Ben Gurion appointed an education committee to draw up programs for the advancement of high school students from Arab and Muslim lands. Today Many residents of Wadi Salib, Jews and Arabs, are considered squatters and have been gradually evicted over the years. Some historic buildings are being renovated and turned into nightclubs and theaters. One is the Palace of the Pasha, built in Ottoman times. Adjacent is a Turkish bathhouse once used by local families. A building now occupied by an army veterans group was once an Oriental club that brought in musicians and dancers from Cairo. The old Muslim cemetery in Wadi Salib has partially been uprooted and split in half to make way for a highway between Haifa and Nazareth, though the Istiklal mosque still operates in Wadi Salib. Development plans The Haifa Economic Corporation Ltd., is implementing plans to develop two 1,000 square meter lots to create "a site for office and commercial use that accentuates size and is inspired by the spirit and ambiance of the place including Turkish and Arab construction elements." On their website, they note that "Wadi Salib in general and this initiative in particular are located in proximity to the new government center including the court house hall, Israel Land Administration building, and additional government offices." The current project is controversial due to the eviction of the last remaining families from the neighborhood, and the planned demolition of buildings including the former home of Palestinian intellectual Emil Touma. Another government center built in the same area in the early 1990s - in which many historic buildings were demolished - failed to boost the economy as expected. In the new plan, a few of Wadi Salib's remaining buildings will be renovated; however the rest will be destroyed. Notable residents Eli Ohana (born 1964), football player and manager References Further reading Yfaat Weiss, A Confiscated Memory: Wadi Salib and Haifa's Lost Heritage, Columbia University Press, 2011, http://bucerius.haifa.ac.il/images/publications/AConfiscatedMemory.pdf. Yfaat Weiss, "Conflicting Memories, Unrestituted: Wadi Salib as an Israeli Political Metaphor", in Restitution and Memory, dir. D. Diner and G. Wunberg, 2007, p.301-322, https://www.academia.edu/37031932/Conflicting_Memories_Unrestituted_Wadi_Salib_as_an_Israeli_Political_Metaphor Wadi Al-Salib, photos, by Dr. Moslih Kanaaneh Neighborhoods of Haifa Mount Carmel