City of Oranges

by Adam LeBor

  Back in Beit Eshel Street, Eyal Ziv’s studio also has a message. ‘You cannot change history, or what has happened here. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I bought this house and for now I am the guardian of this house,’ says Eyal. ‘I am one resident in a long chain of residents, and the building will probably outlive me. But I did all I could to preserve it for future generations.’ Eyal shows me a picture of an idyllic small lagoon on the beach near Jebaliyyeh, where before the Nakba, the Andraus and Hammami children watched the fishermen moor their boats. The lagoon no longer exists, but a modern beach promenade has been built nearby, where families stroll in the evenings.

  Every Friday night at the other end of the city, Arab families crowd onto the Charles Clore Memorial Park, built over the rubble of Manshiyyeh, for a picnic. Children scamper on the beach, their parents and grandparents smoke and chat. The smell of coffee and sizzling kebabs mixes with the sharp tang of the sea, for the memory of Manshiyyeh outlives its reality – the memory, too, of those like Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche, who worked for co-existance between Jews and Arabs. Perhaps 50 per cent of Jaffa still exists as it did a century ago, Eyal explains: ‘This is history, the destiny of the city. Its rulers all build and destroy, build and destroy. First the Turks, then the British and then the Israelis. Jaffa was a great Arab city, a Mediterranean city. Most but not all the Arabs are gone and you still have many of the buildings, but the street-life, the smell, its special feel, are gone. We are starting not just to rebuild things, but to try and connect them together again. Because Jaffa has to be the place where Jews, Muslims and Christians can connect, like they used to.’

  Plate Section

  The port of Old Jaffa and the house of Simon the Tanner in 1921, where, according to the Christian scriptures, the apostle Peter stayed.

  Founded in 1909 as a suburb of Jaffa, the new Jewish city of Tel Aviv was laid out on modern European lines with detached homes and gardens.

  The Aharoni family in Pazardjik, Bulgaria, c. 1930. Yoram is centre right, sitting on the floor, in front of his mother Lea, who is holding his brother Haim. His father Shabat is standing behind, next to his brother Josef, and the Bulgarian maid. On the left are Yoram’s aunt, uncle and cousins.

  Yoram Aharoni as a member of the Jewish youth group, Maccabi.

  Hanneh Andraus, wife of Amin. Hanneh died tragically young, in 1945, at the age of thirty-seven. Amin never remarried.

  The Andraus family socialising. Amin (third from right), together with his wife Hanneh and a group of friends. Jaffa boasted a rich social, sporting and intellectual life.

  Frank Meisler with his mother Meta. The Meisler family enjoyed a comfortable middle-class lifestyle in the free port of Danzing.

  Frank Meisler and his father Misha, who came from Warsaw.

  The Hammami family in 1947: (from left to right, back row) Fatmeh, Hasan, Faizeh and her husband Mamdouh, Nahida, Nafise, wife of Ahmad, the head of the family (not in the picture), and Hussein; (front row) the twins Laila and Fadwa and Mustafa.

  Two of the Hammami brothers with friends. The family was very active in Jaffa’s municipal politics. Adel (far left) was a fruit and vegetable merchant and a member of the city council. Next to Adel is Ahmad Hammami, father of Hasan and Fadwa.

  Aharon Chelouche, the great family patriarch, and his wife Sarah. Aharon Chelouche came to Palestine with his father Avraham from Oran in Algeria in 1838.

  Avraham Haim Chelouche, his wife Sarina and their family, including sons Marco, Zaki, David and daughter Simha.

  Yosef Pomrock and his wife Simha, daughter of Avraham Haim Chelouche.

  Julia Chelouche (née Bohbout), wife of David Chelouche.

  Zaki Chelouche. Zaki was an architect who built several landmark Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv.

  Arab demonstrators in Jaffa’s Central Square, October 1933. The year Hitler came to power saw a fresh wave of Jewish emigration from Nazi Germany to Palestine.

  British military engineers blow up a large swathe of Old Jaffa during the Arab Revolt in 1936. Supposedly carried out in the name of ‘urban improvements’, the real reason was to blast a path through for armoured vehicles.

  Amin Andraus leans against a pillar of his former car showroom, the morning after the British blew it up as a punishment. A sniper had shot dead a policeman who was smoking a cigarette on the roof. Neither had any connection to Amin.

  Yaakov Chelouche sitting at his desk in the Anglo-Palestine Company bank, in Jaffa c. 1900. He was always preceded on his rounds by a kawas, a ceremonial bearer.

  The door of the first branch of the Anglo-Palestine Company on Yefet Street, today, which funded the early Zionist settlements.

  Amin Andraus (second from right) and several of his friends on a shooting party in the 1930s. Amin was a keen outdoorsman who loved to hike through Palestine’s countryside.

  Dr Fakhri Geday at the counter of his pharmacy shop at 65 Yefet Street. Stranded in Beirut when war broke out in 1948, Fakhri was later allowed to return home.

  Yoram Aharoni in Tiv, his spice and coffee shop on Raziel Street, in Jaffa’s commercial district. Each new wave of Jewish immigrants demanded different coffees and spices for their food and Yoram soon became an expert blender.

  The Abulafia bakery, by Clock Tower Square. The bakery is a Jaffa landmark, popular with both Arabs and Jews. Its Arab owners close the shop on Jewish holidays as a mark of respect.

  The wreckage of Jaffa’s New Seray administrative building after it was blown up by the Stern Group in January 1948. Dozens of civilians were killed or wounded.

  Hasan Hammami (top, far right) with his classmates on a course in first aid. Fighting erupted in Jaffa between Jews and Arabs after the United Nations voted to partition Palestine in November 1947.

  Two members of the Haganah, the main Jewish militia, in action on the border between Jaffa and Tel Aviv. Mixed Jewish-Arab areas were the scene of heavy fighting.

  Palestinian refugees fleeing from Jaffa in May 1948. Of Jaffa’s population of 100,000, just a few thousand remained. But many left months before the fighting began.

  Yoram and Rina Aharoni, 1947. Both were underground fighters and members of Lehi, the Stern Group, known to the British as the ‘Stern Gang’.

  Youssef Kamel Geday, father of Fakhri Geday, was one of the few Jaffa Arabs not to flee the city during the fighting.

  Cheering citizens gather in Tel Aviv as the State of Israel is declared. The new state was immediately invaded by four Arab armies, who pledged to sweep the Jews into the sea.

  David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, proclaiming the birth of the new Jewish state of Israel at the Tel Aviv Museum on May 1948.

  Suad Andraus (centre) standing next to Kamal Nasser, a Palestinian poet, in the village of Bir Zeit. The Andraus children spent two years in exile in Jordan before being reunited with their father in Jaffa by the Red Cross in 1950.

  Hasan Hammami on his wedding day in England, September 1956. Soon after arriving at Nottingham University he met Barbara Paulson in the university coffee bar. They were married a year later.

  Tank crews in southern Israel wait for the order to go into action during the Six Day War. Yoram Aharoni spent days in the Negev desert before the battle began.

  Ofer Aharoni as a young conscript at the Suez Canal, c. 1970. Ofer joined the paratroops, one of the toughest regiments in the army. Three years later he would be fighting in the Yom Kippur War.

  An Egyptian Mig shot down during the Yom Kippur War, 1973. The war ended in a stalemate which later helped start the Arab-Israeli peace process.

  Israeli units moving into battle counter-attacking Syrian troops on the Golan heights during the Yom Kippur War, 1973.

  Palestinian youths hurl rocks and stones at Israeli troops during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, which erupted in September 2000. The violence spread into Israel proper, including Jaffa.

  The Clock Tower, one of more than one hundred commissioned across the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Abdul Hamid II as
a symbol of modernisation.

  The Old Seray or Turkish government building, in the heart of Old Jaffa, is built over Crusader ruins. It was used as a soap factory by the Damiani family and now houses the municipal museum.

  The façade of the New Seray being rebuilt in the summer of 2003. The Tel Aviv municipality is renovating and restoring many Jaffa landmarks.

  A row of shops and houses on Raziel Street, formerly Nagib Bustros Street, named for the Lebanese businessman who financed its construction in the nineteenth century.

  Neve Tsedek as seen from the roof of Beit Chelouche. The settlement founded by Aharon Chelouche is now a bohemian and artistic quarter of Tel Aviv.

  The alley known in the nineteenth century as Sharia Serafeen, street of the money-changers. The site of Aharon Chelouche’s jeweller’s shop, the first on the right-hand side, still has rows of holes above the entrance to let fumes escape.

  The Andraus family: (clockwise from left) Leila, Wedad, Salim and Suad in the house by the sea built by their father Amin. His gong, with which he announced lunch, is on the table in front of them.

  Born in 1899, Julia Chelouche lived to be one hundred. She lived through the British Mandate, the Arab Revolt, the birth of Israel and several wars.

  Frank Meisler, with his sculpture of King David and Bathsheba. Frank is now one of Israel’s most successful and best-known artists.

  Hasan Hammami, his sister Fadwa and daughter Rema on the beach at Jaffa in 1993, near where he swam as a boy. It was the first time that he had returned home since the family fled in 1948.

  Yoram and Rina Aharoni. The former members of the notorious Stern Group now live in quiet and comfortable retirement, north of Tel Aviv.

  Sami Abou-Shehade and his grandfather Ismail. Sami is compiling the history of his grandfather’s generation in Jaffa before 1948.

  Shlomo Chelouche at home in Tel Aviv. The plaque on his shirt is taken from the cockpit of the Egyptian fighter plane he shot down in May 1948 and gives instructions for an emergency bail-out.

  The hotels and urban sprawl of Tel Aviv, looking north from Jaffa. The two cities are now one, known as Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

  The view of Jaffa from the promenade above Tel Aviv’s beach. The minaret is that of the Jami’a al-bahr, the mosque of the sea, where Hasan Hammami prayed as a young boy with his father Ahmad.

  Maps

  1 Jaffa c. 1911

  2 Tel Aviv–Jaffa at the present day

  3 Israel and Palestinian territories

  Acknowledgements

  This book is testimony to the patience and courtesy of those whose lives are chronicled within: Khamis Abulafia; Sami and Ismail Abou-Shehade; Yoram, Ofer and Rina Aharoni; Sami Albo; Amin, Robyn, Leila, Salim, Suad and Wedad Andraus; Behira Buchbinder; the late Aharon Chelouche; Shlomo, Mary and Jacob Chelouche; Hasan, Barbara, Mustafa, and Rema Hammami; Fadwa Hasna, Fakhri Geday, Frank and Michal Meisler. Their willingness to spend so much time answering my questions, unearthing sometimes painful memories, brought depth and richness to the narrative. My thanks and gratitude go to all of them. I am especially grateful to Hasan Hammami for his detailed memoirs, written for this book, and to Rema Hammami and Fadwa Hasna. They took me to the Hammami family house in Jaffa, a memorable day which helped me understand Palestinian loss and exile. In Tel Aviv, Zvi Pomrock was an enthusiastic guide to the Chelouche family history and kindly showed me around Jaffa, while Frank Meisler’s generous hospitality included several very enjoyable dinners. Edith Krygier gave me a copy of her mother Julia Chelouche’s memoirs, which proved a rich resource.

  In Israel I was lucky to find Raz Segal, through the help of Ruthi Vygodski at Tel Aviv University. Raz worked with me throughout the project. His diligence, enthusiasm and assiduous research were invaluable. He not only helped find the families, but carefully answered a stream of questions about Jaffa and Tel Aviv, from arcane historical matters to the budget details of urban reconstruction projects. Thanks, Raz. Many others helped with their time and expertise including Professor Shlomo Avineri, Igal Ezraty, Gloria Goldring, Ali Goughti, Asaf Ichilevich, Adib Jahashan, Baruch Krotman, Shlomo Lahat, Andre Mazzawi, Yoseph Nachmias, Professor Anita Shapira and Salim Tamari. I am especially grateful to Or Aleksandrowicz for translating several extracts from Reminiscences of My Life, the autobiography of Yosef Eliyahu Chelouche. Dr Mark Levine, of the University of California, generously sent me the manuscript of his incisive work, Overturning Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv, and the Struggle for Palestine 1880–1948, before publication. Ed Serotta’s excellent website www.centropa.org, Witness to a Jewish Century, helped inspire the themes of this book. Yaron Kaldes, chief of Jaffa’s detectives, took me on an illuminating drive around the city’s back streets, while archaeologist Martin Peil-stocker explained to me the workings of a dig. Paula Rakover-Kedem was a fascinating guide to Jaffa’s history, while Zvi Schaham, Eyal Ziv and Yehuda Lebanoni also helped with their insights. Dr Moris Topaz shared his expertise in the physiological results of suicide bombings. Others, who asked not to be named, also shared their knowledge of such matters. In Jaffa, Arnon Amid and Dominic Canning made the Old Jaffa Hostel a welcome oasis.

  The unfailing hospitality of the Tsafrir family: Karen, Yaron, Tal, Amit and No’am, proved true friendship does not fade over time and distance – especially at Yunis Restaurant, while in Jerusalem Guy Chazan was a warm and welcoming host. In Jerusalem I am grateful to the staff of the Central Zionist Archive, and to Hadassah Assouline and the staff of the Central Archive for the History of the Jewish People for their assistance. A generous grant from the Society of Authors – membership of which I recommend to all professional writers for its many services – helped finance my extensive trips to Jaffa. In London my thanks go to Patrick Bishop, Adrian Brown, Yigal Chazan, Rabbi David Goldberg, Ahmad Khalidi, Justin Leighton, Jenny Morgan, Omar Al-Qattan and Barbara Wyllie for their help and expertise, and to my brother Jason, for his diligent research in the British archives. In Budapest a trusty team of transcribers helped write up the many interviews: Agnes Csonka, Pablo Gorondi, Christian Jacobson and Kati Tordas, while my friends and colleagues Chris Condon, John Nadler, Olen Steinhauer and Mark Milstein were always morale boosters. So too were Robert, Zoltan and Zsuzsa Ligeti. Köszönöm!

  Many thanks go as ever to my agents at MBA, Laura Longrigg, Susan Smith and David Riding for their continuing support and inspiration. At Bloomsbury I am grateful to Bill Swainson, whose enthusiasm and thoughtful and considered input helped weave the stories of the families into a book. Pascal Cariss’ editorial advice was invaluable at early drafts as was Katharina Bielenberg’s copy-editing later. I am grateful also to Ruth Logan and Sarah Marcus. My sincere thanks also to Alane Mason and Alex Cuadros at W.W. Norton and Company for their diligent editing and belief in this book. My colleagues at The Times foreign desk have been very supportive of a correspondent who did not always correspond much while working on this book. My thanks go especially to Roger Boyes, Martin Fletcher, Bronwen Maddox and Gill Ross, while Kelly MacNamara and Amanda Brewer deftly trawled The Times’ archives.

  This book is also rooted in many earlier visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories. I have fond memories of the six months I spent on Kibbutz Ramat Hashofet in 1980, where Esther Hakim was an enthusiastic teacher and guide, and where I first began to think about the complexities of Israel and Palestine. In 1998 I was commissioned by BBC Radio Five Live to travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories to make a series of programmes with Marina Salandy-Brown, which greatly increased my understanding of the conflict. As one door after another opened in Jaffa I gathered more material than I could include in this book, but all of those interviewed helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the city and its inhabitants. I am indebted to everyone who gave of their time, including Leon Alkalay, Yousef Asfour, Joseph Deek, Shlomo Gadav, Ilana Goor, Dr Adi Kassem, Dina Li, Abed Satal and Rifaat Turk. Doubtless there are those whom I have inadvertently omitted. To all, I say thank you for your time and knowledge, a
nd that any mistakes are mine. Most of all, my love and gratitude go to my own family: my wife Kati, for her unending support, Daniel Maurice and Hannah Lily, the biggest inspirations of all.

  Copyright Acknowledgements

  For permission to reproduce copyright material the author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the following: