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Arish’s economy, although more recently tourism, based on
new hotels and general development, seems to be its main
source of income.
Bibliography: T. Herzl, Complete Diaries, ed. by R. Patai, 5
(1960), index; Rabinowicz, in: JSOS, 13:1 (1951), 25–46; Press, Ereẓ, 4
(1955), 757–8; M. Medzini, Ha-Mediniyyut ha-Ẓiyyonit me-Reshitah
ve-ad Moto shel Herzl (1934), 224–43, 320–32; J. Braslavsky, Hayadata
et ha-Areẓ, 2 (1947), 7–12, 22–31. Add. Bibliography: A. Bein, in:
Shivat Ẓiyyon, 1 (1950), 179–220; Y. Friedman, Germania, Turkiya veha-Ẓiyyonut
(1995).
[Oskar K. Rabinowicz / Efraim Orni]
ELASA (Eleasah, Alasa), a town north of Jerusalem near
Beth-Horon. Judah *Maccabee encamped there before his
last battle against *Bacchides, whose army was at *Beeroth,
and was killed nearby in the fighting (I Macc. 9:5–18). Some
scholars read Ḥadasha (Adasa) instead of Elasa. The town was
apparently named after Eleasah, a descendant of Benjamin
(I Chron. 2:39–40; 8:37; 9:43). It is identified with Khirbat al-
Ishshī, southwest of al-Bīra.
Bibliography: F.M. Abel, in: RB, 33 (1924), 383f.; idem, Les
Livres des Maccabées (1949), 160; Avi-Yonah, Geog, 100.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
ELASAH (Heb. הָ ׂשָ עְלֶ א; “God has made”), son of *Shaphan,
and one of Zedekiah’s emissaries to Nebuchadnezzar, who
brought the letter written by Jeremiah to the elders in exile
(Jer. 29:3). Elasah was a member of one of the most influential
pro-Babylonian families in the last years of the Kingdom of
Judah. Shaphan, his father, was the scribe of Josiah (II Kings
22:3ff.; et al.). His brother *Ahikam was one of the men sent
by King Josiah to the prophetess Huldah (II Kings 22:12, 14;
II Chron. 34:20). His other brother *Jaazaniah is mentioned
in Ezekiel 8:11 among the elders of Jerusalem.
Bibliography: Yeivin, in: Tarbiz, 12 (1940/41), 257–8.
ELATH (in modern Israel, Eilat; Heb. תֹ וליֵ א ,תֹלי ֵא ,תַליֵ א),
ancient harbor town in Transjordan at the northern end of
the Red Sea near *Ezion-Geber. Elath is first mentioned in
the account of the Israelites’ wanderings in the desert during
the Exodus (Deut. 2:8). Solomon built a “navy of ships”
at Ezion-Geber beside Elath; from there it sailed to Ophir
manned by his servants and those of Hiram, king of Tyre
(I Kings 9:26; I Chron. 8:17). Later Uzziah (Azariah), king of
Judah (785–733 B.C.E.), rebuilt Elath restoring it as the port
of Judah on the Red Sea (II Kings 14:22) but after his reign Judahite
control of the Negev ceased. In the Hellenistic period
it served for a time as a Ptolemaic port called Berenice (Jos.,
Ant., 8:163) and it is later mentioned as a Nabatean port (renamed
Aila) from which an important commercial highway
led to Gaza (Strabo, Geography, 16:2, 30; Pliny, Naturalis Historia,
5:12). Aila continued to be a major commercial and military
port in Roman and Byzantine times. In the third century
the Tenth Legion, together with its headquarters, was transferred
there from Jerusalem and it was thereafter a key point
elath
in the Byzantine defense system in the south of the country.
The Jewish population in the neighborhood of Aila was augmented
by Jewish tribes expelled from Arabia by Muhammad
during whose time the Muslims gained control of the town,
which was called in Arabic *Akaba. A Jewish community continued
to exist there until the middle of the tenth century and
possibly until the Crusader period. In 1116 Baldwin I, king of
Jerusalem, captured the port; the fleet of Reynaud de Chatillon
sailed from there to harass Arab maritime trade in the Red Sea.
Saladin, who brought the Crusaders’ rule to an end in 1170,
erected a fortress at Akaba. By the 14th century the town was
almost completely deserted and only under Turkish rule was
an attempt made to develop it. The ancient site of Elath with
remains from the Nabatean, Roman, Byzantine, and medieval
periods has been located north of Akaba.
[Michael Avi-Yonah]
Modern Eilat
Modern Eilat is 3 mi. (5 km.) west of *Akaba along the coast.
The site, a wasteland bearing the Arabic name Umm Rashrash,
was included in the future Jewish state in the UN partition plan
of 1947. In fact, it was occupied by Israel forces on March 13,
1949, in the bloodless “Operation Uvdah” (“Established Fact”),
which was the last military move in the *War of Independence.
A first step in establishing a civilian settlement was made in
December 1949 when members of Ha-Kibbutz ha-Me’uḥad set
up a temporary camp on the Eilat shore. They transferred their
settlement in 1962 about 2 mi. (3 km.) further north, where
it became kibbutz Eilot. The first water pipeline was laid in
1952 to Eilat to take water from the *Be’er Orah and *Yotvatah
wells which, however, are strongly saline (1,500 mg. chlorine
content per liter and with a strong magnesium content). In
the ensuing years, the first dwellings were built. By December
1952 Eilat received local council status. As long as the Straits
of Tiran were closed to Israel-bound shipping, Eilat’s growth
was extremely slow (275 inhabitants in 1953, 520 in 1956). A
few services to excursionists, experimental coastal fishing,
and mineral exploration provided the inhabitants’ principal
occupations. The turning point came with the opening of
the straits in the *Sinai Campaign (1956). Two months later,
Eilat’s population increased to 926 inhabitants. In view of its
outstanding importance for Israel’s development, Eilat was
given city status in March 1959, although it had only 3,500
inhabitants, still far from the 20,000 population mark which
in Israel normally warrants the accordance of this status. In
1963, the population rose to 7,000, and by 1968 reached 12,100,
80% veteran Israelis or Israel-born and the rest immigrants
who were less than five years in the country. In the mid-1990s,
Eilat’s population reached 33,300 and by the end of 2002 it
was already 42,100, spread over an area of 30 sq. mi. (80 sq.
km.). Eilat’s town planning, taking the local topography into
account, endeavored to direct most of the city’s living quarters
to the hills rising at a short distance from the beach, to
altitudes of 100–400 m. above sea level, where the climate is
slightly cooler than on the shore. The many narrow gorges
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