The Lozenge seems to be fairly practical about the need to feel at home, and spent most of the morning rearranging the sofas in the sitting room so 'they are like in Jordan'. He's made the layout of sofa, coffee table and arm chairs an almost exact pattern of our last flat in Amman, and doesn't seem to mind that now we can't see the telly from the sofa, or get out the back door because of the chair.
Rashimi on the other hand is content as long as he has a beaker of 'pomaparrot joos' and either St Grace or myself, somewhere at hand.
We have been eating a lot of 'calamantina' oranges since now is the season, and we have a tree in the garden which bears dwarf sized ones which has been a great source of fascination and vitamin C since we arrived. The larger ones you find in the shop are emblazoned with a familiar sticker from childhood: 'JAFFA', which doesn't seem to have changed in size, colour or logo since I was a little girl.
We ventured to Jaffa this weekend. It's confusing as it now features on the same blob of the map as the modern southern mediterranean city of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was founded on this patch of coast line on the outskirts of Jaffa in 1909 by Jewish immigrants, but this modern urbanisation grew much quicker than Jaffa which had a majority Arab population at the time.
We spent the day with a wonderful and warm American couple and their children who moved to Jaffa from Jerusalem for a more care-free lifestyle overlooking the sea and have found exactly that. The city feels like another country from Jerusalem. The church spires, synagogues and minarets are dwarfed by the tower blocks of Tel Aviv, and we saw not one covered head. Dreds and bandanas take the place of capels and hijabs and the little port side was like a combination of a Cornish fishing village, Shoreditch in London and the Meatpacking district in New York. The wooden boarded sea front was filled with seemingly secular families eating ice creams and walking their dogs.
We took a small boat out to sea and looked back at the coast line. There were a group of Bedouin women on board from the Negev - the only headscarves we saw all day - who spent the ride dancing around to Arab pop and 'C'est la vie' all smiles of gold teeth and pungent perfume. Rashimi was entranced.
Tel Aviv is famed for its Bauhaus, but from our little boat bobbing just off the coast, looked more like Benidorm - the stone Ottoman and Arab buildings of Jaffa overshadowed by the white metropolis to the North. It seemed to me to be a visual picture of the general state of this country - with Israel overshadowing what was once known as Palestine - with its more advanced technology and stronger and highly honed politics, steadily pushing the poorer relation out of the frame.
Last week, Haaretz newspaper published an article by Amira Hass, 'Water Torture for the Palestinians' where she described the systematic discrimination in water allocations to the Palestinians, particularly in the West Bank where thousands of families: 'expend huge amounts of time, money and emotional and physical energy just to ensure basic things like showers, laundry and washing floors and dishes.' Below her article is a letter from a Palestinian farmer near Hebron who explains his living situation.
'Access to 70 per cent of our water wells is currently blocked. Demolition orders hang over our heads. To reach the wells, we need a special permit from the Israeli army….I would like to believe that you, too, understand that no one should live that way. No child should have to be afraid to drink a glass of water lest there be none tomorrow. These are my difficulties. These are my children's fears.'
As I looked at the looming physical presence sitting beside the ancient Arab port, I remembered his words.
We returned home to find St Grace who had been a bit bored without us and wondered which sea we'd been to as she hadn't heard of the Mediterranean. I showed her on the dwarves' world map in the playroom. I thought she would have needed a rest after all her work, but I suppose her reason for being here is us, and without us in the house, she must also wonder why she is here. Though she has already made a clutch of Sri Lankan friends and this weekend went to a service at the Holy Sepulchre in the old city. She explained with tears in her eyes: 'And we thought as we lit candles, that these are the stones that Jesus walked, and this is the rock that was by his grave. And we can't believe we are here and we can see it.'
Rashimi on the other hand is content as long as he has a beaker of 'pomaparrot joos' and either St Grace or myself, somewhere at hand.
We have been eating a lot of 'calamantina' oranges since now is the season, and we have a tree in the garden which bears dwarf sized ones which has been a great source of fascination and vitamin C since we arrived. The larger ones you find in the shop are emblazoned with a familiar sticker from childhood: 'JAFFA', which doesn't seem to have changed in size, colour or logo since I was a little girl.
We ventured to Jaffa this weekend. It's confusing as it now features on the same blob of the map as the modern southern mediterranean city of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv was founded on this patch of coast line on the outskirts of Jaffa in 1909 by Jewish immigrants, but this modern urbanisation grew much quicker than Jaffa which had a majority Arab population at the time.
We spent the day with a wonderful and warm American couple and their children who moved to Jaffa from Jerusalem for a more care-free lifestyle overlooking the sea and have found exactly that. The city feels like another country from Jerusalem. The church spires, synagogues and minarets are dwarfed by the tower blocks of Tel Aviv, and we saw not one covered head. Dreds and bandanas take the place of capels and hijabs and the little port side was like a combination of a Cornish fishing village, Shoreditch in London and the Meatpacking district in New York. The wooden boarded sea front was filled with seemingly secular families eating ice creams and walking their dogs.
We took a small boat out to sea and looked back at the coast line. There were a group of Bedouin women on board from the Negev - the only headscarves we saw all day - who spent the ride dancing around to Arab pop and 'C'est la vie' all smiles of gold teeth and pungent perfume. Rashimi was entranced.
Tel Aviv is famed for its Bauhaus, but from our little boat bobbing just off the coast, looked more like Benidorm - the stone Ottoman and Arab buildings of Jaffa overshadowed by the white metropolis to the North. It seemed to me to be a visual picture of the general state of this country - with Israel overshadowing what was once known as Palestine - with its more advanced technology and stronger and highly honed politics, steadily pushing the poorer relation out of the frame.
Last week, Haaretz newspaper published an article by Amira Hass, 'Water Torture for the Palestinians' where she described the systematic discrimination in water allocations to the Palestinians, particularly in the West Bank where thousands of families: 'expend huge amounts of time, money and emotional and physical energy just to ensure basic things like showers, laundry and washing floors and dishes.' Below her article is a letter from a Palestinian farmer near Hebron who explains his living situation.
'Access to 70 per cent of our water wells is currently blocked. Demolition orders hang over our heads. To reach the wells, we need a special permit from the Israeli army….I would like to believe that you, too, understand that no one should live that way. No child should have to be afraid to drink a glass of water lest there be none tomorrow. These are my difficulties. These are my children's fears.'
As I looked at the looming physical presence sitting beside the ancient Arab port, I remembered his words.
We returned home to find St Grace who had been a bit bored without us and wondered which sea we'd been to as she hadn't heard of the Mediterranean. I showed her on the dwarves' world map in the playroom. I thought she would have needed a rest after all her work, but I suppose her reason for being here is us, and without us in the house, she must also wonder why she is here. Though she has already made a clutch of Sri Lankan friends and this weekend went to a service at the Holy Sepulchre in the old city. She explained with tears in her eyes: 'And we thought as we lit candles, that these are the stones that Jesus walked, and this is the rock that was by his grave. And we can't believe we are here and we can see it.'
Regarding your words:
ReplyDelete"with Israel overshadowing what was once known as Palestine - with its more advanced technology and stronger and highly honed politics, steadily pushing the poorer relation out of the frame."
Let's not forget that the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine included Jaffa in the proposed Arab state - as well as the Galilee, all of the west bank and Gaza.
The Jews were given a thin strip of land near the sea and mainly the negev desert.
Maybe a big part of the misfortune that the Palestinians endured stems from the fact that from day one they refused any compromise?
They always views ALL of Palestie as theirs. But when was it ever theirs??
They were a small amount of Arab population living in a mostly empty, barren land under foreign rules.
The Ottomans counted only a quarter of a million people in all of Palestine in the 19th century - including Jews.
The number of Arabs doubled during the British mandate. Most came then and before that from neighboring Arab countries - as their names testify "Masri", "Lubnai" etc.
Why did the Arabs in Palestine deserved to have ALL of the land to themselves?
Their unwillingness to compromise then and now is what created this mess.
Regarding the Bauhaus architecture - it is centered around the old Tel Aviv center- streets like Dizengoff, Rothchild etc.
ReplyDeleteNext time you're in Jaffa I recommend going to the the streets which form the old center of Tel Aviv. Many tourists only stay near the sea front.
Rothchild eve. is a good start. Also Neve Szedek is a nice place to stroll - it's located not far from Jaffa.
Tel Aviv is divided to different areas with different character.
South Tel Aviv, near the central bus station is a huge rundown area home to many foreign workers. Not a nice place to stroll.
Although there are some hip neighborhoods near it - like Florentine.
Center Tel Aviv is where the action is - Streets like Rothchild, Sheinkin, Dizengoff, Eben Gabirol etc.
North Tel Aviv is a more boring rich area.
The Yarkon park is a huge park in the heart of Tel Aviv around the Yarkon river (which is not very wide).
The Bauhaus architecture is centered mainly in the old center of Tel Aviv (Rothchild eve. King George st., Dizengoff etc. ). It's not an impressive kind of architecture. It's simple and with clean lines.
Many of the Bauhaus houses need renovation, but many are renovated and interesting.
There's a Bauhaus store on Dizengoff street I think. Probably you can get more info there if you're interested in this.
Many of the building in the heart of Tel Aviv are kind of crumbling - they are not built from stone like in Jerusalem and the summer humidity doesn't help.
But if you visit on a week day, not on the weekend, you can see that the city is much more alive and vibrant than Jerusalem - many young people, artists, high tech people, and yes, most are secular.
Jerusalem is more calm and like a village. Tel Aviv is much more hectic - sometims too much.