Jaffa

Jaffa port

Jaffa (Arabic ÙŠÙŽØ§ÙÙŽØ§ ; also Japho, Joppa; also, ~1350 B.C.E. Amarna Letters, Yapu), is an ancient port city located in Israel on the Mediterranean Sea.

It is mentioned four times in the Hebrew Bible, as one of the cities given to the Tribe of Dan (Book of Joshua 19:46), as port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 2:15), as the place from whence the prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish (Book of Jonah 1:3) and than as port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for the Second Temple of Jerusalem (Book of Ezra 3:7). It was also an important city in the Arab Middle East. During the Crusades, it was the County of Jaffa, a stronghold of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The city is now part of the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo in the Tel Aviv District; the tell ("mound") of ancient Jaffa in "Old Jaffa" is part of a park in south-western Tel Aviv.

History

Name sources

Jaffa (or Yaffo) is one of the most ancient port cities in the world. Some claim that Jaffa was named after Japheth, one of the three sons of Noah, who built it after the Great Flood. A Hebrew etymology indicates that the city is called Jaffa because of its beauty (yofi in Hebrew). The Hellenist tradition links the name to "Iopeia", which is Cassiopeia, the mother of Andromeda. However, the Hellenist accounting for the name dates from hundreds of years after the original naming.

Ancient period

The ancient site of Jaffa is now a 40-meter (130 ft) high hill (Tel Yafo, or "Jaffa Hill"). The hill is suitable for fortifications and defense, and at its foot lie springs which supply fresh water. The accumulation of debris and landfill has over time increased the original strategic advantage of the hill by augmenting its wide field of view over the adjacent coastline.

Jaffa's natural harbor has been occupied since the Bronze Age. It is mentioned in an Ancient Egyptian letter from 1470 BC, glorifying its conquest by Pharaoh Thutmose III, who hid armed warriors in large baskets and gave the baskets as a present to the Canaanite city's governor. The city is also mentioned in the Amarna letters under its Egyptian name Ya-Pho, ( Ya-Pu, EA 296, l.33 ). In 1991, a replica of the Egyptian gate lintels, bearing the titles of Pharaoh Ramesses II, was re-erected on its original site. The city was under Egyptian rule until around 800 BC.

Jaffa is mentioned in the Book of Joshua as the border of the Tribe of Dan's territory. It appears that many of the descendants of Dan, for whom the entire coastal plain is named (Gush Dan), lived along the shore and earned their living from shipmaking and sailing. This is mentioned in the "Song of Deborah" the prophetess, in her complaint "×"×Ÿ ×œ×ž×" ×™×'×•×¨ ××•× ×™×•×ª": "Why will Dan dwell in ships?", for Dan did not help Judge Barak Ben Avinoam in their war.

King David and his son King Solomon conquered Jaffa and ruled it, and via its port the cedars which were used in the construction of the First Temple arrived from Tyre. The city remained in Jewish hands even after the split of the Kingdom of Israel. In 701 BC the city port was used by Sennacherib, king of Assyria, to invade Israel in the time of King Hezekiah (×—×–×§×™×"×•).

Jaffa was a Seleucid port until the Maccabean rebel princes took it (1 Maccabees x.76, xiv.5). During the Jewish Revolt, Jaffa was taken and burned by Cestius Gallus and eight thousand inhabitants were massacred (according to Josephus). Pirates operating from the rebuilt port incurred the wrath of Vespasian, who razed the city and erected a citadel in its place. Vespasian placed a Roman garrison in the citadel.

Medieval period

Saladin's attack on Jaffa

According to the New Testament it was at Jaffa that St. Peter resurrected the widow Tabitha, a name interpreted Dorcas (Acts, ix, 36-42), whose tomb is still the object of popular pilgrimage. Unimportant during the first centuries of Christianity, Jaffa did not have a bishop until the fifth century AD. In 636 Jaffa was conquered by Arabs. Under Islamic rule, it served as a port of Ramla, then the provincial capital.

Jaffa was captured during the Crusades, and became the County of Jaffa and Ascalon, one of the vassals of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. One of its counts, John of Ibelin, wrote the principal book of the Assizes of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. During the period of the Crusades, the Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela (1170) sojourned at Jaffa, and found there just one Jew, a dyer by trade. Saladin took it in 1187. The city surrendered to King Richard the Lionheart in 1192. In 1268 Jaffa was conquered by Egyptian mamluks, led by Baibars. In 14th century they completely destroyed the city for fear of new crusades. According to the traveler Cotwyk, Jaffa was a heap of ruins at the end of the 16th century.

The Ottoman period

Napoleon captures Jaffa

On March 7, 1799 Napoleon I of France captured Jaffa and his troops proceeded to kill more than two thousand Albanian captives.

Rabbi Kook becomes Jaffa's chief rabbi

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook was chief rabbi of Jaffa from 1904-1921.

In 1904 Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1864-1935) moved to Palestine and took up the position of chief rabbi of Jaffa:

In 1904, he came to the Land of Israel to assume the rabbinical post in Jaffa, which also included responsibility for the new secular Zionist agricultural settlements nearby. His influence on people in different walks of life was already noticeable, as he attempted to introduce Torah and Halakha into the life of the city and the settlements.

In 1921 Rabbi Kook moved to Jerusalem when he was appointed as the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine and is still regarded as Israel's first chief rabbi as well.

End of Ottoman rule

Jaffa was well known for its cash crops such as citrus and bananas. Until the establishment of Tel Aviv and the era of the British Mandate of Palestine, Jaffa had the most advanced commercial, banking, fishing, and agriculture industries in Palestine. It 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 boxes for Jaffa oranges, textiles, presses and publications. The majority of all publications and newspapers in Palestine were published in Jaffa.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of Jaffa had swelled considerably and new suburbs were built on the sand dunes along the coast. By 1909, the new Jewish suburbs north of Jaffa were reorganized as the city of Tel Aviv.

In 1917, the Ottomans banished all of Jaffa's residents as they feared the British army would occupy the city. The British did indeed occupy the city (see Sinai and Palestine Campaign), but let its residents return after a year.

Under the British mandate

During 1917-1920, there were thousands of Jewish residents in Jaffa. A wave of Arab pogrom attacks during 1920 and 1921 caused many Jewish residents to flee and resettle in Tel Aviv. The 1921 riots (known as the Meoraot Tarpa by the Jews) began with a May Day parade that turned violent. The Arab rioters attacked Jewish people and buildings, including the residents of "The House of Immigrants" and the Jewish author Yosef Haim Brenner.

At the end of 1922 Jaffa had 32,000 residents while Tel Aviv had 15,000. However, in 1927, Tel Aviv had 38,000 residents. The Jews of Jaffa lived on the outskirts of Jaffa, close to Tel Aviv. The old city of Jaffa, which was controlled by the Arabs, was almost empty of Jews. During the 1930s both cities had a combined population of 80,000 residents.

The Great Arab Uprising

The 1936-1939 Great Arab uprising inflicted great economic and infrastructural damage on Jaffa.
*Urban warfare between the British forces and Palestinian resistance destroyed many of the city's narrow alleys. The British demolished many houses belonging to Palestinian resistance.
*Jewish and British citizens moved their businesses out of Jaffa.
*As a reaction to the strike of the Arab seaport workers, the Jews built a modern seaport in Tel Aviv, which resulted in decreased income for Jaffa's Arab seaport.

World War II

In 1945, Arabs planted 146,316 dunams (146 kmÂ²) of citrus, and Jews planted 66,403 dunams (66 kmÂ²).

The 1948 Arab-Israeli War

Prior to the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the UN's Special Commission on Palestine in 1947 recommended that Jaffa become part of the planned Jewish state. However, due to the large Arab majority it was instead designated as an Arab enclave in the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan.

The Arabs rejected the plan and on 30 November, 1947, the day following the adoption of the UN resolution, seven Jews were killed by Arabs in Palestine in three separate incidents: at 8 o'clock in the morning, in what came to be seen as the opening shots of the 1948 War, three Arabs attacked a bus from Netanya to Jerusalem, killing five Jewish passengers. Half an hour later a second bus attack left a Jewish passenger dead. Later in the day a twenty-five-year old Jewish man was shot dead in Jaffa, where wild rumors spread about alleged attacks on Arabs by Jews. In Jerusalem, the Arab Higher Committee called a three-day general strike from Tuesday, 2 December to be followed by mass demonstrations after Friday prayers.

From the beginning of the strike onwards, Arab and Jewish clashes escalated and by 11 December the Jerusalem correspondent of The Times estimated that at least 130 people had died, "about 70 of them being Jews, 50 Arabs, and among the rest three British soldiers and one British policeman".

On April 25, 1948, Irgun launched an offensive on Jaffa, then the largest Arab city in Palestine, during which many of its Arab residents fled through the harbor. Haganah units took the city on May 14. From a population of about 70,000-80,000 Arabs, only about 4,100 did not flee. To commemorate the Jewish soldiers who died in the battle for Jaffa, the "Conquest Garden" was planted in the city.

Modern Jaffa

With the massive arrival of many Jewish immigrants from Bulgaria, Morocco, Romania, Iraq, Yemen, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and other countries, they were settled all over Israel, Jaffa included. Severely damaged during Arab uprising and the 1948 War, Jaffa's Al Ajami neighborhood slowly turned into a slum. Jaffa in those days had the reputation of a "crime city".

In 1954, Jaffa became integral part of the municipality of Tel Aviv, and since then both cities are known as Tel Aviv-Yafo. Currently, Jaffa's Old City neighbourhood is being renovated, and is inhabited mostly by artists.

Modern Jaffa has a heterogeneous population of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Jaffa's Arab population now numbers around 10,000 people. Jaffa is a major tourist attraction with an exciting combination of old, new and restored. It offers art galleries, theaters, souvenir shops, exclusive restaurants, sidewalk cafes, boardwalks and shopping opportunities and a rich variety of culture, entertainment and food.

Jaffa beyond the Old City

Most tourists visit only Jaffa's Old City, Port and the Flea Market, being completely unaware of the rest of Jaffa: Al Ajami, Yafo Gimmel, Yafo Daled, Neve Ofer and Lev Yafo. Jaffa, with its proud 5000 year old history as a town of importance and cultural center, has become a poor district of Tel Aviv.

Although there has been some gentrification in Al Ajami and Lev Yafo (as a result the housing prices in Ajami have soared and young families are unable to obtain housing), Jaffa is characterised by poverty. The public education system for Arab speaking children has a 53% drop out rate. Quite a few of those who finish high school, do so without a matriculation certificate (bagrut), some unable to read and write. The Hebrew-speaking public educational system is not much better. As a result, parents who can afford it send their children to schools in Tel Aviv or to the private Christian schools (Terra Santa, FrÃ¨res, the Greek Orthodox school and Tabitha).

Some new and fairly good schools have been established: the Democratic School (Hebrew) and the Jaffa School (Arab speaking, run by Jaffa's "Alrabita").

Jaffa's Arab population allegedly experiences severe problems when looking for a job and those qualified are often discriminated against. Many, due to poor schooling, do not qualify in the first place. As a result, unemployment and poverty rates soar. Many Arab residents of Jaffa are dependent on welfare. Today's Jaffa is characterised by severe drug problems, high crime rates and very high violence rates.

Jaffa's Jewish population includes the "old timers", mostly the 2nd generation of the migrants settled in Jaffa during the fifties and sixties of the last century, and newcomers. Some of the newcomers are extrmely well to do. They bought and renovated old houses. Others, in Yafo Gimmel, Daled and Neve Ofer, are more recent immigrants, mostly from former Soviet States. More than a few are rather poor and live in cramped, bad quality, public housing.

Members of the the Arab as well as significant parts of its more politically astute and historically aware population have argued that the Arab past of the "Bride of the Sea" has been blurred by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality. In the early 1950s, after 95% of the Arab population had left in, with the onset of mass Jewish immigration into Jaffa, several Arab street names were replaced by Jewish ones. However, from the 1990s onwards, efforts have been made to renew Arab and Islamic monuments (such as the Mosque of the Sea and Hassan Bek Mosque) and document the history of Jaffa's Arab population.

Places to see

* The Clock Square, built in 1906 in honor of Sultan Abdul Hamid II's 25th anniversary, became the center of Jaffa, and it is centered between Jaffa's markets.
* The Abulafia bakery in Yeffeth Street (the main street of Jaffa) is a famous restaurant and a symbol of Jewish-Arab coexistence.
* Mahamoudia Mosque which was built by Abu Nabut (the city governor during the 19th century) and includes a water fountain (Savil) for pilgrims.
* St. Peter Church, a Franciscan church, built in the 19th century on the remains of Crusaders' fortress, which serves also as a hostel. It is told that Napoleon stayed in that church while it was a hostel.
* The Andromeda rock, according to legends this was the rock to which beautiful Andromeda was chained.
* The Zodiac alleys, a network of restored alleys, full with art galleries, which lead to the Jaffa seaport.
* Jaffa's Old Seaport.
* Jaffa's Hill, a center for archaeological excavations of the ancient cities. The most ancient are the Ancient Egyptian gates, about 3,500 years old, which were restored.
* The Libyan Synagogue called Beit Zunana was purchased by the Jewish landlord Zunana in the 18th century. During the 19th century it stopped being used as a synagogue, and became a hostel and later a soap factory. In 1948 it was re-established as a synagogue for Libyan Jewish immigrants, and in 1995 it became a museum.
* Nouzha Mosque, on Jerusalem Boulevard, today's Jaffa's main mosque.
* Al Ajami Mosque, a failry new and popular mosque in south Ajami, on HaBaal Shemtov street.
* Abou ElNabut and the sculpture garden. An ancient sabil (drinking place) contructed by Abu ElNabut for visitors on their way to Jaffa.
* Al Ajami or "Aliyah" beach, Jaffa's lovely beach, located in south Al Ajami.
* The Arab Jewish Community Center, on Toulouse Street.
* The Women's Court, a public space for Jaffa's women and girls (women only) on 220 Yefet Street.
* The Seraya Theatre, the Arabic Hebrew theatre in Jaffa's old city, located in the "old" Seraya Building, once part of the Dajani soap factory.

Footnotes

# Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, Jewish Virtual Library.# Judges Chapter 5# Benevisti, 2002, p. 101.# Gilbert, 1998, p. 155.# '7 Jews Murdered', The Palestine Post, 1 December, 1947, p. 1.# 'Fighting in Jerusalem', The Times, 12 December, 1947, p. 4; Issue 50942; col E.# Morris, 2003, pp. 211-221.

References

* Benevisti, Meron (2002). Sacred Landscape. University of California Press. ISBN 0520234227
* Gilbert, Martin (1998). Israel: A History. Black Swan. ISBN 0552995452
* Moran, William (1987,1992)The Amarna Letters. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press.
* Morris, Benny (1987). The Birth of the Palestine Refugee Problem. New York: Cambridge University Press.
* Morris, Benny (2003). The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem Revisited. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521009677
* Nakhleh, Issa (1991). Encyclopedia of the Palestine Problem. (2 vols.). New York: Intercontinental Books.
* Palumbo, Michael (1987). The Palestinian Catastrophe: The 1948 Expulsion of a People from their Homeland. Boston: Faber and Faber.
* Quigley, John (1990). Palestine and Israel: A Challenge to Justice. Durham: Duke University Press, 1990.
* Segev, Tom. (1986). The First Israelis. New York: The Free Press.
* Silver, Eric (1984). Begin: The Haunted Prophet. New York: Random House.
* Levine, Mark (2005). Overthrowing Geography, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and the Struggle for Palestine, 1880 - 1948, Berkeley, University of California Press.
* Yahav, Dan (2005). Yafo, Kalat Hayam, Me'ir Rasha leShunot Oni, Degem Le'ishivionut Merhavi, Israel, Tamouz.
* Chellouche, Yosef Eliyahu (1931). Parashat Hayai [1870-1930] (Reminiscences of My Life [1870-1930]), Tel Aviv, Babel, 2005.
* Rotbard, Sharon (2005). Ir Levana, Ir Shehora (White City, Black City), Tel Aviv, Babel.
* Hanafi, Sari (2001). "Here and There : Towards an Analysis of the Relationship between the Palestinian Diaspora and the Center" 1st ed. Institute of Jerusalem Studies and Muwatin -The Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy

Jaffa: Encyclopedia BETA

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