Old Jaffa

Old Jaffa (, ; ) is the oldest neighborhood in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. It is one of Israel's main tourist attractions, with art galleries, restaurants, theaters, museums, and nightclubs.

Old Jaffa is located in the northwest of Jaffa, on a hill along the Mediterranean Sea. Geologically, the hill of Old Jaffa is the continental north end of a kurkar ridge, historically further protected through fortifications and heightened by debris.

History

Ottoman Empire

The Old City was damaged by the Napoleonic wars and an earthquake in 1837. When the wall of Jaffa, which was rebuilt in the early 19th century, was dismantled between 1878 and 1888 to allow expansion, both the city and the centres of government shifted eastwards, though the Old City remained the cultural center of the city.

During the nineteenth century, the Christian population, especially the Greek Orthodox community, grew rapidly and dramatically in the Old Jaffa, and they formed the wealthy elite and the educated class in the city, and emerged as a major force in the increasingly middle-class trade of journalism.

Mandatory Palestine

During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, links between Tel Aviv and the Jaffa Port were partially severed by the unrest in the Old City. Palestinian fighters in Jaffa also used the Old City which contained a maze of homes, winding alleyways and an underground sewer system, to escape arrest by British security forces. Beginning in May 1936, in response to further Arab agitation in Jaffa, the British authorities suspended municipal services in the city, establishing barricades around the Old City and covering access roads with glass shards and nails. In June 15, the Royal Engineers used gelignite charges to demolish between 220 and 240 Palestinian Arab-owned homes in the Old City, leaving an open strip which cut through the center of Jaffa from end to end and displacing approximately 6,000 Palestinians.

The British authorities claimed that house demolitions in Jaffa were part of a "facelift" given to the Old City. Local Palestinian newspapers resorted to using sarcasm to describe the demolitions, writing that the British had "beautified" Jaffa using boxes of gelignite. Sir Michael McDonnell, then serving as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Palestine, found in favor of Arab petitions from Jaffa and, upholding existing laws regarding house demolitions, ruled against the demolitions carried out by British forces in the Old City. In response, the Colonial Office dismissed him from his post.Hughes, M. (2009
The Banality of Brutality: British Armed Forces and the Repression of the Arab Revolt in Palestine, 1936–39
''English Historical Review'' Vol. CXXIV No. 507, pp. 314–354. The revolt led to the British authorities to encourage the construction of the Tel Aviv Port on the Yarkon River estuary to the north of Tel Aviv to reduce reliance on the Jaffa Port.

Israel

Disputes about the merging of Tel Aviv and Jaffa, with the former wanting only to add the Jewish neighborhoods in the north of Jaffa and the latter wanting a total merge led to a gradual unification.Arnon Golan (1995), The demarcation of Tel Aviv-Jaffa's municipal boundaries, ''Planning Perspectives'', vol. 10, pp. 383–398. The Old City was partly added on 18 May 1949 as part of the first Arab-controlled land to fall under Jewish control. The remainder of the Old City would be added in 24 April 1950 when the complete unification occurred.

Old Jaffa has increasingly gentrified with the residential population dropping dramatically and an increasing number of art galleries, restaurants, souvenir shops as well as various ongoing archaeological digs. According to Historian Menachem Klein, 70% of structures in old Jaffa have been destroyed between 1960 and 1985, with much of the old city being covered by ''Pisga Park''.Roth-Rowland, Natasha. “Wiping Palestinian History off the Map in Jaffa.” +972 Magazine, June 5, 2016
Link
There is a particular interest on the cultural melange by the relatively rare, in Israel, triple mix of Muslim, Jews, and Christian.

Places in Jaffa

Pisgah Garden

The Pisgah garden, known also as the Abrasha garden was designed by Avraham Karavan. It is located on the top of Jaffa hill. The garden is connected to Kedumim Square and St. Peter's Church through the Zodiac Bridge over the road (Solomon's Bay Street) that borders the hill. The gardens integrate with their surroundings, so they can be reached from different directions. The area features several different actitives and not just a park, there are archaeological excavation areas, restored homes, works of art and cannons from the Napoleonic Wars.

Boundaries

Current boundaries of the "Old Jaffa and Jaffa Port" neighborhood, as defined by the Municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo (clockwise):
* North: north and east of Jaffa Beach, Retzif HaAliya HaShniya
* East: northbound lanes of David Raziel (putting the Jaffa Clock Tower in Old Jaffa), Yefet Street
* South: Yehuda HaYamit, Namal Yafo Street, the southern wall of the Jaffa Port parking lot
* West: the Mediterranean Sea shore

Attractions

* Subregions: Jaffa Port in the west and Yefet Street on its eastern border
* Museums, galleries and studios: Farkash Gallery, Uri Geller Museum, Ilana Goor Museum, watchmaker Itay Noy
* Places of worship: Al-Bahr Mosque, Libyan Synagogue, Mahmoudiya Mosque, Saint Nicholas Monastery, St. Peter's Church
* Towers: Jaffa Clock Tower, Jaffa Light

Immediately outside Old Jaffa: Abouelafia Bakery, Abu Hassan Restaurant

References

{{Neighborhoods of Tel Aviv

Neighborhoods of Tel Aviv
Populated places established in the 4th century BC
Ancient cities of the Middle East
Arab localities in Israel
Arab Christian communities in Israel
Jaffa
Old cities in Palestine and Israel