and most of its Arab inhabitants were expelled in the [[Palestinian expulsion from Lydda and Ramle]].<ref name="Shapira">[https://www.jstor.org/pss/25618678 Shapira, Anita, “Politics and Collective Memory: the Debate Over the 'New Historians' in Israel],” ''History and Memory'' 7 (1) (Spring 1995), pp. 9ff, 12–13, 16–17.</ref><ref>Blumenthal, 2013, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MT0eBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA420 420]</ref> The city was largely resettled by Jewish immigrants, most of them [[Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands|expelled from Arab countries]].<ref name="gibb">M. Sharon, s.v. "Ludd," [[Encyclopedia of Islam]], 2nd ed. Leiden: Brill, 1983, vol. 5, pp.  [https://books.google.com/books?id=jJY3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA798 798]-803; {{ISBN|978-90-04-07164-3}}</ref><ref>[[Benny Morris|Morris]], 2004, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uM_kFX6edX8C&pg=PA414 414]-461.</ref> 

Today, Lod is one of Israel's [[mixed cities]], with an [[Arab citizens of Israel|Arab]] population of 30%.<ref>[https://jerusaleminstitute.org.il/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/PUB_505_facts-and-trends_eng_2019_web.pdf Uploads (p. 18)], Jerusaleminstitute.org. Accessed 1 November 2022.</ref> Lod is one of Israel's major transportation hubs. The main international airport, [[Ben Gurion Airport]], is located 8 km (5 miles) north of the city. The city is also a major railway and road junction.<ref name=":0" />