Wadi Nisnas

'Wadi' is the Arabic word for valley, and 'nisnas' means mongoose, with the Egyptian mongoose being indigenous to the region.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

Wadi Nisnas was developed at the end of the nineteenth century as a Christian-Arab neighborhood outside the walls of Haifa.{{cite book|title=Words and Stones: The Politics of Language and Identity in Israel| first=Daniel |last=Lefkowitz|year= 2004| isbn= 9780198028437| page =49|publisher=Oxford University Press|quote=There are two main Arab neighborhoods in Haifa—Wadi Nisnas, which is largely Christian, and Halisa, which is largely Muslim.}}{{cite book|title=Everyday Life in the Segmented City| first=Lorenzo |last=Tripodi|year= 2011| isbn= 9781780522586| page =73|publisher=Emerald Group Publishing|quote=}}

During the 1948 Palestine war, as part of the 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, the vast majority of Haifa's Arab population fled or were expelled from the city, many during the battle of Haifa. The remaining Arab population was relocated to Wadi Nisnas in a process that has been described as "ghettoization".Benny Morris (1988). "Haifa’s Arabs: Displacement and Concentration, July 1948". Middle East Journal, 42(2), 241–259. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4327736Ilan Pappé, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006){{refn|Finkelstein, Norman. “Myths, Old and New.” Journal of Palestine Studies 21, no. 1 (1991): 66–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/2537366 - "In July, Haifa's remaining inhabitants, some 3,500, were packed into a ghetto in the downtown Wadi Nisnas neighborhood."}}{{refn|Azoulay, Ariella. “Declaring the State of Israel: Declaring a State Of.” Critical Inquiry 37, no. 2 (2011): 265–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/657293 - "[...] the ghetto in Wadi Nisnas that had been established for them after they had been expelled from their homes."}}

The current Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics census estimates that 66% of the Wadi Nisnas population are Christians, 31.5% are Muslims, and the rest are Jews.{{cite book|title=Everyday Life in the Segmented City| first=Lorenzo |last=Tripodi|year= 2011| isbn= 9781780522586| page =74|publisher=Emerald Group Publishing|quote=}}

Wadi Nisnas is the setting for the 1987 novel, Hatsotsrah ba-Vadi (Hebrew: "Trumpet in the Wadi") by Sami Michael. It centers on the love story between a young Israeli Arab woman and a new Jewish immigrant from Russia.Sami Michael, Trumpet in the Wadi. New York:Simon & Schuster, 2003, translated by Yael Lotan. {{ISBN|978-0-7432-4496-1}}

• German Colony, Haifa
• Paris Square (Haifa)
• Wadi Salib

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Category:Arab Israeli culture in Haifa

Category:Arab localities in Israel

Category:Arab Christian communities in Israel

Category:Neighborhoods of Haifa