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News from Jaffa / Yafo (especially Ajami / Adjami) seen through local eyes from a critical perspective. What happens in Jaffa is symbolic for what happens in the rest of the country and the area (Israel / Palestine and perhaps the Middle East).
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Recent Posts Tagged With 'violence'
Playing with fire in the Ajami mosque
Yesterday morning a group of armed settlers entered the compound of the Ajami mosque (next to the Hasan Arafe primary school) in the framework of their tour of Jaffa.One wonders about the true purpose of that visit. Was it to repectfully view the gra...
Drug related arrests and other trouble in Jaffa
Over the last few months the police used a drug-addict as their agent. A violent young man, an only son, pampered by his doting parents until it was too late.A good football player, an intelligent boy, good-looking too. But something went horribly wr...
How misunderstandings can mess up a community
Last friday there was an event at the Ajami Orthodox club, a favourite hang-out of Jaffa's Christian Palestinian community.Someone had a little too much alcohol and went into a nearby grocery, unable to hold his drink. Before quite gettig ...
Shooting nearby, right now
Being at home, a little ill, i was woken up by the sound of fighting near by about half an hour ago, then shots and shouting just now.A young guy climbing over the wall and running away over the roof of a neighbouring house, while hiding something (a...
Another Jaffa family out in the streets
When R. and her 5 children came home this afternoon, they found all their furniture out in the street, much of it severely damaged and broken. The doorlock had been changed.The house owner, well known and very wealthy Jaffa property tycoon Walid Abou...
Mourning
Dressed in black, but for soft crying, now and then, all is quiet in the women's mourning tent.The imam' s voice can be heard from the men's tent, just a few meters away.Dry figs and endless small cups of bitter coffee are handed out.The mother clutc...
Another murder on Yefet Street
Saturday evening, 21.00, enjoying a mellow evening with my friends and their kids, while trying to do some work on an article, gotta deadline coming up.A few hundred meters from where we sit, shots on Yefet Street, 2 young men are hit, one of them di...
Extremist settlers in Ajami, will they ever stop?
Not too long ago a "hesder" yeshiva was opened in Ajami, in an old synagogue that had been standing neglected for some 40 years. Neglected, because the Jewish community of Ajami had left to better neighbourhoods (better at the time they left, when Aj...
Another shooting nearby
Two nights ago a young guy was shot at in Ajami and lightly wounded. Reading a book in bed, trying to fall asleep, then rudely woken up by shots, then screams from the south west more or less.Later one i hear the details from my neighbours, another y...
Police violence against children and women in Jaffa
Yousef (12 years old) and Ahmed (14 years old) were playing with a toy gun next to their home in Gorki street, a dead end alley in the center of Jaffa, this afternoon. In Jaffa, close to the Jewish holiday of Purim, all toy-stores sell these guns, w...
Police brutality against a Jaffa teenager
Yesterday the police stopped a teenage boy close to his home in Jaffa's Karem Dalek neighbourhood and asked for his ID card.The kid was just hanging around close to home and said he would pop over to his home and bring it, as it was not on him when ...
Home demolition this coming sunday
Although we're still fighting it in court, this Sunday (February 8) they may try to demolish Itidal's home in the "Dalek" orange grove in Jaffa.We'll need you all there, in order to save the home of Itidal and her two school-age children.The one par...
Harassment in Tel Aviv's public sphere
Over the last few days i heard more and more complaints by friends and acquaintances about harassment in the public sphere. And i am not talking about isolated events.Last week and elderly Palestinian woman donning traditional garb was attacked by pe...
Some thoughts about the situation
Medical personnel of a Norwegian medical NGO just informed us through the media, that about 40% of the dead and wounded are women and children, which makes it quite clear that the targets are not military (not that it would be OK, IF the targets were...
Israel is such a lovely and true democracy....
Since last night several Jaffa activists (all of them Palestinians) have been taken into the Salameh Police Station where they were interrogated by the internal security services, the Shabak, who behaved in an insulting and threatening way (in some c...
System Ali - 1 Minute of Silence
The evening started with a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the murderous attacks by the IAF in the Gaza Strip.Amne was crying. Muhamad Ajuan and Yonatan Kunde had tears in their eyes, on stage at Jaffa's "Mandel" Cultural Center.This wa...
Anti-War Demo opposite the Ministry of Defence
Some two thousand people gathered this night to protest, walking from the Tel Aviv Cinemateque to the Ministry of Defence in Tel Aviv's "Kiriya", shouting slogans in favour of peace and against the war-crimes committed by the Israeli government and t...
Demonstration in Solidarity with Gaza in Jaffa
The first news started coming through around 11 o'clock: over 140 dead in the Gaza Strip. It started as a rumour. Slowly the numbers rise. It cannot be true can it? But it is true.Then it becomes clear: war crimes are being committed an hour's drive ...
The Wild East
Yesterday around 18.00 o'clock, two armed robbers entered the money change place at the clock tower square in Jaffa.They shot at the heavy glass, protecting the person working there, broke it and took off with a large amount of money.At that time of...
Police beat up handcuffed boys in Jaffa
A fight erupted between a few young boys from Jaffa's public "Shem HaGdolim" housing estate and a yeshiva student. The word on the street -which perhaps may be not correct- is that they plan to build a yeshiva right in front of a nearby mosque. To th...
Just walking around in Jaffa with my friend Shahar
Shahar bought a new tiny "lumix"camera, so we had to go and try it out, walking around in late afternoon Ajami, when the sunlight turns even old iron into gold.Shahar has two pampered cats, his flatmate another 3. I'm allergic to cat-hair, so visiti...
Murder in Jaffa
Yesterday afternoon the stabbed body of en elderly man was found in a garbage can storage room at 9 Tirza street (in Jaffa's "Noga" area).The man had been living with a carer, who was at home at the time the body was found. It appears none of the nei...
Shooting in Yefet Street, Jaffa
When a driver in his forties dared to comment upon the driving style of a young guy in Jaffa's Yefet street, on of the two guys in the young driver's car got out and shot the older driver, who , lightly wounded, took of for nearby Wolfson Hospital.La...
Shooting at Jaffa's "Shem HaGdolim" Housing Estate, No One Physically Hurt
Twelve year old M is very scared. His slightly older brother plays it cool, but i notice he is not comfortable. Looking around, watching his back. Their mother screams from the window, she wants them to come home, upstairs, now, right now. She asks m...
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 housin...
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 havin...
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 c...
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 ...
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...
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...
