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Archaeology in Jaffa
The tel of Jaffa has been excavated during several digs in the last century, but never in its entirety. Most of the finds were brought to the Archaeological Museum, next to the tel.
Because of the many destructions, remains of several periods are almost lacking: from the Late Second Temple period until the early Arab period. From the oldest archaeological layers it becomes clear that Jaffa had a wall and gates, and a rampart leading up to the gates. These were destroyed at the beginning of the 13th century BCE, around the time when the Philistines would have conquered the city. On one of the doorjambs of the Bronze Age gates is an inscription with the name Ramses II, the Egyptian Pharaoh.
From the Philistine presence dates citadel made of mud brick walls, and a temple with two columns supporting the roof, of which only the bases were left. On the floor of the temple a lion skull was found with fierce teeth and a scarab seal near its teeth. Lion skulls were found in other sites as well, for instance in Dan. In Jaffa there seemed to have been a lion cult. More details about it are not known.
From the Greek era dates an inscription which says that Ptolemy IV ruled Israel from Egypt, and coins were found with the Greek name of Jaffa, 'Joppa.'
Near to the sea an excavation uncovered a three-roomed catacomb under a private house. Inside there was a burial cave, containing several graves from the Persian until the Byzantine periods. Some have finely carved stone doors.
In the Jewish cemetery at Abu Kabir (Giv'at Herzl) there are many graves as well, dating from the Late Roman times until the Byzantine era, which give an impression of the Jewish community of the Mishnaic-Talmudic period. The cemetery was already dug out in the nineteenth century by a French archaeologist. Tombstones bear inscriptions in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Two additional burial caves were discovered in 1991.
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Homeless in Jaffa : The Struggle of the Sawaf family for Housing
by : Asma Agbarieh
On 9 December 1998 in Jaffa, the parents and five children of the Sawaf family were thrown into the street. As of this writing, they are living in a tent. The story contains the main ingredients of what is happening in Jaffa today: on one side, the greed of real-estate speculators, on the other side, poverty and ignorance. There is also, in this case, the spice of a local celebrity. The incident is a test case. Jaffa is at a crossroads. The Sawafs must receive justice, and the takeover of Arab neighborhoods must stop before more families are homeless.
The eviction of the Sawafs is the fruit of a policy known as "judaization". In the seventies, long before the term 'ethnic cleansing' came into use, the Zionist movement coined this term, signifying the transformation of an area from non-Jewish (read 'Arab') to Jewish. The means to this end is not religious conversion, rather eviction. We have a prime example in Jaffa, where judaization and gentrification are practically synonymous.
The Deal:
The Sawaf parents are Da'ud and Ruweida. Da'ud grew up in a one-room apartment at 57 Kedem Street in Jaffa, where his father had the status of protected tenant. The apartment belongs to a house, two and a half rooms of which were sealed. Fifteen years ago, when Da'ud married Ruweida, the young couple took over the sealed portion as squatters. He received a government loan, however, to renovate the flat - an indication that his squatting was semi-approved. There the Sawafs raised five children. The Israel Lands Administration (ILA) issued an order of eviction against them, but it never tried to implement it. Because of restrictive laws and the high price of housing, a great many families have to live as squatters with the ILA sword hanging over them, not only in Jaffa, but in the other mixed cities as well (Lod, Ramla, Haifa, and Acre).
In 1973 an Israeli actor named Yosef Shiloah, known as politically progressive, bought the rights - bought, that is, the status of protected tenant - on the upper floor of the same house, which was then still in the midst of an Arab neighborhood. After a decade he moved to another apartment in an already judaized area, but he kept his rights at 57 Kedem Street. In the nineties his "ship came in". The municipality gave the green light to turn Jaffa into a Neapolitan-style appendix of its larger daughter, Tel Aviv. Plans were made to gentrify the slums. Rights would be auctioned to the highest bidder. There was no place in the scheme for the indigent indigenous Arabs.
Thus by a stroke of the pen, Shiloah's apartment on Kedem Street, with its view of the sea, shot up in value. He offered to sell his rights to a real estate company called Mishkenot Yaffo, but the latter agreed only on condition that it be able to buy the whole house. Shiloah took it upon himself, therefore, to persuade the two Sawaf families, father's and son's, to vacate. In May 1995, he visited them, together with his lawyer, and convinced them to sign a handwritten contract. The Sawafs, for their part, had no lawyer. In the contract, Shiloah committed himself to finding them protected flats, two and a half rooms for the father and a two-room flat for Da'ud. Since the father, at the time, had only one room, and since Da'ud would be exchanging an insecure status for a secure one, it seemed a good deal. The contract did not specify, however, the size or value of the future apartments. For reasons which will appear in a moment, Shiloah also included a clause stating that the contract in no way obviated the ILA eviction order against Da'ud.
Eviction # 1: March 1996
Da'ud's father received his new flat. To Da'ud, however, Shiloah offered lodging that the former described as "unfit for horses". (Shiloah, we have learned, wanted to keep his payment down to 40,000 US Dollars; a decent protected two-room apartment, big enough for seven, cannot be found in Jaffa at such a price.) The actor claims to have shown the Sawafs nine apartments, and since they refused them all, he considers himself released from his contract. Da'ud approached the Housing Advice Team (HAT) of Hanitzotz Publishing House, which puts out this magazine and the Arabic Al-Sabar. We agreed with him that the procedure seemed unfair, and we decided to take up his case.
In January 1996, on the strength of the ILA eviction notice, Shiloah procured a court order to have the family removed. On March 3, Shiloah told Da'ud that if they would vacate in peace, he would reconsider his retreat from the contract. The Sawafs did not agree, and an open dispute was declared. Shiloah did acknowledge responsibility, however, insofar as he rented a three-bedroom flat for the family. The Sawafs moved into this apartment. Meanwhile, HAT made the case public and helped the family find a lawyer. The Sawafs proceeded to sue Shiloah for breach of contract.
Eviction # 2: December 9, 1998
For two and a half years after the first eviction, the Sawafs lived in the apartment rented for them by Shiloah. Their landlady, for reasons of her own, filed with the court to evict them. Since their own case against Shiloah was pending, however, the family had nowhere to go. At this time HAT launched a public exhibit on the problem of housing in Jaffa. For our title we took an advertising slogan of the real-estate companies: "To live in a picture". (Challenge # 42). Our poster, however, did not show a peaceful oriental paradise, but rather a huge boot aimed at the house on Kedem Street.
Around this time, also - HAT has learned - Mishkenot Yaffo paid Shiloah 1,175,000 US Dollars for the rights to the Kedem-Street house. The company plans to replace it with eleven luxury apartments facing the sea.
Early in 1998, the landlady won her case against the Sawafs. Eviction proved difficult at first, because of the moral implications and the publicity that might attend the case. Shiloah, for his part, remained adamant: he would not fulfill his part of the contract. On December 9, Ruweida Sawaf returned from the market and found all her family's furniture, clothing, and other possessions, down to the children's school books, out on the street. The locks in the apartment above had been changed.
HAT, by this time, had formed a Committee for Solidarity with the Sawaf family. Its members loaded their belongings into a car and took them to a park in Jaffa. By the afternoon, a tent was up - soon replaced by a better one from the Islamic Club. We put out press releases and distributed leaflets among Jaffa's 20,000 Arabs. Since practically every Arab family in Jaffa has a housing problem, the case served as a shock, as if to say: "Here it is! Judaization has fully arrived. This is what we shall come to."
People began joining the solidarity committee. The women who study at our Mothers' School provided hot meals. Others helped the family with showers and laundry. On the second day the children returned to school, and Da'ud and Ruweida to work.
Eviction No. Three - December 17, 1998
On this date, a Thursday, at three in the morning - while missiles fell on Iraq - a large force of police and city inspectors stormed the tent, hauling the family from their beds. Two social workers stood by, joking with the police. Within minutes the tent and all its contents, including the schoolbooks, were en route, by truck, to a city warehouse. The family was left outdoors in pajamas.
HAT members reached the park at once and undertook negotiations for the return of the belongings. The municipality wanted us to sign a commitment not to put up a new tent, but we made it clear: Until a permanent solution is offered, the family will live there in a tent, even if we have to set up a new one each time. By noon the family had received, in fact, a new one (the third on the spot), the loan of a kibbutz. By order of Micha'el Roeh, Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, the belongings were returned.
On December 22, the police gave the Sawafs yet another eviction order. The Solidarity Committee prepared to raise another tent. We also called Micha'el Roeh again, saying that we could not anticipate the reactions to an eviction in the midst of Ramadan. The deputy then met with the mayor, it seems, and persuaded him to postpone the eviction until the end of the holy month. We have made it clear that we shall keep erecting tents, if necessary, until a just solution is found for the Sawafs.
The Sawaf case is a human problem of many dimensions, one of which is political. Its outcome will help determine whether the indigent Arab community of Jaffa will be prey to the greed of real-estate speculators, or whether it will have a fair chance to maintain itself and improve its conditions. Until now "coexistence" has been a one-way street: the municipality bruits this word about as a means of getting footholds in the Arab neighborhoods. Jews can move to Jaffa, but Arabs cannot move to Tel Aviv. (Where the Jewish National Fund has bought the land, it forbids the sale of the houses built on it to non-Jews; other less official forms of racism do the rest.) Nor does the danger stop in Jaffa. Judaization is also underway, as said, in the other mixed cities. Under the guise of the "rules of the market", the racist drive to transfer the Arabs can end, if unchecked, in thousands of Sawafs. We say, therefore: We are all Sawafs!
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Homeless in Jaffa : The Struggle for Housing continues
The Sawaf family of Jaffa, twice evicted from its home, has been living since early December in a tent in a public park.. Their case crystallizes the struggle of the poor (usually Arabs) against the rich (usually Jews) in the mixed Arab-Jewish cities. On February 25 a local court decided against the Sawafs. Their fight, which has been both judicial and public, will now shift entirely to the public realm.
Here is the background:
Israeli actor Yosef Shiloah had bought the rights to an apartment in a building at 57 Kedem Street where the Sawafs also lived. (Like many Arab Jaffans without the means to buy or rent, the Sawafs had settled in their flat as squatters. They lived there for fifteen years, even getting a government loan to fix up the place.) Shiloah wanted to be able to offer the whole building to a real estate firm, which agreed to buy it if it were empty. He came to the Sawafs one night with his lawyer, who wrote a contract on the spot. Da'ud, who can neither read nor write, did not have a lawyer. He signed by making his mark.
According to the agreement, Shiloah would buy for Da'ud the status of protected tenant in an alternative apartment, on condition that the family, seven people in all, leave the Kedem Street house. The size and value of the alternative apartment were not specified. Shiloah then proceeded to offer flats so small and miserable that Da'ud refused to budge. Finally, Shiloah obtained a court order to put an old eviction notice into effect. That was the first eviction (March 1996). For two and a half years after that, the Sawafs lived in an apartment rented for them by Shiloah. On December 9, 1998, when Shiloah stopped paying the rent, their landlady had them evicted from here as well.
Yosef Shiloah has received $1,750,000 for the Kedem Street building from a real estate firm, which plans to turn it into luxury apartments. The Sawafs sued Shiloah to fulfil his part of the agreement and secure them the status of protected tenant in a two-room apartment like the one they had left, where seven people can live. The Tel Aviv court has now rejected their suit. The issue has entered the national consciousness. Israel's Second Channel recently devoted fifteen minutes to the Sawaf affair on its Weekend Report. Shiloah responded with a lawsuit, claiming violation of sub judice and libel. Senior journalist Moti Kirschenbaum, who made the report, has told Challenge that he submitted it in advance to the channel's legal advisor and made all the recommended cuts.
Da'ud, Ruweida and the five children have no choice but to continue living in a tent until a solution is found. Here too, however, they have already undergone a series of evictions: the first on December 17, the second on January 27 and the third on February 8. Each time city inspectors with police came before dawn and confiscated the tent, mattresses, blankets and personal belongings. Each time, the Committee for Solidarity with the Sawaf Family put up a new tent and collected essential items for the family.
On January 20, the last day of Ramadan, this routine gave way to a merrier one. The Committee organized a mass solidarity event with the family in the park. Top Israeli and Palestinian singers participated, including Eviatar Banai, Amal Morkus, Yigal Lev, The Drummers Circle and many more. Artists Tal Matzliah and Dannie Ben Simhon, both active in the Solidarity Committee, organized an outdoor exhibition showing the works of fifty colleagues.
The Sawaf issue has raised public awareness in Jaffa. It has brought home to a great many families the possibility that they too may face eviction. The Sawafs and other Jaffans are the victims of "economic transfer": by all the means at its disposal, the city gets them to leave their homes, which are gentrified and sold to the rich. (On the techniques of eviction, see Challenge#46.)
The Solidarity Committee is picketing two hours each Friday on Yefet street in Jaffa. One sign reads: "Do your children sleep well, Mr. Mayor?" In addition, every Saturday evening in the park, Jaffans join an open parliament on housing problems. The Sawafs refuse to accept any solution that is merely temporary. If the city takes their tent again, they insist they will pitch a new one.
The Committee wishes to thank the dozens of people who wrote protest letters to Mayor Ron Khulda'i. These letters make an impression! They show the city that it does not have carte blanche. We also wish to thank Kibbutz Tzora, as well as the municipalities of Kufr Bara and Kufr Qassem, for their support in providing tents. We are grateful to the Pontifical Mission for its donation.
The campaign will continue. The committee has many expenses that have not yet been covered. We urge our readers to support us. Small contributions too are welcome. They should be sent to Challenge (with a note, "for Sawaf campaign"), POB 41199, Jaffa 61411, Israel. We ask our readers to continue sending letters to the municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa demanding:
that the Sawafs not be evicted again and that a fair solution be found for them;
that the first priority in Jaffa be to improve the housing conditions of the city's Arabs without disrupting their community, and that Jaffa's space not be exploited instead as a market for speculative real-estate ventures.
Please send letters to Mayor Ron Khulda'i, Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality, Israel Fax: 972 - 3 - 521 6425
Copies should be sent to Asma Agbarieh of the Solidarity Committee. Fax: 972-3-6839148.
Sawaf Family suffers fourth Eviction:
At 11:30 this morning large forces from the police joined municipal inspectors at a park in Jaffa where, for five months now, Da'ud Sawaf, his wife Ruweida, and their five children have lived in a tent. There have been, in fact, four tents since the family was first put out on the street in December 1998. Today, without explanation the police took down the latest of these, packed it up along with the family's possessions, and departed. This occurred despite a letter dated April 13 from Deputy Mayor Michael Roeh to the family's lawyer, Idan Seidel, announcing "my readiness to work toward a solution for the Sawaf family, on condition that I can deal directly with you and the family, without interference from political elements."
Attorney Seidel wrote back that the family would be glad of a permanent solution. "Unfortunately, in the light of the family's bitter and traumatic experience during the last two years, it is in a deep crisis of confidence, and it is not interested in leaving the tent except to a permanent apartment... The solution of a permanent apartment for the family is also acceptable to the Committee for Solidarity, and for this reason, I do not think that problems of partisan politics arise here."
The city's barbaric response to this letter demonstrates that the cornerstone of municipal policy toward the people of Jaffa is eviction.
The family has no place to go, and therefore it will set up yet another tent. The family will leave the park only in exchange for a permanent solution.
The Committee for Solidarity with the Sawaf family wishes to express its outrage at the city's behavior, and it announces that it will continue to stand behind the family and help it in every way it can. The Committee will keep appealing to the public to put pressure upon the city, that it should cease its repeated attacks on the family, and upon Yosef Shiloah, that he should provide the Sawafs with a permanent dwelling, as he promised to do in the contract by which he gained their agreement to vacate their earlier home.
The Committee places the whole responsibility for the repeated evictions on the mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Ron Huldai, of whom it demands: Stop abusing the Sawaf family! Faxes to the mayor should be sent to: 972-3-5216453. Copies to us at: 972-3-6839148 or: oda@netvision.net.il
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Agriculture and Industries in Jaffa
Agriculture in Jaffa.
Jaffa was well known for its cash crops as citrus and Bananas. In 1945, Arabs planted 146,316 dunums with Citrus, while 66,403 dunums were planted by Jews.
Industries in Jaffa:
Jaffa was the most advanced city in Palestine in the development of its commercial, banking, fishing, and agriculture industries. Jaffa had many factories specializing in cigarette making, cement making, tile and roof tile production, iron casting, cotton processing plants, traditional handmade carpets, leather products, wood box industry for Jaffa orange, textile, presses and publications. It should also be noted that the majority of all publications and newspapers in Palestine were published in Jaffa.
Since Israeli still maintains and enforces the "Law Of Absentees", all Jaffa's industries, farms, buses, cars, railroads, cattle, real states, ..etc. have been looted and became the property of the Jewish State. When such practices were conducted by the Germans and the Swiss, the Jews of the world demanded justice for their looted art works and properties. The question which begs itself :- Are the Palestinian Arabs entitled for compensation for their looted properties too?
The Picture shows the boxing of Jaffa oranges in Jaffa City in the 1920's. |
Newspapers and Magazines from Jaffa
Newspapers from Jaffa:
Filisteen : Founded in 1909 by 'Issa Doud al-'Issa and Yousef al-'Issa. Until al-Nakba, it was considered to be one of the largest newspapers in Palestine. After al-Nakba, it resumed publication in Jerusalem, until 1967.
Al-Salam : Founded in 1920 by Naseem Maloul, and its name means Peace.
Al-Jazeerah : Founded in 1924 by Hassan and Mahamoud al-Dajani, and its name means Island.
Sawt Al-Haq : Founded in 1927 by Fihmi al-Husseini, and its name means The Voice of Truth.
Al-Jamia' al-Islamyyah : An islamic related paper, founded in 1932 by Suliman al-Taji al-Farouki.
Al-Difa' : Founded in 1934 by Ibrahim al-Shanti, and its name means Defense.
Haqiqat al-'Amr : Founded in 1937 by the Histadrut in Tel Aviv.
Al-Jihad : Founded in 1939 by Muhammad al-Maslami.
Al-Sha'b : Founded in 1947 by Hilmi Hanoun and Idmound Rouck, and its name means The People.
Al-Youm : Founded in 1949 by the Histadrut and whose editor was Dr. Abu al-Thu'yb, and its name means Today.
Al-Huryyah : Founded by Heirout part (now the Likud party), and its name means Liberty.
Sada al-Taribyah : Semi monthly newspaper founded in 1952, and its name means The Echo Of Education.
Al-Youm le 'Awladuna : Semi monthly newspaper for kids founded in 1960, and its name means A Day For Our Children.
Al-T'awun : Founded in 1961 by Dar al-Nasher al-'Arabi, and its name means Collaboration.
Magazines from Jaffa:
Al-'Asma'i : Founded in 1909 by Hana 'Abdallah al-'Issa, which was the first magazine to be published in Palestine.
Al-Haqq : Founded in 1923 by Fihmi al-Husseini, and its name means The Truth.
Al-Nashra al-Tijaryyeh : Founded in 1924 by Jaffa's chamber of commerce, and its name means The Commercial Publication.
Al-Tahreer : Founded in either 1935 or 1936 by Iskandar al-Halabi and Muhammad Yousef al-Din al-Irani, and its name means Liberation.
The Picture shows Jaffa's southern slum neighborhoods before demolition, 1949.
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The Ahya' and Dawahi (Neighborhoods) of Jaffa
The Ahya' and Dawahi (Neighborhoods) of Jaffa:
Al-Balad Al-Qadima (The old city) : City center, which including al-Tabyeh, al-Qal'ah (the castle), and al-Naqeeb.
Al-Manshiya : Located North of the city center, which was built after the WW I. The neighborhood was destroyed during the 1948 war.
Irsheed : Located south of al-Manshiyah, which was founded by Egyptians from Rasheed, Egypt.
Al-'Ajami : Located south of city center.
Al-Jabalyyah : A neighborhood south of al-'Ajami.
Ihrayyesh : A neighborhood North of al-'Ajami.
Al-Nuzha : The most modern section of Jaffa located west of city center, which was built after WW I.
Al-Malakan : The grain and agriculture Suq.
The Residential areas : The residential areas of Darweesh (south), al-'Aryaneh, Abu Kabeer (2 km west), Hamad (north of Abu Kabeer), Sabeel Abu al-Nabut, al-Turki, Tall al-Reesh (west of city center) ...etc.
The residential areas Darweesh, Abu Kabeer and Hamad were founded by Egyptians soldiers who stayed behind after Ibrahim Basha's (son of Muhammad Ali) Palestine campaign, which ended in 1841.
The Picture shows the Manshiya ruins in Jaffa City soon after occupation in May 1948.
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The Suqs (Markets) of Jaffa
Suqs (Markets) of Jaffa
Bistriss-Iskandar 'Awad : Named after the affluent Lebanese families of Bistriss and Iskandar 'Awad. The Suq used to start from the government building and it ended just before Jamal Basha avenue.
Al-Dayr : Belongs to the Waqf of the Roman Orthodox monastery.
Al-Huboub : The grain and agricultural products Suq.
Al-Manshiyah : It was located in al-Manshiyah neighborhood.
Al-Maslakh : The meat market.
Al-Balabseh : The merchants who founded this Suq trace their roots back to Balbees, Egypt.
Al-Is'aaf : The most modern of Jaffa Suqs which was built on Jaffa's old cemetery.
The Picture shows bread sellers on the streets of Jaffa.
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jaffa
Demolition of Jaffa's old City by the British Forces during the first Palestinian Intifada in 1936. Notice the British soldier posing with a dead animal, possibly a dead cat !!
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jaffa
Loading Jaffa Oranges on to boats from Jaffa harbor to Europe in the 1920,s.
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A bitter memory of a child
A bitter memory of a child
by : Ibrahim Naoum Ebeid
We were living peacefully in our towns and villages until the Zionist entity was created in our land and we were brutally evicted from our homes to make room for the colonialist racist settlers. Thousands of our people were murdered and hundreds of our villages were demolished. Those foreigners now are living in our homes and on our farms and we are refugees scattered around the world. Millions of us are living in miserable camps waiting patiently for the conscience of the world to wake up. But will it?
When I was eleven years old, in Jaffa, I witnessed few Zionist terrorist acts that I have never been able to forget. They dwell in my mind and never depart; they have become part of my experience of the Palestine tragedy.
Once I was with a few kids from my school playing hockey or skipping classes, our favorite hide out was the busy and crowded vegetable market in Jaffa. A pushcart exploded. The explosion was very powerful, few people were killed and scores were wounded, some so seriously, that later on died from the severe wounds.
In intent to blow up The Barracks, a large building, used to house some British Police Officers in Jaffa, located in Al Ajami section, few meters behind our house, the Zionists dressed like Arabs were driving a caravan of camels loaded with bombs. The bombs were exploded, the camels were killed and their parts were flown all over. Our house was cracked right from the corner. Luckily we were not hurt and I wonder if anybody was killed or seriously injured, I do not remember.
Fouad Kobti, a kid from my school living in my neighborhood, was shot in the chest but he survived.
Palm Sunday 1948. The worshippers were praying in a procession around St. Anthony Roman Catholic Church when Zionist mortar bombs stared to fall all around the churchyard and Terra Santa School, The Prayers were disrupted and the people were panicking.
A bullet pierced our wooden door and struck against the wall missing my father's head by one inch.
Omar ibin al Farran (Omar the son of the baker) was about fifteen years old and used to assist his father in the community bakery where we used to bake our bread. Like any other child of his age he had his hope and dreams. But alas his dreams were not fulfilled, the bakery was blown up by Zionist gangs artillery fire on the residential area where the bakery was located. His life was cut short and his body was torn apart into many pieces. Young Omar was gone and we were not able to see him any more neither were we able to carry the dough to the bakery to bake bread. Omar and the bakery were gone and Jaffa too.
On May 1948 my family was forced to leave Jaffa and left the beautiful orange grove of the Jallad family behind to settle in our village, Bir Zeit, in one room apartment that we used to spend few days every summer.
Summer 1948. Thousands of refugees, mostly women, children and elderly, hungry, thirsty and overwhelmed with panic and fear were filling the highway from Lyddah to Bir-Zeit. I joined scores of people from the village to help them. We offer them water and food. Thousands settled in caves and under olive trees. They made hasty shelters from rags and bushes to protect them from heat and to give them some sort of privacy.
Winter 1948. It was bitter cold. Most of those refugees who have never seen snow before, found themselves under a heavy blanket of that cold stuff that made them desperate and fearful for their lives away from the warmth of their homes.
Bir-Zeit with a population that did not exceed the two thousands swelled to fourteen thousand or more. Seeing this human tragedy befalling their brethren and the tragedy widens, the people of Bir-Zeit opened their homes, schools and churches to shelter the victims of Zionism and Western imperialist which helped create this catastrophe.
Schools were closed and the situation was unbearable and every one felt pain and despair. Fear was very dominant. The hope for immediate return to their homes was shattered and they were forced to go to live in permanent camps which lacked running water and other basic facilities.
Years later the refugees started building their dwellings with tin, mud, and stones collected from the surrounding areas. These refugees with their descendants are still living in these miserable conditions impatiently waiting for the conscience of the World to wake up, if it ever does.
The Picture shows the Palestinian Arab Residents of Jaffa running away as War Refugees via boats from Jaffa harbor to Gaza in May 1948.
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Jaffa
General View Of Jaffa's Roof Tops just before Demolition, 1949.
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