دراسة تحليلية لخصائص مدينة عكا القديمة

Akko is a coastal city in northern Israel situated on a promontory at the northern end of he Bay of Haifa, in the Akko Coastal Plain. Also called Acre, it is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. The geographic position of Akko made its occupation vital to every army waging campaign in Syria and Palestine. Furthermore, Akko is an important Muslim center, its al-Jazzar Mosque being the largest within Israel s pre-1967 borders. Together with Haifa, it is also the world center of the Bahai faith. There are churches of several denominations, and a considerable number of synagogues. After its occupation by Jewish forces in 1948, Efforts were made to preserve the Oriental character of the Old City and to excavate and repair its remains. The Old City of Akko is a major tourist attraction, and in 2002 UNESCO declared it a world cultural preservation site. Finally, this paper used a descriptive-analytical method to review and analyze the general characteristics, present status and development potentials in the Old City of Akko. In additi on, the paper used a historical method to review the historical development of the city. Moreover., it identified the Israeli policy in the conservation of the Built Heritage of Old Akko.