After the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948 Haifa became the gateway for Jewish immigration into Israel . During the 1948 Arab – Israeli War , the neighborhoods of Haifa was sometimes contested . After the war , Jewish immigrants was settled in new neighborhoods , among them Kiryat Hayim , Ramot Remez , Ramat Shaul , Kiryat Sprinzak , and Kiryat Eliezer . Bnei Zion Hospital ( formerly Rothschild Hospital ) and the Central Synagogue in Hadar Hacarmel date from this period . In 1953 , a master plan was created for transportation and the future architectural layout .