Tel Aviv: or over the ruins of the prosperous city of Jaffa
"Mr
Rotbard chips away at the façade of his birthplace. He describes how
Tel Aviv supplanted Jaffa’s Arab-owned orange groves, and goes on to
explain how, in the violent birth of Israel in 1947-48, Jewish
paramilitary fighters overpowered and subsequently largely levelled the
city from which it had sprung. His tale of Tel Aviv’s growth from a
Jaffa suburb founded in 1909 to a metropolis whose population grew
20-fold in the 1920s is gripping.
Rotbard chips away at the façade of his birthplace. He describes how
Tel Aviv supplanted Jaffa’s Arab-owned orange groves, and goes on to
explain how, in the violent birth of Israel in 1947-48, Jewish
paramilitary fighters overpowered and subsequently largely levelled the
city from which it had sprung. His tale of Tel Aviv’s growth from a
Jaffa suburb founded in 1909 to a metropolis whose population grew
20-fold in the 1920s is gripping.
Its
inhabitants, he writes, were for the most part adolescent Jewish men
who were no less ideological than today’s settlers. Even their methods
were often the same. Their fortified outposts interrupted Arab
contiguity. Their first bypass, Allenby Street, today a spine through
the city, ran around Jaffa’s perimeter. It gave Tel Aviv access to the
sea, but also reduced Jaffa to an enclave that was in effect cut off
from its Palestinian hinterland.
inhabitants, he writes, were for the most part adolescent Jewish men
who were no less ideological than today’s settlers. Even their methods
were often the same. Their fortified outposts interrupted Arab
contiguity. Their first bypass, Allenby Street, today a spine through
the city, ran around Jaffa’s perimeter. It gave Tel Aviv access to the
sea, but also reduced Jaffa to an enclave that was in effect cut off
from its Palestinian hinterland.
In
November 1947 the UN published its plan for dividing Palestine into an
Arab and a Jewish state. Jaffa was made a Palestinian island within
Jewish boundaries. In the fighting that followed, paramilitaries
commanded by Menachem Begin, a Tel Avivan who later became Israel’s
prime minister, rolled barrel bombs down the alleyways into Jaffa’s
cafés and fired mortars into residential districts. By the time Israel
declared independence on May 14th 1948, prompting Arab armies to move
in, Jews had chased Jaffa’s Arabs out of the city, leaving less than a
20th of the population behind. Many were forced to escape by sea. For
the first time in 5,000 years, Mr Rotbard goes on, Jaffa “ceased to
exist as an urban and cultural entity”. Much of the Arab medina was
bulldozed and grassed over. Some monuments, including mosques and
Crusader-era buildings, were preserved, but walking through Jaffa today
you would never know that it had once been Palestine’s Arab economic and
cultural centre.
November 1947 the UN published its plan for dividing Palestine into an
Arab and a Jewish state. Jaffa was made a Palestinian island within
Jewish boundaries. In the fighting that followed, paramilitaries
commanded by Menachem Begin, a Tel Avivan who later became Israel’s
prime minister, rolled barrel bombs down the alleyways into Jaffa’s
cafés and fired mortars into residential districts. By the time Israel
declared independence on May 14th 1948, prompting Arab armies to move
in, Jews had chased Jaffa’s Arabs out of the city, leaving less than a
20th of the population behind. Many were forced to escape by sea. For
the first time in 5,000 years, Mr Rotbard goes on, Jaffa “ceased to
exist as an urban and cultural entity”. Much of the Arab medina was
bulldozed and grassed over. Some monuments, including mosques and
Crusader-era buildings, were preserved, but walking through Jaffa today
you would never know that it had once been Palestine’s Arab economic and
cultural centre.
Municipal
officials treated Jaffa as a repository for institutions like the
police headquarters, jails and rubbish dumps, as well as unpopular
people such as migrant workers. Later, whole districts were paved and
turned into car parks. “Cities like Hiroshima, Dresden and Berlin all
suffered exorbitant damage during World War II but each emerged from the
dust-clouds of conflict intact, even vibrant urban entities,” the
author writes, whereas Jaffa, he claims, was eradicated like Troy."
officials treated Jaffa as a repository for institutions like the
police headquarters, jails and rubbish dumps, as well as unpopular
people such as migrant workers. Later, whole districts were paved and
turned into car parks. “Cities like Hiroshima, Dresden and Berlin all
suffered exorbitant damage during World War II but each emerged from the
dust-clouds of conflict intact, even vibrant urban entities,” the
author writes, whereas Jaffa, he claims, was eradicated like Troy."
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