Sweet water, orchards and memory

Jerusalem Boulevard is being prepared for the underground (which in Jaffa will be above ground) or light railway or whatever they want to call that train of long planning but little practice.

As a result, parts of the road are blocked for various preparations. Traffic jams are the obvious result and swearing drivers of short patience-span the unavoidable outcome.

During the works in the northern part of the boulevard archeological findings caused a further stop in order to investigate the nature of the findings; Apparently during the Byzantine period there were wells and pools for the irrigation of the orchards surrounding Jaffa at that time (way before the Orange of Jaffa fame was introduced).

Jaffa was a wealthy town due to its natural harbour, sweet water wells (now destryoed by our less than carefull use of water as well as pollution - almost no water well in Tel Aviv west of the Ayalon is usable) and good land.

The archeological findings surrounding the oldder parts of the town, which started expanding during the 19th century) all point to Jaffa's wealthy past.

It is said that in the past a small stream ran along what is now Jerusalem Boulevard. Perhaps. On old maps it is indicated.

Most drivers swear when they hear about yet another arechological dig (there's another one going on on a small street leading from Boustrous (or Raziel, if you prefer today's name) to "Dr. Leck".

I'm quite moved by them, excited. A little bit of the past. I wonder what archeologists in another 500 years or so will excavate and think of us :) with our plastic bottles, plastic bags and other bits of garbage to last eternity.

Sheikh Bassam

Sheikh Bassam was buried yesterday at Tassa, the cemetary he fought for.

Sheikh Bassam is on of those people everybody in Jaffa knew. A religious leader to some, a good listener to others. careful with his judgement and supportive of those in distress.
Sheikh Bassam had been ill for many years, and as a result of his illness he drove around Jaffa in a small cart, always with a smile, always with patience for the many people who encountered him on the streets and asked for his assistance, his ideas or maybe just a listening ear.

The burial ceremony left from the Mahmoudia Mosque and was attended by many people form Jaffa and from all over the country

Shem HaGdolim 2

It is unbearably hot inside Salwa's* clean and cosy home; A living room and a bedroom shared by her, 2 of her adult children and a number of grand children.
A very young boy sits on the floor making a drawing and school books and copybooks are scattered on the small table, the holiday is about to begin, but there is still homework to be made. "Being good students, that's the only way for them to get out of here", says Salwa, while smiling at the earnest face of her little granddaughter. The girl doesn't notice it, she's concentrated on writing an exercise.
It is stifling and humid inside.
However, opening the window is a very bad idea. The over flowing sewage is right underneath her ground-level flat's window and entrance door. The smell is unbearable.
Getting out of here (meaning, the Shem Hagdolim housing estate owned by Halamish) is not an option for Fatma herself. Disease and long hospitalizations made it impossible for her to work. She has to get by on her social security payments. She cannot afford to live elsewhere. But she hopes her grandchildren will be able to escape. "Escape" is the word Salwa uses. Escape from the jungle.
We called the municipality "106" and after about half an hour of waiting a guy called Shmuel promised us they would send someone. "Yes today, or tomorrow". They will contact Salwa so she can show them the problem. This was Thursday.
On Friday morning we call again. This time, after "only" 25 minutes a guy called Rafi anwers. He checks on his computer and states someone had been over there (no one contacted Salwa), but it is NOT the municipality's problem, the house-owners should take care of it. I explain to Rafi the
buildings are Halamish public housing and they don't work on friday. Moreover, we contacted them on Thursday and they said it's not their problem.
Rafi insists it IS the owners' problem "and we will send them a letter". "When will this letter be sent?" we ask. Well, in sunday a report will be filed by the men who checked the problem. After the report has been filed, we will check who the owner is and we will send him a letter."
Patiently i explain to Rafi that we are talking Halamish here, not private owners. And that Halamish has already been contacted but they claim it is the municipality's responsibility.
I also explain to Rafi that we are dealing with a river of shit, flooding the entrance to a large apartment block where many children live. Maybe they can come and carry out the necessary repairs and fight over the paying the bills afterwards? After all Halamish is a municipal housing company, so it doesn't matter very much in the end if the work is paid by the municipality or by Halamish.
Rafi is not convinced.

The stench is horrid.

In the afternoon, Salwa's son calls a friend who works for a company providing sewage services to the municipality. The friend loans equipment from his boss. We do not ask questions. After several hours of work, assisted by several men from the housing estate the problem is solved. For the time being.
The friend informs us the sewage system is in bad condition and this type of things can happen again and again. More serious repair works are urgently necessary.

We will send letters to Halamish and the municipality and i guess they will pass on the responsibility to each other.

Shem HaGdolim, they call this housing estate. The "jungle" is what the inhabitants call it.

Later, over dinner at my friend Aisha's*, i tell her about today's developments (earlier she overheard my phone conversation with the municipality). She informs me that when she was working as a nurse, they used to get a special "danger" addition to their salary, when they made house-calls in "the jungle". They were not allowed to go in there alone, only 2 nurses were allowed to make house calls in the jungle together. "If something happens to one, the other one can call for help".

Shem HaGdolim indeed


*names have been changed for the sake of confidentiality

Jungle fever

Last friday a neighbourhood committee was formed in Saknet AlArabi, or, as this neighbourhood is known in Jaffa, "the Jungle". No, not my name, that's what everybody calls it, it implying what perhaps should be known as Israel's public worst housing estate. The official address is "Shem Hagdolim Street. I guess "HaGdolim" refers to the biggest drug dealers (for those not able to read Hebrew, the street name means "the name of the great") .

The neighbourhood (most of it is public housing owned by "Halamish") is plagued by great poverty (read: not enough food on the table in many homes) , very high crime rates, much violence, few kids complete school, drugs all around. A place with very little hope. It's also filthy beyond description and dangerous: All of the estate shares two open garbage containers which tend to overflow. The wind and the stray cats and rats do the rest. The sewage flows freely in some areas. There is no light in the staircases and corridors and the stairs have no bannisters in most cases. There are no post-boxes. The gaz balloons stand here and there, unprotected, while the central gaz supply has become unsafe, yet its cover is used by the jungle's small children as "monkey-bars" for lack of anything else close by. The electricity wires are exposed in many of the staircases, which, given the darkness and the running sewage (whenever you see green weeds and grass growing somewhere in that desperate place, make sure you watch your step, that's where the sewage runs through) in many of the buildings is simply an accident waiting to happen.
Most of the neighbourhood's families have been disconnected from the central gaz company, as they cannot afford the very high bills. Instead they made their own, unsafe, gaz connection with private gaz cannisters standing and laying about here and there, waiting for an accident to happen.
This is the kind of area in which the police only enter in big groups with a helicopter flying above.

Some time ago the youth club was closed. Less time ago the only youth leader was fired. Maintenance of both the public and private space is non existent. In public housing estates that responsibility is shared by the housing company and the municipality. But they don't care. they haven't cared for many years in fact.
Most of the people living there were robbed of their original homes in Ajami and Jabaliya and offered a flat in the complex as a solution to their housing problem. There is much anger and frustration, when people living in the Jungle see what has become of the homes they were kicked out from. These have been turned into villas for the very wealthy and sold for much money while they, the original owners got stuck in a slum beyond description.

The jungle has become a place of despair from which it is almost impossible to escape.
Yet there is also solidarity and strength. And those led to the establishment of a neighbourhood committee being establishment. True, a few less successful attempts have been made before, but this time it feels and looks different. People, women and men from all buildings, are focused and with the help of activists and lawyer Rasha Asaf the first steps were undertaken.

loud shooting just beside my house...

Just heard it; a volley of about 6 shots outside my house. Everybody is running into the direction of the sounds.
There is screaming outside.

The only democ.... oops

Israel likes to call itself "the only true democracy in the Middle East" and in comparison to some of our neighbours Israeli media indeed are relatively free and elections relatively democratic. But everything is relative.
Today Norman Finkelstein was refused entry to Israel (in order to travel onwards to the occupied territories) and deported.
So much for our democracy. I don't necessarily agree with everything Norman Finkelstein has to say. And perhaps i would use different wordings.
But a true democracy should not be scared of criticism. A true democracy should welcome political discourse.

But then i guess Israel isn't really a true democracy.

Computer theft from the Women's Court

Last night thieves broke into the Jaffa "Women's Court" on Yefet Street and stole all computers and other hardware as well as the router.
Honesty demands that i divulge working at the Court.
The Court serves Jaffa's (and south Tel Aviv & Bat Yam) young women and teenage girls. The small computer room serves educational and social purposes. Another computer served the staff and contains sensitive materials.

Chinese school construction and in Israel?

Reading about the horror of collapsing school buildings in China i cannot but wonder; and what about the construction quality of the schools in Jaffa? In all of the country?
Israel is in an earthquake zone, close to the African Syrian fault line. Serious earthquakes have hit the country in the past and the question is not IF there will be a serious earthquake in Israel, but WHEN.

The next question should be and what about the construction level and safety of our public buildings? Our schools, hospitals, theatres, prisons etc. And what about our private homes? Who is responsible?

I recall reading scary reports presented by the Technion and other official agencies, about the high damage percentage we would suffer when the "big one" will hit.
I recall these reports spoke about a large percentage of homes and public buildings that might not withstand the event and crumble.

Was anything done? How do you know the quality of the building you live in? Work in, visit? When you live in public housing or a privately rented flat (like yours truly), how can you know how safe it is? Is it safe? And who is responsible for it? Some bribe taking politician? The inventor of "palkal" floors (of Versailles' wedding hall fame)? You and me? The municipality?

These things always and only happen "elsewhere", don't they?

Hanna's family has fallen apart

Yesterday they were evicted, Hanna and her eight young children.
As they have nowhere to go, the children were all sent to different homes. The family has basically disintegrated. Hanna is not able to rent even a small flat with the rent subsidy she receives. So the kids no longer have that very basic thing: a family, a home.

Evicting a family is an act of extreme violence, in the name of "justice". A very warped sense of justice of course; a burocratic justice.

If anyone knows about a CHEAP rental flat in Jaffa or Bat Yam, please contact me immediately, please.

Something so wrong

There are things so obviously wrong, i have few words for them.
Surely throwing out a family with 8 young kids is wrong, period.
Perhaps it is completely legal in the sense of the dry written law, all done "according to procedure", but when this very poor family has no where to go, that's unjust. And Hanna and her 8 children have nowhere to go, no alternative they can afford.

When social workers say "we have no solution ,she should find something herself, we cannot help her, that is unjust.

And i feel deeply ashamed, helpless.

Hana Nadi & her 8 kids were kicked out onto the streets

They came quietly, armed police, gorillas and movers as well as Halamish representatives and kicked her out.
It went all very quickly, Hana didn't have a card in her phone so she couldn't calll me.
I passed by her home by chance when i saw the police cars and mover's van.

Eight children and their mum will sleep out in the streets today.

I called social services and a lawyer, but it does not seem as if anyone has a solution.
We searched for rental flats on the internet, but Hanna cannot afford the very high prices.

Her children are angry, the little girls crying.

Social justice? there ain't such a thing, not in Jaffa.

Andromeda round nr.... i lost the count

The Jaffa's Andromeda Compound's developers want to add more and even higher buildings and are actively demanding building permits to do so, as was declared during the local building council meeting this Wednesday at the Tel Aviv municipality (also attended by Jaffa activists, reps from "Bimkom", lawyer Hisham Shbeita, the spokesperson of the Society for the Protection of Nature's southern city forum and yours truly).

Parts of Jaffa undergo a speedy gentrification process at the cost of the local, mostly Palestinian, population who are being forced out of their beloved city. They stand no chance against the combined forces of big money and the municipality, to whom such principles as affordable housing and distributive justice, community oriented planning and housing rights for all are foreign concepts.

Money buys orientalism and fake romance with, admittedly, a lovely view of Jaffa's ancient harbour and the Mediterranean sea. I have no problem with that, as long as it's not at the cost of others. If the rich and wealthy want to live in Disneyland-like kitsch, that's their own right. As long as the local community doesn't have to pay for their monstrosity.

The Andromeda closed compound was constructed on lands belonging to Jaffa's orthodox Christian Palestinian community. There are those who think the land changed hands in a rather illegal manner. It might be true, but then, it might not. There have been and perhaps still are police investigations into the matter, some of the Greek orthodox community leaders have left the country.

The land was supposed to serve the community's goals, i wonder if the money it brought in served the community or went into other pockets. Honestly, i have no way of knowing the details, but that's the story on the street.

What is certain, however, that the compound poses problems to the original Jaffa community on many levels.
As a closed compound (it was supposed to be open to the public, but in spite of court orders, it still is NOT) it's a stranger to Jaffa, an alien in our midst. The prices are such that it is available only to the very wealthy. Not to local people, who are banned from entering. "Security" they say.

From some of the compound's workers (unnamed for obvious reasons) i learned that one of Israel's crime families houses some of its "employees" in the compound, so i very much doubt the security claim. Or rather, i find it more than a little amusing.

The massive building mass has completely obliterated the view from Yefet street (EL Hilwe or Ajami street, as it was called in the past) towards the harbor and the sea.
The compound's high buildings, which were supposed to blend in with their surroundings, stick out as a large heavy mass above the lovely buildings of Ajami and Jaffa's harbour. Orientalist in style, they belong neither here nor there. Nor do they blend in with the French hospital compound and the church "next door".

The public buildings, for the good of the community, labelled "cultural" and "educational" have not been constructed up to this day. They were conditions of the original building permit. The developers now want to change "cultural" into "religious" and construct a synagogue. I really have nothing against a synagogue, and if they wish to construct one, sure, go ahead, but NOT instead of the cultural or educational building "for the good of the community", as the original permit demands.


Moreover, the Greek Orthodox school was supposed to have access, according to the original permit. This demand has not been met either.

When faced with these demands, the developers say they will answer them, but only after all the other construction has been completed. We know that trick. In the mean time the existing buildings have been put to use and now? They can always "not finish something" and therefore justify not doing anything for the community.

Well, now the developers have filed plans for even MORE construction.

Now the developers are demanding additional building rights for several more and even higher buildings.
The original design had a sort of "sloping" skyline, with a high point in the middle and lower buildings around it with rooftops on varying heights, sloping downwards to blend in with the skyline of the lower buildings around.
The new concept, if constructed, will completely mess up (there is no other word for it) the lovely Old Jaffa skyline from ALL directions.

Thus, we are faced with not only a serious social justice problem created by a closed compound, but also with a cultural one. Israel has a long and ugly history of destroying landmarks. If the new program will be authorised, the Jaffa skyline will be yet another victim to money destroying history and culture.

An even weirder part is that the developers now want to construct a commercial colonnade (on the part of the compound facing Yefet street) and present this as a service to the public as "building for the community". Right, they want to make lots of money on renting out commercial property as a service to the community. Allow me to laugh.

The representative of the inhabitants and flat owners at the compound did not agree to the added buildings construction permit request as they feel it will lower their quality of life as well as the value of their expensive property. They feel the original developers (the company switched hands over time) sold them lies in many ways, and i guess they truly did not get what they had hoped to get: peace and quiet in luxury surroundings nicely closed off from where they are actually located, slummy, poor Palestinian Jaffa.
Although luxurious, the compound is actually densely populated with many big building blocs grouped closely together separated by narrow food paths. Very much unlike the traditional building style of near by Ajami. Weirdly enough, in that sense (density) it is much more like the ugly social housing compounds of Jaffa Gimmel and Daled.


The illustrative image shows part of the Andromeda compound sticking out above what once was part of the "Maronite" neighbourhood

No news is good news, sometimes

So far Hanna Nadi and her kids are still at home and all appears to be quiet.

I just hope the police will not surprise them (& us) at night

And in the mean time, the father was subjected to police brutality

Hanna Nadi and her 8 young children stand to be evicted into the streets from the small "Halamish" owned flat they squatted in. So far Hanna has not been able to find another flat (big enough to house her and her kids) she can afford. The police have informed her she will be evicted, probably today.

We're trying to assist her, but in the mean time the father of her children was arrested yesterday afternoon, because of debts. The father, in his fifties and very ill, is dependent on social security as his disease prevents him from working.
As a result he cannot take care of his children either.

Over time, unable to meet municipal and other payments, he made a debt of about 5000 NIS.

The repossession people came after him accompanied by the police, and somehow a fight erupted. The father was wounded; 3 broken ribs and a head wound. Both hands and feet shackled, the father was taken to nearby Wolfson hospital, where he received stitches to his head and treatment (being shackled throughout the medical procedures) and then taken to the Abu Kabir jail.

Yes, this is an enlightened country...

Hanna Nadi and her 8 children - Continuing the fight

Some weeks ago Hanna and her 8 young children were kicked out of the small flat they lived in. After a few days in a neighbour's house, she squatted the flat she was evicted from, she had no other choice. It was either the streets or back to the old, windowless, flat.

Halamish, the housing company, filed a criminal complaint against her and last week Hanna was questioned by the police. I accompanied her to the police station and played with her 2 youngest daughters, while a police officer questioned her. From his remarks it was obvious he disliked this part of his job, and felt quite sympathetic towards Hanna, but like everyone else, unable to solve her problem. Hanna has little money and 8 kids. She simply cannot afford to rent a place even WITH rent subsidy, yet there are no public flats available, in spite of her eligibility.

That means the streets with her 8 young daughters. There is a long list of eligible people waiting for public housing, but no flats have been constructed in Tel Aviv nor Jaffa over the last 10 years.

Today we learned the police will probably come to evict her tomorrow. We need your help tomorrow.

The address is Shem HaGdolim 6, Jaffa.

Hanna really needs your HELP. But it is not only about Hanna, it's about the right to a roof above our heads for all of us, the right to live, to have a home.

Women's Bazaar in Jaffa this saturday

"Arus El Bahar", Bride of the Sea in Arabic, is a local women's organization started by Safa Younes about one year ago.
Honesty demands that i divulge doing some voluntary work at Arus El Bahar.

Arus ElBahar's women are organizing a bazaar this Saturday (May 3rd) between 11.00 - 17.00 in "Gan HaShanyaim", the little park on Yefet Street.
Jewellery, bags, crafts products, clothes, food, "shmontzes" (is there a word in English for this?) made by the women will be for sale .
Many of Arus ElBahar's women come from traditional Palestinian families and it will be a first time event for many of them, selling their own products.

Everyone is welcome.

Mugging the poor

Yesterday, three young guys from Jaffa robbed a Chinese migrant labourer in the area of Jaffa's Gaza street.
They took all his money.
Chinese migrant labourers usually pay very large amounts of money to manpower agencies (aka slave traffickers) when coming to the country to work. Often they have mortgage their and the families' homes to make the payment and as a result they have to work for months and sometimes years almost without pay, in order to return the loan. During the weekends, when the "official" construction sites lay idle, they tend to do their own thing, painting homes and doing small repair jobs to at least have some money in their pockets. They often carry around all their savings, as banks for a number of reasons are not really an option for them.
Thus, they become easy targets for muggers and robbers. As the Chinese labourers usually have work visas, they can go to the police, which is what happened in this case. Three arrests have been made. I just hope the victim will get his hard earned money back.

Rationed Rice - Back to the "tsena"?

Just heard it on the news, rice is being rationed in some of the super market chains in Israel, due to the higher global energy prices.
But as the dollar exchanger ate vis a vis the NIS has gone down, for Israeli transporters the fuel price has not REALLY gone down, so something doesn't add up.
How much of this is "real" and how much is it hysteria and perhaps a cynical manipulation by the supermarket chains? After all, they bought that rice for the old prices ages ago.
Yesterday i read the main buyers in the US of cheap rice are restaurants and they made a run on some supermarkets because they didn't appreciate having to pay a little more prior to a price hike. However they created a chain reaction: the perceived shortage became a real one when more people made a run being scared of there being no rice. Stores ran out, stated they would ration and thus even more people made the run.
Yes, rice will become more expensive and that is no joke, as it is a basic staple. But the run and the rationing? Right now?
What is the real dynamic behind it? Globalism? Differential use of resources such as land? Control over markets and stocks to create artificial shortages in order to get a better price?

From prison to the "gagon" and back to Abu Kabir, murder investigation update

One of the three arrested people on suspicion of involvement in yesterday's murder of a 40-year old man at the Gagon shelter for the homeless in Jaffa , was released a few days ago from prison.
The suspect spent the last 6 years in prison after having been found guilty of manslaughter. He was released from prison a few days ago.
One wonders why someone is released from prison without, so it appears, a rehab program, a place to stay for at least some time, until one finds a job (which is very difficult when you have a criminal record), receives one's first salary, so rent can be paid. Being homeless isn't an easy start.
When people are released directly into the streets after a prolonged stay at a total institution (be it jail or a hospital or some such) and when they have no support from family or friends, the options are slim and rehabilitation becomes almost impossible.
Perhaps the man is innocent, and maybe he's not. I have no idea. But certainly he is innocent until proven otherwise. Whatever the case, released prisoners should at least receive some form of support.
Gagon isn't a very good place from which to start a rehab program.

Murder at the "Gagon", the Jaffa shelter for the homeless

The body of a man appearing to be in his forties (but homeless often look much older than they really are, life on the streets is rough and tough on the human body) was found early this morning at the entrance of the Jaffa "Gagon" shelter for the homeless.

"Gagon" is Hebrew for "small roof".
Today Tel Aviv has a few "gagonim", the Jaffa one is for men with addiction problems and in the Tel Aviv central bus station area there is another one for homeless women. There is also another one for non-addicted men. And many more are needed. Homeless people sleep in corners, in ruins, in building sites, on park benches and in the area of the central bus station. Or in bus stops in the main streets, or in the lovely little park next to the HaBima Theatre and the Rubinstein pavilion. Some construct small shelters out of boxes and plastic bags. Others try to attract as little attention as possible, so they will not be evicted by the neighbours.

During the day hours, when the Jaffa shelter is closed, many of the addicted homeless men hang around in the northern part of Jerusalem Boulevard begging for money from the drivers stopping at the traffic lights. Some give, others look straight forward, as if they do not see anyone, or play with the buttons of the car stereo or advanced GPS system. Homeless are sort of "see through" to many people, i guess.
Yet, each of them has a story to tell, and usually it is sad; Migration, alienation, a ruined marriage, unemployment. But once life was different, there were hopes, ideas and dreams.

This weekend's "Ha'aretz tells about 1000 homeless teenagers and young people on the Tel Aviv streets. Elem, an NGO, operates a day-center for the young, but no shelter. The young homeless have no where to sleep. Unless a cheap hotel with a client is considered "somewhere to sleep".

A man lost his life. There are wounds on his body. A fight between drug or alcohol addicts , they say. He hasn't yet been identified, apparently he wasn't one of the gagon's "regulars".
What kind of person was he?
Did he have a good childhood, with games and fun and laughter? Was he a good student or was school more of a punishment to him? Did he create anything or keep his poems in a drawer? Did he love anyone and was he loved? By whom? Will anyone cry for him? Will there be a minyan at his burial?
Will his grave be unmarked?


Homelessness is a matter of social justice. Homelessness is NOT God-given. It's a problem that CAN and SHOULD be solved, Shelters are not more than an emergency solution.
The Tel Aviv municipality started a special welfare unit for the homeless. I tried to contact them just before the holiday in order to receive aid for a young woman with retardation who has been -on and off- out on the streets for the last three years. They did not answer the phone nor return calls.

Talk on the street is that three people, a woman and two men, have been arrested or at least brought in for interrogation.

Trying to tell the truth about the "liberation" of Jaffa

Some 20 - 30 demonstrators and at least 40-50 police men, including special forces (Yasam) and border police.
In spite of the law, none of those last two groups wore name tags on their uniforms.

At the etzel museum a small audience listens to a sound & light heroism performance,
We are kept at "a safe" distance, but using old pots and sticks as well as small flutes we raise a lot of noise.
Banners tell the story of the naqbe in Jaffa, of the acts of terror carried out by Etzel against civilians. Sixty years ago, the naqbe.

Reuven Abergil tells the story of how that happened, while the Brits and the Hagana conveniently looked in the other direction. They controlled the road blocks on the way to Jaffa and the Etzel people dressed to look like local Arabs, passed through with their weapons and explosives.
Bombs hidden inside a watermelon cart and a truck exploded in Jaffa's market. Children and women were murdered. The aim was to create terror and make the population want to flee away.

The police tried to force us to another location, close to the Turkish railway station, where no one passes by and no one can see nor hear us. So much for democracy. So much for our right to express our views and be heard.
We disagree to move to that far away spot. In reaction they bring iron fences and "cage us in".
More police arrive on the scene.

The atmosphere becomes uneasy, then violent.

Four (?) people are arrested, some are lightly wounded, one journalist's press card appears to have been taken away by a police man who refuses to identify himself. Some of the police become very violent.

The police move us even further away in a concentrated and violent effort. It appears the noise we make bothers some of the "etzel heroes".
Their public doesn't really want to know the true story.
But the true story can be well learned from the etzel themselves. Prior to "pc" language in the fifties and sixties, they published books about their "heroism" against Jaffa's civilian population as well as the acts of looting Jaffa's homes and stores.

The police actively assist in telling the Etzel narrative.
They do all to keep us quiet.

But we won't, we won't be quiet.


And by the way, i found a camera in the area of the demo. I think it belonged to participants, please contact me.

H and her 8 children, still no home

Last week H. and her 8 children were evicted. They still have no where to go. They are staying with the neighbours, but that solution is moving towards its end.

If anyone of you know about a place for rent in Jaffa or in Bat Yam , close to the Jaffa border, please contact me ASAP.

Join the party, demonstrate!

The Etzel (Irgoun) museum is having a party tonight, to "celebrate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Jaffa" on "Manshiye" beach, just north of today's Jaffa border, at the Etzel Museum, that architectural monstrosity next to Alma Beach. (in case you're confused by now, Manshiye was the mixed Palestinian Jewish poor quarter of Jaffa, around the area of the Turkish railway station more or less. Today's "Alma Beach" and the Charles Clore Park are located on what used to be Manshiyeh beach).

Jaffa, the "Bride of of the Sea", the "Pearl of Palestine", was destroyed in 1948. Jaffa's people were murdered and expelled. In 1949 there were less than 4000 Palestinians left in Jaffa (about 15% of the population prior to 1948). Jaffa was the cultural center for Palestine, with its theatres, cinemas, radio station, printing houses, newspapers, schools etc. About 85.000 Palestinians were forced to leave Jaffa. Many of their homes were destroyed and their property looted.

The irgoun used methods of terror and extreme violence, such as placing bombs in the market, in cafes, in a children's soup kitchen etc, all civil targets, killing innocent citizens. As they said it in their own words "to demoralize the Arabs of Jaffa".
And today they are having a party to commemorate these "heroic acts".

We 'll be "joining them" in order to make sure the other narrative will be heard as well. To make people understand that what is happening today in Jaffa, is a direct continuation of the other process, the "liberation", or rather, destruction, of Jaffa in 1948.

Join us at 19.00 outside the Etzel Museum, today, April 24th.

Another armed icecream robbery in Jaffa and an arrest update

Jaffa has three legendary ice-cream parlours, each with their specific public, who would never buy ice cream at "the other places"; "Andre", "Victory" and "Dr. Leck".

Last night, when they closed and one of the employees took the day's income with her, she was threatened by a gun holding robber, who grabbed the money and escaped. The employee got away with a scare and a shock.
The police are investigating.

To days ago, 2 arrests were made in the murder case of Muhamad Marshrawi, last Saturday.

Halamish's little bag of tricks

In Jaffa there are several public housing apartments boarded up instead of being in use by the 200+ approved families on the waiting list.

To be approved for public housing, you need to be very poor (completely long term-dependent on social insurance payments only, due to e.g. disability and have at least 4 children, or a one-parent family social insurance dependent family, with at least three children). You need to take out an eligibility document, which needs to be renewed every 2 years (which costs money and is quite a procedure).

Families stay on the waiting list for many years. Some get tired or are to poor to renew the eligibility document (or realize that it leads only to more waiting so why bother?) so they no longer appear on the list, as they move in with family to live under impossible conditions (18 people in a small 2 bedroom flat) so the real needs are even more than appear on the list.
More over, there are some 500 eviction and demolition orders so the list will become even longer.

We (the popular committee against home demolitions, of which i am an active member) are trying to find out exactly how many flats are not in use. We know for a fact some flats have been empty for more than a year.
Halamish explains the flats are not fit for living because the Housing Ministry is not providing the money for the necessary renovations.
In a few cases i know for a fact this isn't true: there might be need for some minor repairs, but not more. e.g. the flat squatted by H and her 8 children (from which she was kicked out this week, onto the streets) was in a very fair condition, the windows had been taken out by Halamish themselves) to prevent squatting yet the flat had been empty for over more than a year.

Of course in other cases it may be quite true, but it isn't the whole truth. Last January Oreib Said Ahmad and her family were evicted from their home in Al Ajami's Etrog Street. The apartment they lived in had been renovated some years ago in a sloppy and dangerous manner and 2 of the rooms have serious problems. However, these are construction problems of a type that can be easily taken care of. The apartment is large and could easily house a family with 8 children. Yet it stands empty and boarded up since the eviction and the renovation has not started.
Yet there are 200+ families on the waiting list.

No money for renovations?
Weird, because that same Housing Ministry pays the 200 + families on the waiting list 1.200 NIS rent subsidy every month for renting housing on the private market.

Somehow the facts don't add up.

Or perhaps they do. Because when M. a disabled woman in the 4th month of her pregnancy and her disabled husband asked for public housing (they live in a privately rented flat on the 3rd floor no elevator). M has been informed by her doctor that from the 5th month of her pregnancy she will need to be in a wheelchair and her disabled husband will not be able to carry her in her chair up and down the three floors. They have been trying to find another flat (bottom floor or in a building with an elevator), but nothing they can afford (with rent subsidy), is available.
Halamish offered them a solution "within 48 hours" - if they will move to Lod. Right, to Lod. This is what they offer other families as well.
M. and her husband need and regularly receive the help (due to the couple's disabilities) of their extended family, who all live in Jaffa. In Lod , that help will not be available, therefore that "generous offer" is NOT a solution.
Jewish families can move to other public housing in Tel Aviv (e.g. or perhaps Bat Yam), but Arab families do not have that choice, as there are no Arab schools, mosques nor churches in Tel Aviv nor in Bat Yam. Therefore, Jaffa is their only option.
If all these poor and often weakened families move to Lod (which already is a completely marginalized slummy dysfunctional town), Lod will become even more desperate, as will the families, when their social networks will be broken.
The logical thing would be to construct more public housing in Jaffa. Not as another slummy estate, but as a part of each new building erected.
Building permits should be conditional upon allocating at least 15% of the flats for public housing in EACH project constructed in Jaffa, to be certified, guaranteed and maintained by the housing ministry.

Yet Halamish is doing something completely different: they are now offering people on the waiting list a deal: 10 years of larger rent subsidy (up to about 1800 NIS monthly) without having to renew the eligibility document. On first view, this sound like a good deal. The private market rent of a 2 bedroom "shikun" flat on the southern part of Jaffa's e.g. Jerusalem boulevard is about 2800 -3000 NIS. The offer takes the family off the waiting list for ten years. It SEEMS like a good deal and attractive to some of the absolutely desperate waiting list families.

But the deal carries a payload: 10 years is a long period of time. When a family enters a public housing flat, it's for life. If , however, the family accepts this deal, after 10 years the children will have grown up and once a child is 18+, he or she is no longer counted. Thus, the family may no longer be eligible for public housing after 10 years, as they no longer meet the criteria. Yet knowing the poverty life cycle, they probably will be as poor as before if not poorer. Halamish shorten the waiting list using a trick, but not really solving the problem.

The true solution (as poverty will not be ended so easily) lays obviously in construction for public housing.
Not 1 public housing flat has been constructed in Jaffa over the last 10 years, (although Halamish bought one small building with very large flats for eligible large and poor families) and that is where the root of the problem lays.
Jaffa has a very large poor population. The prices of housing have risen beyond all proportions. And Jaffa's sons and daughters (even of the middle class) can no longer afford housing in Jaffa. For Jewish families other neighbourhoods in Tel Aviv are an option. For Arab families this option doesn't exist, as there are no schools nor community and religious services in those areas. Their only option is in Jaffa.

Halamish and Amidar do not even consider construction in Jaffa. The municipality calls it "attracting strong populations" and i call it ethnic cleansing.

Passover, 2008

Back on the streets, mother and 8 children

We lost the fight and the family no longer has a home. A mother and 8 children are homeless. Halamish, the municipality, no one really cares very much.

Right now i have very little to say.

No Eviction Yet - update on today's activities

The flat is tiny, windowless and stuffy in today's very hot weather. People are sitting all around, on the couches and on the floor; Activists, community leaders, caring neighbours, friends, everyone and of course the mother and her young children.
The family is about to be evicted.
The little curly-haired girl sits on my lap, crying. She's stressed, scared of loosing her home any minute now. Two weeks ago, she already spent 2 nights in a public garden with her mother and 7 young sisters and brothers. I try to comfort her while holding 2 phones, while the third phone, on my lap, keeps ringing, i find it difficult : on one phone the media, on the other one Ms. Vered Sued, the priminister's counsellor for welfare:
Reps from welfare services, the ministry of housing, but nothing really moves.
Nothing, well hardly anything. The housing ministry took away the mother's rent subsidy 7 months ago, a bureaucratic mistake, which we managed to repair, the new rent subsidy eligibility form arrived today by fax, the ministry are willing to pay her back the money she missed out all those long seven months during which she did not receive rent subsidy (and could not pay her rent, which led to her being evicted from her privately rented apartment 3 weeks ago and squatting the current flat from which they want to evict her). The public housing (Halamish) flat she squatted 2 weeks ago, had been empty for over one year, in spite of the long waiting list for public housing.

We managed to find her another apartment, but the place will become available only towards the end of the month and the family doesn't have that time.
We try to convince the public housing company (Halamish) to allow the mother and her children to stay for 15 more days in the flat, until they will be able to move into another rented flat. Halamish do not want to hear about it. Unless, unless we deposit a guarantee of 100.000 NIS .
None of us have that kind of money, if we did, we would have solved the problem with it.

We continue to update the police outside, informing them we are trying to work out a solution and can they please wait a little longer, to give us time to find an acceptable alternative. Over time it becomes obvious they don't like this job, they'd rather not kick the family out into the streets. A silent truce is formed with them.
If the family will be evicted, welfare threaten to take the family's children away. The children become so scared, one of the young children runs off, to hide from the welfare services. The family is poor and they have no other options. But taking away the children is inhumane. Why should children pay for the mistakes of the housing ministry? For the stubbornness of the public housing company, Halamish?

As of now, the family are still in their home, but a real solution is not in sight, so the mother has started to wrap up the family's few belongings, ready to at least save a few things when the police will arrive, as we all know they will, perhaps tonight, maybe tomorrow.


Jaffa, almost Passover, but there is little freedom in Jaffa.

Over 200 families are on the waiting list for public housing. They have been on that list for years. About 500 families stand to be evicted from their homes and they will need public housing too. Yet over the last 10 years not even one public flat has been constructed in Jaffa.

Eviction now in Jaffa, people needed

QA one parent family of 8 small children are about to be evicted into the streets NOw

The family lives in Shem HaGdolim 6 in Jaffa,
Aanybody who can and wants to help , should go there now to assist.

Last week the Ministry spokesman promised help and said things would be ok (this was on radio with yours truly) but promises are not kept.

COME NOW to prevent the eviction

the Tasa Muslim Cemetery in Jaffa: the fight isn't over yet

Many of Jaffa's religious Muslims are spending part of their day today at the Tasa cemetery, Jaffa's only active Muslim burial place.

The other, more ancient burial places are full and no longer in use.

The Tasa plot was donated by a wealthy family to the Jaffa Muslim Waqf, in order to serve the Jaffa Muslim community as a burial site. After the establishment of the state of Israel, the ministry appointed yes-men, who would serve the state's needs rather than those of the community. The yes-men sold property to the state without receiving the community's approval or by devious and misleading means, such as making people sign paperwork in Hebrew, which they couldn't read, not telling them WHAT they were actually signing. It appears money has gone into private pockets as well, so i am being told by many of Jaffa's elderly. who still remember those days.

Fact is that, so far, even with the help of "Bagatz" it has not been possible to receive an updated list of the Wafq property in Jaffa, what was sold to whom for how much and when, nor what property is still owned by the waqf.

What IS known, however, is that part of Tasa was sold to Jewishj developers. When the community found out, some 30 years ago, they took the case to court, trying to fight it. About a month ago, according to the High Court of Justice, the community lost. And if they owners will be stupid enough, they will soon start uprooting fresh graves, thereby upsetting the community.

If, while preparing construction anywhere in the country an ancient or not so ancient grave is found, construction is stopped. Graveyards are protected, respected, at least, when they are Jewish.
If anywhere in Europe construction is started on top of an (ancient) Jewish graveyard, it is called "anti-Semitism" in the Israeli media, questions are being asked by the Israeli ambassador in the respective country and much efforts are being put in preventing the construction.

Not so in Jaffa. And we are not talking about an old historical cemetery, but about a place where the Jaffa Muslim community buries its dead today. And they have is no alternative cemetery.

There ARE of course solutions to the problem. The Ministry of Religious Affairs in cooperation with the municipality and the land administration could offer the new owners alternative land. But will they?

If the construction plans will be carried out, they will lead to violence. And listening to what people say, the violence will be worse than what Jaffa has seen since 1949. People feel insulted. They feel this is done specifically to hurt them. Their direct family members are buried at Tasa. Today's murder victim will be buried there perhaps today or at the latest tomorrow. How insensitive to the community's needs can one be?
And if, indeed, the developers WILL select to disregard the feelings of the community, the reaction will be scary.
If they wish it, this violence is completely preventable.


Illustrative photograph

murder & violence, the sequel, as expected

"Bicuray Zion" is one of the silliest street names ever encountered in Jaffa. It's also the location of today's murder.
About a year ago i assisted a movie production team in finding a good location to shoot a certain scene supposed to be taking place in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. "Bicuray Zion" fitted the purpose just perfectly.

Even post delivery people have trouble locating this crooked, graffiti-covered alley somewhere off the Gaza (yeah :) , seriously, that's what it is called ) and Ehrlich Street crossing.
It's where very poor people live, those who have been treated roughly by life, a small alley with rules of its own.
I have friends there, a poor family, with 10 children, robbed of their only source of income; social security child allowance. When the food is finished before the next hand out, the kids go hungry except for their regular school dinner. Holidays and weekends are the worst, as school is closed.
This is poverty as many people think exists only in the third world.
But it's here, right on our doorstep, in Bikuray Zion alley.

And it is also the background of the murder that took place early this morning.
Muhamad Mashrawi, a 23 year old man from Jaffa was killed and two others wounded by shots.
As usual, the media will try to link it to the ongoing family feuds in Jaffa.

But what is really behind the violence on our streets, is poverty, a lack of chance, a lousy public school system, no employment options for the Jaffa's young Palestinian population, no housing options and the alienation and anger triggered by all of those.

Sure, there is tension between the families. But the anger and frustration, the undignified way society relates to Jaffa's young are important factors.
By stating it has to do with the family feuds, society can absolve itself of its responsibility; there probably will be increased border police presence in the streets over the next few weeks. the usual and inefficient reaction.

More money spent on education, creating job-opportunities, cancelling the ethnic transfer and building homes for Jaffa's Palestinians instead of villas for wealthy yuppies make more sense. Is anybody in the municipality listening?

The truly guilty are those making the policies that keep Jaffa's Palestinian population uneducated, poor. Who make people live in inhumane conditions under a constant threat of being evicted.

Stabbing at Jabaliya Beach

A seriously wounded young man was admitted, during the very early morning hours, to Wolfson Hospital. The young man, from East Jerusalem, had been stabbed at Jaffa's Jabaliya ("Givat Aliyah" as it is called in Hebrew) beach.
Especially during the late night hours, the beach is a popular hang out for Jaffa's young men. They like to smoke a water-pipe, have a drink and talk the night away. And sometimes discussions erupt, occasionally leading to fights.
At times, the location is selected to fight out discussions started elsewhere. The police are investigating.

Disease does not discriminate

Two months ago my friend Mariam, a young Palestinian women from the territories, needed urgent medical care.

She does not have a visa to say in Israel and no medical insurance. So she went to the free clinic run by "Doctors for Human Rights" in the area of the central bus station in Tel Aviv.
She received excellent medical care by the very friendly staff.
Over the years i have referred and accompanied more than a few friends in need of medical care to this wonderful clinic.
The clinic is of major importance to some of the most weakened communities in the country: migrant labourers, visa-less and insurance-less people, victims of trafficking in human beings and of course, refugees, many of them , over a hundred per day.

The clinic was closed about 2 weeks ago.
The relatively small clinic, run by a volunteer medical staff can no longer cope with the ever increasing flow of refugees in need of urgent medical care. They do not have the ability to treat so many people per day; there are not enough professional staff, equipment, rooms, medicine etc.
so instead volunteers accompany the ill refugees to the emergency wards of the hospitals in the area.
The health of so many people is not a problem to be taken care of by an NGO, responsibility should be taken by the government.

Yet the ministry of health refused to take the responsibility on itself, even in such cases as are demanded by international conventions signed by the the state of Israel.

The number of people lacking medical care in the country is growing.
This is NOT a matter of money, but of human rights. Diseases can attack anyone, they do not discriminate between skin-colour, race, ethnic group or religion. The ministry of health quite obviously does.
And that scares me. And angers me.

Arrests in Jalal Shakra Murder Attempt Case

Last Saturday evening a volley of shots was heard in the "shem hagdolim" public housing estate in Jaffa.
About a month ago Jalal Shakra's car was set on fire. This time things got more serious:
Jalal Shakra had been sitting with a friend in his car. The shots broke the window and lightly wounded Jalal's friend in his arm.
The friend was taken for medical treatment to nearby Wolfson hospital. Jalal got off with a scare.

The police started their investigation and an arrest was made, a 21 year old man. No other details are available as yet.

Land Day in Jaffa - Yom El Ard, YomHadama

Over one thousand people marched in Jaffa, against the ethnic cleansing carried out by big money in close cooperation with the public housing companies and the municipality. Representatives from all factions in Jaffa and beyond stood together, united. Jaffa's people, women, men and children, marched together for the future of their city, for their own future.
"Together we will stop the bulldozers", "The municipality destroys, the community builds" were some of the slogans carried by the participants.
After the march we convened in the park on Yefet Street, "Gan HaShanyim", where representatives from the various groups making up the Jaffa "popular committee against home demolitions" and political parties spoke about what they believe Jaffa's future should be. From sheikh Raed Salah, through Balad Knesset member Dr. Jamal Zehalka, "City for us all" (עיר לכולנו) representative Dov Khenin and Knesset member sheikh Ibrahim Sarsur to activist Reuven Abergil, of Panther fame, the message was clear: Jaffa is for its people, who will not move.

"I Am Rachel Corrie" at the Arab Hebrew Theatre

The play "I am Rachel Corrie", based on Rachel's diary and letters she sent home and to friends during the period she was in the Gaza strip until she was killed there, was performed by the "Al Midan Theatre" at the Arab Hebrew Theatre in Jaffa tonight.
Rachel, an American citizen, was a peace activist serving as a human shield in order to save people's lives in the Gaza strip during the second intifade.

Rachel's parents were present at the première which took place in the framework of the Women's Festival opened today at the theatre.

In addition, "the Wild West" and "Death Song" will be presented in the framework of the festival.

This Friday at 14.00 in Jaffa: the Land Day Demonstration

The main land-day demo will take place in Jaffa, this friday, at 14.00, starting point in "Toulouse" Park (next to the Arab Jewish community center)

Back to the ma'aberot, one more Nimby in Jaffa

The Tel Aviv municipality has started to construct a tent camp in Jaffa, a refugee camp basically, for the many homeless refugees from Darfur and Eritrea currently staying in the over-crowded and dangerous shelters and the park in the area of Tel Aviv's central bus station.
Yes, it is about time the establishment takes responsibility for care for the many refugees who have come into the country from Egypt.
There is not only a moral obligation to do so, but a legal one as well: the state of Israel signed the various relevant international agreements relating to the rights of refugees and it is about time those rights were fully recognized: visa, health, welfare, adequate housing, employment , education for the children as well as language studies for the adults and perhaps vocational training for those in need of it etc. etc. and of course financial assistance until the refugees find employment and will be able to fend for themselves.

There is no doubt NGO's can no longer take that responsibility: the sheer numbers and depth of distress of the people coming in from the hell that Darfour and Eritrea have become, demand state intervention and responsibility in the form of a well-integrated absorption and assistance plan. The refugees are not a "short term problem" that will go away if you do not think about it. Such a plan should relate to the short, mid and long-term problems and solutions.

The state, instead of what was mentioned in some publications about providing every refugee with 2000 NIS to help him or her with housing and first expenses, is not actually doing anything.
The Tel Aviv municipality, faced with a major humanitarian and health crisis (last week a shelter caught fire and by sheer luck there were no major incidents nor wounded), decided to do something, which is great. To take some responsibility, excellent.
But why build a ma'abera (transit camp)? And if that is the only solution, why in the already weakened south of the city, in Jaffa?
Moreover, those responsible for it, will be the Jaffa welfare department (according to Ha'aretz), who already are over burdened and under staffed. Already their level of functioning is way below what i would call merely adequate.

One more NIMBY in Jaffa. It's unfair both to the refugees and the Jaffa population.

Why not construct the tent camp in north Tel Aviv? I can think of some excellent, large, green locations which already have the necessary basic infrastructure. More over, there are good bus-lines, excellent schools and health clinics in those areas, so why not?
But it is municipal election year and it's the guys in the north who vote for Huldai no? I guess that's why.

When thousands of new migrants from the USSR arrived some 15 years ago, caravan camps were established as a first line of housing solution. Rightfully, this solution was criticised and funny enough the majority of the people sent to those caravan camps were Ethiopian migrants. Now it's a tent camp, they are constructing. Back to the fifties.
Would skin colour have anything to do with it?

Girls in Gaza and Shderot, International Women's Day

The Women for Peace Coalition had planned its main demonstration yesterday in Tel Aviv. Palestinian and Jewish women planned to march together, for peace and equality, along the Tel Aviv beach promenade.
Women from all over the country had planned to participate, buses arriving from all over.
The permit, previously provided by the police, was retracted; the police would not be able to provide protection because of "the situation".

At the the very last moment, unwilling to entirely cancel the event, the march was moved to Nazareth.
Handing out white and red carnations to bystanders some thousand women (and a few men) marched along Nazareth's main street, chanting for a peaceful solution to the conflict as well as for equal rights. Afterwards, a short convention took place in the "Friendship House".

One wonders what the cancellation of the demonstration permit really means. If the police think a peaceful women's demo in Tel Aviv is something they cannot take responsibility for, they have a problem. We have a problem. Of course it might also be that "someone" does not want it to be seen that women, Palestinian and Jewish that is, women cooperate.
After all, a demo like that in a central location would have attracted a lot of attention. The last minute move to Nazareth meant there was little press presence.
Also, many women were unable to attend.


For those unable to read Hebrew, the sign reads "In Gaza and Shderot, girls want to live".

Stop the horror in Gaza!

Peaceful demonstration in Jaffa today at 18.00 at "Gan HaShanayim" against the horror in Gaza

Yes, i am aware rockets are falling in Sderot and Ashkelon and that's awful and horrid, yet NOTHING justifies what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza strip. there is only one word for what the IDF is doing in the Gaza strip: war-crime.

It's about time we sat down and talked. Yes: talked to Hamas.

Back to the Ottoman Era?

Once upon a time (and for quite a few centuries), Jaffa was the central government town of a peripheral province of the Ottoman empire.
The Turkish leaders had their offices in the "Seraya Building", the government house, just opposite the Mahmoudieh mosque. A special beautifully decorated entrance to the mosque was made opposite the Seraya building, so the governor and his guests only had to cross the market square in order to go and pray in what at the time was Jaffa's main mosque.
Clock-tower square was Jaffa's main square, from which coaches left to all parts of the empire. There were market stalls mostly selling vegetables and cafes, where well to do men would drink their coffee, play sheshbesh and exchange gossip or make business.
Close by were the jewellery stores of the Chelouche family and in the second half of the 19th century Boustrous street (today's Raziel street) was constructed, Jaffa's fancy stores and offices street.
Early in 1905 the clock-tower was constructed.

In 1918, at the end of the Ottoman empire and the beginning of the British Mandate, the Turks left Palestine.
Over time the Seraya building became a soup kitchen for poor children and the municipality moved to its new premises on Nouzha Boulevard (today's Jerusalem Boulevard), whereas the Brits had their offices in the area behind what is now the "Noga" theatre.
During the forties, the lovely Seraya building was bombed by Jewish terrorists and most of it was left in ruins.
Over the last few years the building complex is being renovated and it seems a little of Jaffa's Ottoman past is being resurrected, as the Turkish Cultural Center is about to open in what used to be the Ottoman Seraya Building.

Reuven Abergil released after shabak interrogation

Ron Hulday, the Jaffa - Tel Aviv mayor, is getting worried. In November this year the municipal elections will take place. Hulday serves his wealthy cronies well, yet in the south of the city more and more people are loosing their patience.
After many years of being oppressed and discriminated against, they have had enough. The demolition of several houses in Kfar Shalem some weeks ago and the 495 eviction orders and demolitions in Jaffa are simply too much.

This wednesday Reuven Abergil was questionned by Israel's internal security forces (shabak). After having been questioned and his fingerprint taken, they released him. So much for the freedom of speech. Criticizing Hulday has become a dangerous activity.

Abergil, an educator and life long social activist who was among the founders of the Black Panter movement in Israel, spoke during a demonstration against the evictions and demolitions. Reuven Abergil wants to prevent violence. "It is the municipality who are violent", he said. "And this violence may eventually lead to violent reactions. Children who see their home destroyed, and their parents forcefully evicted, may well become traumatized and this trauma, in combination with prolonged discrimination, may eventually lead to them reacting in a violent way". Abergil's words were taken out of context by a Tel Aviv weekly and Hulday felt threatened and complained Reuven Abergil had threatened him, no less!

The eviction and home demolitions of the homes of tens of families from Kfar Shalem are acts of extreme violence against people who have been forced to give up their strength.
It's the shabak who are using techniques of intimidation to put a stop to certain social activities, thereby limiting free speech .

Murder next to school in Ajami

The children inside the "Hasan Arafe" primary school heard the volley of shots, just when they were supposed to go home. Their teachers decided to keep them inside for a little longer, in order to find out what was going on in the street, just to make sure everything is safe.

Hani Shurafi, aged 19, was killed this afternoon and an elderly bystander wounded in Kedem Street, close to the "Torcina" waterpipe cafe, opposite the Hasan Arafe primary school.

The victims were taken by bystanders to nearby "Wolfson" hospital.

"Please Touch"

Yesterday evening i went with some Jaffa friends to "Not by bread alone", a performance at the "Please Touch (נא לגעת) theatre in the Jaffa harbour.
"Na Lagaat" (please touch) is a theatre group of 11 blind and deaf actors' assisted by translators in sign and touch language.
"Not by bread alone" is a play consisting of a series of sketches based on the actors' dreams, while bread is being made by them on stage.
Some of the actors, as they were born deaf and later became blind have difficulty expressing themselves through regular speech.
Seeing the play one wonders about limits of expression, and how to overcome those. In that sense the actors are amazing and very courageous.
Some scenes from of the play is visually beautiful, but as a whole, it's a problematic performance, suffering from too much nostalgia and an over-romanticised view of a world that perhaps never was. But then, perhaps it is not fair to judge the play using regular critical tools. However, i don't think the actors are the problem. The visually beautiful scenes are prolonged, thereby loosing some of the magic that was present at the first instance. It's the story, the play itself, that doesn't "work". And that is no fault of the actors, whom i admire.

The words spoken at the end by the company's (an NGO) manager were problematic and not necessary.

The derogatory manner in which he expressed himself about the Jaffa harbour, "which will be saved by the throngs of people coming from Tel Aviv, as right now it is a bunch of "jiffa", were insulting to us, all from Jaffa.
No doubt, it's wonderful if and when dance groups and theatres will use some of the unused warehouses in Jaffa's harbour. Yet Jaffa doesn't need "loads of Tel Avivians" to come and save it and "replace the Jiffa with kultura".

At the theatre there are 2 other special culinary experience options: a restaurant "Blackout", where food is served in complete darkness by blind waiters and a cafe, "Capiche" , where service is carried out by deaf waiters and the guests are given the experience to order trying to use sign language (instructions on the menu and the place mats) , which was fun to try and experience.
The food at "Blackout" is by Nir Zook, which is promising, but we haven't tried it as yet.
The theatre-restaurant complex itself is located in a beautifully renovated harbour warehouse.

Wikileaks censored?

Wikileaks was (or is?) a site publishing, well, leaks.
Documents put online by people who thought it important to share materials that NEEDED to be leaked, to safeguard democracy, to show what is really going on.
Information about major bank frauds in Kenya, about what's going on in Guantanamo, about Iraq...

No longer so. Wikileaks appears to be down
By court order , so Alternet informs us. Democracy right?

But, the creators foresaw censorship, so the leaking continues elsewhere

Tension in Jaffa around Desecration of the Muslim Graveyard

Some 35 years ago the waqf of the Muslim graveyard in Abu Qabir sold the land. For a lot of money.
The waqf had been appointed by the Ministry of the Interior and they ofcourse selected people who would serve THEM rather than the Jaffa Muslim community they were supposed to serve.
The sale was made without even asking the community.
But the community was not silent, as expected. they took the sale to court and after a lengthy fight they lost. Last week.
Apparently the developers expected to be able to continue the destruction of Jaffa. Not only the living, but even the dead aren't respected. The only graveyard serving the community is about to be partially destroyed in order to contruct private dwellings on it.
To quote Alain Fleisher "the death of death".
But things in Jaffa have changed. Some 35 years ago the appointed Waqf could, perhaps, do what they wanted. No longer so.
There is extreme anger amongst Jaffa's community. Not only the religious and not only the Muslims. It is one of the first times all of the community are joining in a unified fight.

On the one hand, it makes me a little sad that the struggle for housing did not unify people. After all, viable housing solutions for the living are of a critical importance for the community, for Jaffa.
Yet at the same time it's good to see people from so many different groups and movements, who under normal conditions don't even talk to each other, unified for the good of the community.
Construction on the graveyard land will NOT serve Jaffa's people.

Yet another eviction order...

H. is 88 years old. A very gentle man, but his memory isn't what it used to be. Alzheimer, so they say.
His smile lights up his face and his little grand daughter loves him.

Amidar, the public housing company decided to evict him from his home.
Why? Only hell knows, and apparently Amidar. Or maybe they and hell are more or less the same.

Sick child robbed of life saving electricity

M is 5 years old, a friendly, funny child, rather small for his age.
His mother and brothers and sisters live in a flat they squatted many years ago. M suffers from a severe form of asthma, and needs inhalation every 5-6 hours in order to breathe.

His kindergarten teacher is not able to provide the inhalation and as a result, M is at home all day long. His mother has to take care of him and as a result , she cannot work.
Her ex-husband stopped paying alimony and for reasons of bureaucracy, she has not yet started receiving social security.
Medicine and food are more important than paying the electricity bills, leading to a debt. With as a result she was cut off from the grid half an hour ago.
So was her neighbour, the single mother of a 1 week old baby.
Normally neighbours' lend a hand in these cases, but the whole building has been cut off.

For M this means danger, he cannot survive without inhalation.
His mother asked the electricity company guy to come upstairs and see for himself.
He refused.

The electricity company people were accompanied by two border police goons.

Jaffa, winter 2008

Jaffa Harbour

Jaffa's harbour is ancient. Some say about 5000, others about 4000 years old. Archaeological digs in the area found stone implements, suggesting the ea very early human presence of fishermen.
The riffs that protect the harbour's entrance have been there, well, for ever. Thousands of years.
They protected the developing town and its people.
It used to be one of the main ports in the area.
In ancient times, when navigation tools weren't that developed yet, boats stayed in sight of the Mediterranean shoreline and its harbours were found more or less on a day's shipping distance. Jaffa was part of the eastern Mediterranean port-chain of Gaza, Ashqelon, Jaffa, Apolonia, Caesaria, Acre etc.
Control over a harbour meant control over the surrounding area as well as economic wealth. And Jaffa, with its natural springs and fertile lands around it, became wealthy.
The riffs and rocks made it dangerous to enter for any one who didn't know the entrance of the harbour very well. Jaffa is high, and therefore relatively easy to defend against a sea-faring enemy.
Jaffa became wealthy and the harbour was the center of activities: fishing and the orange trade.
Durng the Ottoman era the harbour was developed.
But already in the early 20th century the natural defence walls of the harbour started to present a problem: as ships grew taller and taller, they could no longer enter the harbour. They used to anchor outside and small boats would come alongside, to carry people and products to and from the shore.
Over time other harbours (Haifa and Ashdod) took its place, although it stayed active as an international and shipping harbour until the late 1950-ies.
Today it still is an active fishermen's harbour. In addition there are activities for Jaffa's children, such as the sea scouts, a sea canoeing business, and some small fish-restaurants.


Yet the municipality wants to turn it into a relaxation and commerce area, like the Tel Aviv harbour.
And that's where the difference lays, the Tel Aviv harbour, constructed in the 1930-ies, was no longer in use. A dead area of rotting empty warehouses and suspicious activities. There wasn't a single boat making use of it.
The Jaffa harbour is still active, used by Jaffa fishermen for whom it is the source of their families' income. By turning it into a fancy harbour for the wealthy, the fishermen will loose their income. Already it is impossible for the young generation t get a new fishing boat licence.

The renovation plans are ready and the development has started. I'm not against renovation and development, on condition it serves the local population first of all.
Archaeological digs stopped the development. That's usual in Jaffa; when you start developing, you find ancient remains and all development has to stop until the archaeology department has defined what needs to be salvaged and how and what may be destroyed.
Ancient harbour constructions were found, but they are being covered again. Apparently cafes and restaurants for the wealthy are more important than saving Jaffa's past and its people's present source of income.
There has been a public outcry, the findings should be kept open, so people can learn about the harbour's history. Supposedly the findings are being covered for safety sake. But exeperience has tought us, the municipal development plans will continue, money is stronger and Ron Huldai, the mayor, first of all serves big money, not the city's people.

More info

The Hamad Family Home in Ajami was Destroyed Today.

They lived in 4 Sarid Street, a "stonethrow" from my home; a family with children. A simple structure with an asbestos roof, the Hamad family home.

That was until tonight, as the Hamads are out on the street. And it isn't too cold right now, but winter wil be returning tomorrow, so the forecast says.

It doesn't really matter, they are homeless now, the Hamad family.

The police arrived around ten this morning. The family had not been given a demolition order (as they should have, by law). A family member who dared to protest was wounded by the police. who cordoned off the area, stating it is closed, due to the presence "dangerous materials" (that's the asbestos, i suppose).
The bulldozers came and the work was carried out quickly. No more home.
Apparently the family had a lawyer, who tried to put up a fight. As the family had not contacted the popular committee against home demolitions, no one knew about it and only few demonstrators managed to come to prevent the demolition.

The police serving big money as usual. Who cares about the people?

Hamad home being demolished now, we need people there

Just received news the Hamad home is being demolished.
People are needed to help the family at Sarid Street in Jaffa

update will follow