CAIAPHAS (Arab. Hajfa). — A city situated at the southern extremity of the Bay of St. John of Acre, at the foot of Mount Carmel; capital of the northern district of Palestine, it has developed greatly in recent years thanks to the new port, the largest in the Levant, inaugurated in 1933, and the influx of Zionists.
It is the industrial and commercial centre of Palestine (soap, cement, tobacco) and the terminus of the oil pipeline from Iraq. The population, 110,000, is half Jewish and half Muslim, Christian, Druse and 150 Bahá'ís. The Christians, mostly Greek-Catholics, number over 10,000. There are numerous Catholic institutions (nurseries, schools, hospitals, hostels); the Greek-Catholic bishop of Galilee resides there.
The city, not mentioned in the Bible, appears in the 4th century B.C. under the name of "Iqaz, at the extremity of a district zone that began at the Stairs of Tyre, identified at Tell Abû Hawâm, 2 km. south-east of the railway station. After the destruction of Tyre, it declined and was refounded in the place called Hajfa el-'Atiqah. The Crusaders took it by storm in 1100 with the help of the Venetian fleet. Plundered in 1191 by Saladin, it remained without historical importance until the 18th century, when in 1760 the Emir Dâhir el-'Onar transferred it to its present site, building a castle with defensive walls. Near the sea and around the castle the present old city formed, with its narrow streets but busy in the crowded bazaar. The new part lies to the north-west with a garden city and to the south-east with the industrial quarter; the greatest development is on the slopes of Carmel, with wide avenues, large houses and new government buildings.