At the beginning of the 20th century , Haifa emerged as an industrial port city and growing population center . The Hejaz railway and the Technion were established at that time . The Haifa District was home to approximately 20,000 inhabitants , 96 percent Arab ( 82 percent Muslim and 14 percent Christian ) , and four percent Jewish . As aliyah increased , the balance shifted . By 1945 the population was 53 percent Arab ( 33 percent Muslim and 20 percent Christian ) and 47 percent Jewish . In 1947 , the population comprised 70,910 Arabs ( 41,000 Muslims and 29,910 Christians ) and 74,230 Jews . The Christians belong mostly to the Greek Orthodox Church ( Arab Orthodox ) . Haifa was designated as part of the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan that proposed dividing Mandate Palestine into two states . In December 1947 the Jewish militant group Irgun hurled two bombs at a group of Arabs waiting for construction jobs outside the Consolidated Refineries in Haifa , killing 6 and injuring 42 . Rioting erupted in which 2,000 Arab employees killed 39 of their Jewish colleagues in what has become known as the Haifa Oil Refinery massacre . Jewish forces retaliated by raiding the Arab village of Balad al-Shaykh on December 31 , 1947 . Control of Haifa was a critical objective in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War , as it was the country 's major industrial port
Haifa Oil Refinery massacre
Haifa Oil Refinery massacre
History of Haifa