Editing Gush Dan (section)

==History==
{{Historical populations
|source = <ref name="CBSPopulation2015">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/newhodaot/hodaa_template.html?hodaa=201711387|title=Population of Israel on the Eve of 2018 - 8.8 Million|date=31 December 2017|work=Press Release|publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics|access-date=2 January 2018}}</ref><ref name=CBS_02_01>{{cite web |url=http://www.cbs.gov.il/reader/shnaton/templ_shnaton_e.html?num_tab=st02_01&CYear=2012 |title=Population, by Population Group |date=11 September 2012 |work=Statistical Abstract of Israel |publisher=Israel Central Bureau of Statistics |access-date=5 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="cbsmonth">{{cite web |url=http://www1.cbs.gov.il/webpub/pub/text_page_eng.html?publ=93 |title=Monthly Bulletin of Statistics for Population |date=7 August 2013 |publisher=[[Israel Central Bureau of Statistics]] |access-date=24 August 2013}}</ref>
|1946 |343000
|1956 |845000
|1966 |1291000
|1976 |1661000
|1986 |2036000
|1996 |2547000
|2006 |3098000
|2016 |3854000
|refnote=2017 data<ref name=2017june>[http://www.cbs.gov.il/ts/ID98991f858e0e0c/ Census data] {{Dead link|date=January 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
}}

The name ''Gush Dan'' means "Dan Bloc", and is so named because the area was the territory of the [[tribe of Dan]] in the ancient [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Kingdom of Israel]]. According to the biblical narrative, the tribe had originally tried to settle in the central coastal area of [[Canaan]], but enmity with the [[Philistines]], who had already settled there, caused it to be able to camp only in the hill country overlooking the [[Sorek Valley]]. The camp location became known as Mahaneh Dan ("Camps of Dan"). The region that they attempted to settle included the area as far north as [[Jaffa]] and as far south as [[Shephelah]] in the area of [[Timnah]]. As a result of the pressure from the Philistines, the tribe abandoned hopes of settling near the central coast and instead migrated to the north of the country. After conquering Laish, the tribe refounded it as its capital and renamed it [[Tel Dan|Dan]]. In remembrance of the original territory assignments, the coastal region is referred to as Gush Dan. The modern city of [[Tel Aviv]] was founded in 1909 as a suburb of the Arab-majority coastal city of [[Jaffa]].<ref name="tel-aviv.gov.il">{{cite web |url=http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english/StatisticalOverview.htm |title=Tel Aviv-Yafo-Statistical Overview |access-date=2016-02-06 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913132730/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/english/StatisticalOverview.htm |archive-date=2014-09-13 }}</ref>

The city of Tel Aviv grew rapidly in the ensuing decades by [[Immigration to Israel|Jewish immigration from Europe]], with its population reaching 150,000 in 1934, and 230,000 when Israel gained its independence in 1948. Before the [[establishment of Israel]], other towns in the Gush Dan were founded as well, such as [[Petah Tikva]] in 1878, [[Rishon LeZion]] in 1882, [[Ness Ziona]] in 1883, [[Rehovot]] in 1890, and most other Gush Dan cities were established before 1948.

In 1947, the Gush Dan had nearly 400,000 residents, comprising over half of the Jewish population of [[Mandatory Palestine]]. As such, almost all of it was included in the Jewish state proposed by the 1947 [[United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine]]. After the [[1948 Arab–Israeli War]], the Arab population of the region, which had been nearly 150,000 before the war,<ref name="tel-aviv.gov.il"/> was reduced to around 10,000. Their population loss was quickly replaced by a larger number of Jews [[Emigration of Jews from Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe#After the war|fleeing from postwar Europe]] and [[Jewish exodus from the Muslim world|persecution in Arab countries]].

However, many new immigrants did not then come to Tel Aviv. In the 1950s, towns were built on the edges of the Gush Dan, including [[Ashdod]], [[Rosh HaAyin]] and [[Yavne]]. The nation's sole port was then located in the northern city of [[Haifa]] and its evolving metropolitan area, making that city at least as important as Tel Aviv. The new government was then trying to disperse the nation's population to the periphery and discouraged settlement in the already-populated Gush Dan. That slowed the growth of the Gush Dan, but the area still more than doubled in population within 20 years of the establishment of Israel. The opening of the [[Port of Ashdod]] in the southern Gush Dan also increased the area's importance, with the importance of Haifa diminishing and that of Tel Aviv increasing because of its proximity. Tel Aviv itself witnessed population decreases in the 1970s and 1980s, when outer regions of the Gush Dan with lower costs of living absorbed many of the people who had left Tel Aviv.

Only in the 1990s, with the immigration of more than 1 million Jews [[1990s post-Soviet aliyah|from former Soviet Republics]], 40,000 [[Ethiopian Jews]], and many others to Israel, as well as a boom in the religious population, would Tel Aviv begin to grow again. The demand for housing increased dramatically, with new cities such as [[Modiin]] and [[El'ad]] being built, and cities like [[Ashdod]] more than doubling in population, from 83,000 in 1990, to 175,000 in 2000. In the 2000s, the area continued to grow, attracting many immigrants from the [[Haifa metropolitan area]]. Today Gush Dan is the commercial, economical, cultural, and industrial center of [[Israel]].<ref>https://www.bayareaeconomy.org/files/pdf/SiliconValleyToSiliconWadi.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=August 2024}}</ref>

The Tel Aviv urban conurbation, stretching from Netanya to Ashdod, concentrates the largest Jewish population globally, nearing 3.9 million Jews. This figure significantly surpasses the Jewish population of the New York metropolitan area, which ranks second with 2.1 million Jews.<ref>{{cite report |editor1-last=Dashefsky |editor1-first=Arnold |editor-link1=Arnold Dashefsky |editor2-last=Della-Pergola |editor2-first=Sergio |editor-link2=Sergio Della Pergola |editor3-last=Sheskin |editor3-first=Ira |date=2021 |title=World Jewish Population|url=https://www.jewishdatabank.org/api/download/?studyId=1185&mediaId=bjdb%5c2021_World_Jewish_Population_AJYB_(DellaPergola)_DB_Public.pdf|publisher=[[Berman Jewish DataBank]]|access-date=4 September 2023}}</ref> Despite some successes in ongoing attempts by the Israeli government to encourage migration to the [[Galilee]] and the [[Negev]], Gush Dan retains its position as the heart of Israel.