Ajami, Jaffa

Ajami ( , ) is a predominantly Arab neighborhood in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, situated south of Old Jaffa and north of the Jabaliyya neighborhood on the Mediterranean Sea. It developed in the late 19th century following the demolition of the city walls of Jaffa, and by the 1920s was a densely populated urban area.

Ajami ( , ) is a predominantly Arab neighborhood in Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel, situated south of Old Jaffa and north of the Jabaliyya neighborhood on the Mediterranean Sea. It developed in the late 19th century following the demolition of the city walls of Jaffa, and by the 1920s was a densely populated urban area.

Etymology

The neighborhood was named after the maqam of Ibrahim al-Ajami, one of prophet Muhammad's companions. According to a tradition, he was buried in the shrine south of the neighborhood. A later mosque constructed at the site in 1895, al-Ajami, is named for him.

Ottoman and British eras

map Ajami was founded during Ottoman rule over Palestine at the end of the 19th century, as a small Maronite Christian settlement. The neighborhood's streets were laid parallel to the coast, with ample houses and small stairway-alleys leading down to the shore. A Maronite monastery and church founded in 1855¹, stood in the nearby harbor. In 1895, Father Antonios Shbeir Ghostaoui, a monk from the Lebanese Maronite Order, built a new church and a monastery on an area of 1,600 square meters. Later on, between 1901 and 1920, the church was demolished and replaced by a bigger and more attractive one, the first stone of which was laid during a grand ceremony on February 28, 1904. This Maronite church still stands today, and it is located in the south tip of Dolphin Street, in the middle of Ajami neighborhood. The neighborhood's houses were built from limestone surrounded by large courtyards, reflecting the economic ability of its Maronite residents. Being an affluent residential area of the upper middle-class, Ajami had been the first neighborhood of Jaffa – in fact in the whole of Palestine - to be swiftly and fully connected to the new electric grid which had been built by the Jaffa Electric Company in 1923

1948 war and establishment of Israel

Ajami played a significant role in the history of Jaffa including the 1948 Palestine war and the events of the Nakba. Following the decision by the British Government to end the Mandate for Palestine, violence erupted between the Jewish paramilitary groups (Haganah and Irgun) and Palestinian Arab irregulars. Jaffa witnessed some of the most violent of these encounters. On May 13, 1948, the day before the declaration of the Israeli state, Jaffa surrendered; the remaining Arab residents were forced to move into Ajami, where they were subject to martial law. By the end of the war, it is estimated that over 90% of Jaffa's Palestinian Arab residents fled or were expelled, as part of the larger 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight, leaving only ~3,000 Palestinians remaining in Jaffa. After the establishment of the State of Israel, the Israeli government tried to separate Jews and Palestinians of Jaffa: “It will be best to have special areas for the Jews and areas for the Arabs,” said the military governor Meir Laniado. Palestinians were moved to Ajami, which was surrounded on all sides by Jewish quarters. Moshe Erem from the Israeli Ministry for Minority Affairs protested to Minister Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit: “Ajami is about to be closed off with a barbed-wire fence that will rigorously separate the Arab neighborhood and the Jewish section. That arrangement will immediately render Ajami a sealed-off ghetto. It is hard to accept this idea, which stirs in us associations of excessive horror. … And once more we are thereby sowing a toxic seed … in the heart of the Arabs. A ghetto in barbed wire, a ghetto, cut off from access to the sea. Shall this be our political approach?” Palestinians needed special permits “to exit the barbed wire.” Over the years, Ajami became run-down and neglected, and was reported to be the lowest-income neighborhood in Tel Aviv-Yafo despite being known for its palatial villas and unique architectural styles prior to 1948. The neighborhood suffers from a severe housing crisis and drug use.

Landmarks

newspaper headquarters in Ajami neighborhood, 1938

Film

The 2009 Israeli film Ajami directed by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani was nominated as a foreign language film for the 2010 Academy Awards. Many characters in the film were played by non-professional actors who lived in Ajami.

Gallery

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369207715 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.