Bribing your way around Jaffa
The story is out on the streets and it is bad as in VERY BAD.
The great Mahmoudiah Mosque is a Jaffa landmark. Constructed in the late 18th and early 19th century on the site of a much older mosque by "Abou ElNabout" the lovely 2-domed high minaretted building is part of the Jaffa skyline when coming from the north. It also serves as Jaffa's central mosque for Friday prayers.
Next to it is the "Kishle", the old Turkish jail and police station, to be turned into a hotel. The hotel managers or owners want to add several floors (which will throw a heavy shadow on the mosque's court yard and change the Jaffa skyline for ever, as well as create a completely different atmosphere in this very lovely area) and it appears the owners may have tried to bribe someone in the Jaffa Muslim Council so the mosque will take back their opposition to the hotel owners' plans.
Bribing with major, big money.
The relations in the Muslim community aren't the best, and this may well make things worse.
In a time the Jaffa community needs to be unified against the settlers and gentrifiers, the bribe story (if it is true) couldn't come at a worse moment.
The great Mahmoudiah Mosque is a Jaffa landmark. Constructed in the late 18th and early 19th century on the site of a much older mosque by "Abou ElNabout" the lovely 2-domed high minaretted building is part of the Jaffa skyline when coming from the north. It also serves as Jaffa's central mosque for Friday prayers.
Next to it is the "Kishle", the old Turkish jail and police station, to be turned into a hotel. The hotel managers or owners want to add several floors (which will throw a heavy shadow on the mosque's court yard and change the Jaffa skyline for ever, as well as create a completely different atmosphere in this very lovely area) and it appears the owners may have tried to bribe someone in the Jaffa Muslim Council so the mosque will take back their opposition to the hotel owners' plans.
Bribing with major, big money.
The relations in the Muslim community aren't the best, and this may well make things worse.
In a time the Jaffa community needs to be unified against the settlers and gentrifiers, the bribe story (if it is true) couldn't come at a worse moment.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment