Information about Gush Dan

Gush Dan (Hebrew: גּוּשׁ דָּן‎) is a metropolitan area including areas from both the Tel Aviv District and the Central District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast.

It is the largest metropolitan area in Israel, with a population of approximately 3 million people.

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. According to the biblical narrative, the tribe had originally tried to settle in the central coastal area of Palestine, but due to enmity with the Philistines who had already settled there, were only able to camp in the hill country overlooking the Sorek Valley, the camp location becoming known as Mahaneh Dan ("Camps of Dan"). The region they were trying to settle included the area as far north as Joppa, and extending south into the Shephelah in the area of Timnah; as a result, the modern state of Israel, as well as some zionists, refer to the region as Gush Dan (the Dan area). (However, as a consequence of the pressure from the Philistines, the tribe abandoned hopes of settling near the central coast, instead migrating to the north of the country, and after conquering Laish, refounded it as their capital (renaming it Dan).)

Metropolitan rings

Gush Dan is divided into an inner and an outer ring.

The core ring includes (Tel Aviv District) Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, Holon, Ramat HaSharon, Ramat Gan, Giv'atayim, Bnei Brak, Herzliya, Or Yehuda, Giv'at Shmuel and Kiryat Ono, as well as a multitude of towns (local councils).

The outer ring includes Petah Tikva, Hod HaSharon, Kfar Saba, Ra'anana, Yehud, Ramla, Lod, Rishon LeZion, Ness Ziona and Rehovot, as well as a multitude of towns (local councils).

Transportation

The Dan Bus Company is primarily focused on serving Gush Dan, although it is being replaced by the Kavim company in many of Gush Dan's cities. Much of Israel's national highway network feeds into the area, such as Highway 1, Highway 2, Highway 4, and Highway 5, and it is also served by the local Ayalon Highway.

Trivia

According to a 2006 estimate, the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv is the city with the largest Jewish population in the world, with almost 3 million Jews (New York City's metropolitan area, in second place with 1.4 million Jews according to a 2002 study, is the largest Jewish population center in the Diaspora). ^[1][2]

See also

• List of cities in Israel