Is the april joke on us?
Today officially the "Tel Aviv 100 years" party starts.
I like parties, in fact, i like parties a lot, but the one hundred years anniversary of Tel Aviv must be some sort of joke.
The first neighbourhoods of what was to become Tel Aviv, were founded as a part of Jaffa during the late 19th century. They were established by Jaffa's Jews, mostly by Mizrachi Jews who were tired of living in Jaffa's cramped old city.
"Ahouzat Bayit" (according to some historians established in 1909 by a shell lottery in the sands) was NOT the first Jewish neighbourhood established outside of Jaffa. But the founders of Ahouzat Bayit were mostly Ashkenazi Jews and perhaps that has something to do with the particular view Tel Aviv' likes to have and to present on its own history, the myth of "the White City, born in the sands".
And if Tel Aviv is the "White City", then it needs to be asked: where is the black city? Jaffa? "Arous ElBahar", the bride of the sea, "Arous Falestin", the "Bride of Palestine" as Jaffa is historically known in Arabic?
The municipality is filling Jaffa with flags of the "hundred year anniversary of Tel Aviv - Jaffa.
The first neighbourhoods of what was to become Tel Aviv, were founded as a part of Jaffa during the late 19th century. They were established by Jaffa's Jews, mostly by Mizrachi Jews who were tired of living in Jaffa's cramped old city.
"Ahouzat Bayit" (according to some historians established in 1909 by a shell lottery in the sands) was NOT the first Jewish neighbourhood established outside of Jaffa. But the founders of Ahouzat Bayit were mostly Ashkenazi Jews and perhaps that has something to do with the particular view Tel Aviv' likes to have and to present on its own history, the myth of "the White City, born in the sands".
And if Tel Aviv is the "White City", then it needs to be asked: where is the black city? Jaffa? "Arous ElBahar", the bride of the sea, "Arous Falestin", the "Bride of Palestine" as Jaffa is historically known in Arabic?
The municipality is filling Jaffa with flags of the "hundred year anniversary of Tel Aviv - Jaffa.
Well, our Black City goes back several thousands of years. We don't need your festivals and parties. Even the life guard stattions on our beach have been decorated with the "100 Tel Aviv" flag. It wqould not at all surprise me if someone form Jaffa will carry out certain "corrections" to these flags. After all, this is Jaffa, and we exist a little longer than Tel Aviv's one hundred years.
The municipality is spending some 41 million NIS on the party. That same municipality doesn't have 8 million for the education of Jaffa's children.
Save me your April jokes, Ron Huldai!
Posts
3 comments:
Actually, Tel Aviv was built because in 1909 and 1929, Arabs attacked Jewish residents of Jaffa and murdered over one hundred people. In response, Jewish leaders purchased 700 dumas to the north and staked out the Neva Tsedek township. So one hundred years later, Allah has blessed the place with the beautiful city of TelAviv, a World Heritage site. Lovely.
Actually, the first neighbourhoods of what would become Tel Aviv, Neve Shalom, Neve Zedek and Kerem haTeymanim, were founded in the late 1880-ies, by mizrahi Jews from Jaffa.
The city walls were no longer a necessity and they were taken down and those who could afford it,life in the old city was cramped, some of the Jewish community amongst them,bought tracts of land or started constructing on lands they already owned for previously agricultural purposes. Neighbourhoods such as Ajami, Saknet Darwish as well ass the Jewish neighborhoods were established.
Prior to that there has been attempts to establish Christian neighbourhoods outside the Jaffa city walls (Sharona, the American colony and the German colony)
1909 is mostly a myth, but in this case it was Ashkenazi Jews who started constructing pleasant garden suburbs.
In 1909 "Ahouzat Bayit" was founded which is now celebrated by some as the foundation of Tel Aviv, it was founded by predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, so much for Tel Aviv's 100th birthday.
Anonymous, you should try to get your facts rights, it appears you do not even know the zionist narrative well enough....
If it really interests you, read Mark LeVine's "Overthrowing Geography
Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and the Struggle for Palestine, 1880-1948", University of California Press
Post a Comment