Yarkon Cemetery

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Yarkon Cemetery

Yarkon Cemetery (Hebrew: בית העלמין ירקון) is the main cemetery for the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area of Israel. It is located within the Petah Tikva city limits, between the Yarkon River in the West, Highway 5 in the North, and the 491 road from East and South.

History

The need to establish the cemetery was driven by crowding in the Southern Cemetery in Bat Yam. A number of locations were considered, including the area north of Ramat Aviv. The eventual location was preferred for being relatively far from the center of Tel Aviv. The cemetery was opened by chief rabbis Hayim David HaLevi and Israel Meir Lau in 1991.

Yarkon Cemetery is now the only cemetery in the Dan Region where plots are available free of charge, serving Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, Holon, Bat Yam, Kiryat Ono and other cities in the center of the country.[1] An elliptical road surrounds the central part, giving access to the cemetery and parking areas by traffic and buses. There are three memorial halls close to the road. One of the problems of the cemetery is the rising water level of the Yarkon River during rainy winters.

With the traditional burial grounds at near capacity, with 110,000 graves across 150 acres, a series of 30 vertical structures are under construction that will provide space for 250,000 more graves.[2]

Notable interred
Ofra Haza's grave

References
  1. Tel Aviv cemetery warns no plots left within year
  2. Pressed for Space, Israel Building Cemetery Towers, Haaretz
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