"HaRakevet" means "The Train" or "The Railway" in Hebrew. Since March 1989, it has been a quarterly newsletter spec-ialising in news and historical material about the railways of the Middle East, and especially those of Israel. This material will now be accessible on the web to those interested in railways, in Israel, in the Middle East and in the history of this area.

About

"Harakevet" was established and is edited by Rabbi Walter Rothschild. It benefits from a large number of contributors in Israel and around the globe. One of the more prolific is Paul Cotterell, the railway historian and author of the book "The Railways of Israel and Palestine". The railway age in this region began in 1892 with the line from Jaffa to Jerusalem, which gave this previously isolated hill town access to the sea and the world. The Hedjaz Railway, beginning in 1895 and linked to Haifa in 1905, opened up the Arab hinterland to movement of goods and people. In 1917, the rapid construction of a line from Egypt to Gaza played a major role in the defeat of the Ottoman Turkish army by the British forces. But railways can and should be a means to bring people closer together, and perhaps contribute to the sorely needed peace in this part of the world.

Plans for the site

We plan to gradually add selected articles and some complete issues of "HaRakevet" to this site. This process will take some time, but eventually we hope that all the issues of the magazine (now up to Number 75) can be incorporated. For the time being, the latest issues wil not be included but these can be obtained in hard copy form by applying for a subscription, using the form which will be available on the site.

Go to "CONTENTS" to select the material you wish to read.  

Comments

We welcome comments and suggestions. These can be sent to our email, webmaster@harakevetmagazine.com. Questions may also be sent, but we cannot promise to answer them all in a short time.