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The Jewish neighbourhoods of Jaffa and the question of annexation to Tel Aviv at the end of the British Mandate
Abstract
One of the most complex issues facing British rule on the local municipal level towards the end of the Mandate period was the problem of Jaffa's Jewish neighbourhoods. This question, which emerged with the outbreak of the 1936 disturbances, engaged the government thereafter until the end of the Mandate. The demand by the residents of Jaffa's Jewish neighbourhoods for annexation to Tel Aviv – actually for municipal detachment from Jaffa – constituted the root of the problem. In this setting of the sharpening of relations between the authorities and the Jews and Arabs in 1945–1947, all three involved parties found themselves deeply immersed in it in the attempt to bring about its resolution. The annexation problem ceaselessly preoccupied the institutions of the Jewish Yishuv as a Zionist–Yishuv struggle of the highest order. This period gave rise to a series of unprecedented moves by the Jewish side, which were intended to influence the British government toward solving the problem. The article examines its development of the problem from the viewpoint of the three sides concerned in the years 1945–1947, with the focus on the policy line adopted by the Jewish side, its implications and its results.
... HaTikvah resembled these neighborhoods in terms of its ethnic composition and the social-economic status of the residents. However, Bernstein, Jacobson, and Naor, as well as Goren [10] and Razi [11], tend to identify social and cultural marginality with the western seamline between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, located near the sea, while the more isolated and less populated eastern bank of the Musrara Wadi (Aylon Creek), where HaTikvah is located, is often disregarded. ...
... At this time, HaTikvah was not formally under the municipality of Tel Aviv or of Jaffa. As in the case of some of the Jewish neighborhoods on the northern edge of Jaffa, partial municipal services were provided by the Tel Aviv municipality [10]. However, essentials such as water, waste treatment, and education were not systematically provided, as the next section will demonstrate. ...
... The residents of these neighborhoods' request to join Tel Aviv arose in the mid-1930s during the 'Arab Revolt', and, from the mid-1940s onwards, this became a prominent urban issue. The Mandate authorities did not support adjoining the neighborhoods to Tel Aviv, knowing the Arabs would interpret such a step as supporting the Jewish takeover of Jaffa; they determined that the two municipalities should reach an agreement [10]. HaTikvah's residents, who rebelled against its annexation into Jaffa, feared that it would terminate the little support they were receiving from the Tel Aviv municipality. ...
The definition and analysis of disadvantaged neighborhoods have been rethought in recent years, with the goal of trying to surpass the monolithic identification of all marginal neighborhoods and move towards an analysis of the social, urban, and national circumstances that create marginal neighborhoods in a particular country under specific historical circumstances. This paper offers a micro-historical case study that allows us to examine the social consolidation and civic engagement of a marginal urban community residing in the HaTikvah neighborhood, next to the city of Tel Aviv, during the period between the mid-1930s and the early 1950s. It argues that the residents’ identifications and actions stemmed from an intersectional marginality that was composed of their low socio-economic status, their ethnic origin as Oriental Jews, the geographic location of the neighborhood, and its lack of municipal status. Taking into consideration the circumstances of British Mandatory rule and the processes of the consolidation of the Jewish national society in Palestine as a European society, this paper unveils the struggles of the community vis à vis various institutions for the purposes of recognition, the improvement of living conditions, and, subsequently, the preservation of the fabric of life in the neighborhood.
This article examines the century-long imagination of the city of Tel Aviv (and through it, Zionism) as the foremost expression of Jewish-cum-European modernity in Palestine. I argue that (Tel Aviv's) modernity can only be understood as part of a four-fold matrix of discourses which ties it inextricably to the discourses of colonialism, capitalism and nationalism. The internal contradictions of this matrix reveal the discourses of colonialism as the current that powers modernity - a pride of place missed in most historiographies and sociologies of modernity, from Hegel through Harvey - and which makes modernity, at best, a similacrum of its positive self-imagination. Moreover, this matrix obscures the presence of 'non-modernities' within and surrounding the space of Euro-modernity in Tel Aviv (that is, the Palestinian city of Jaffa and its numerous villages 'erased' by Tel Aviv's development), whose presence is crucial to composing a non-colonial historiography and future of the city, and of Israel/Palestine as a whole.
- Yediot Aharonot
- Feb
Yediot Aharonot, 20 Feb. 1945; Davar, 20 Feb. 1945; Aaboker, 4 March 1945.
Hapalestinim Vehamedina Hayehudit bashanim 1947À1948'[ The Palestinian and the Jewish state in the years (Hebrew); Y. Shimony, 'The Arabs Positions The Struggle for the State (Jerusalem: The Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations
- See J Nevo
On the steps taken by the Palestinian Arab leadership in 1945À1947, see J. Nevo, 'Hapalestinim
Vehamedina Hayehudit bashanim 1947À1948'[ The Palestinian and the Jewish state in the
years 1947À1948], in Y. Wallach (ed.), Hayyinu Keholemim À Kovetz Mehkarim al Milhemet Hakomemiyut [ We were as dreamers À Studies on the war of Independence ] (Givatayim: Massada,
1985), pp.234À95 (Hebrew); Y. Shimony, 'The Arabs Positions', in G. Sheffer (ed.), The Struggle
for the State (Jerusalem: The Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, 1992), pp.73À81
(Hebrew). On the policy adopted by the Jewish Yishuv toward the British and the Arabs in
1945À1947, see P. Ofer, Enemy and Rival: The Zionist Movement and the Yishuv between the
Arabs and the British, 1929--1948 (Tel Aviv: Cherikover, 2001), pp.191À212, 235À43 (Hebrew).
Tel Aviv Change', p. 136. On the rate of revenues to Jaffa municipality from the Jewish neighbourhoods see
- Fireberg
Fireberg, 'Tel Aviv Change', p. 136. On the rate of revenues to Jaffa municipality from the Jewish
neighbourhoods see, Report from the Homeowners Association of Florentin neighborhood, 4
Letter from Yisrael Rokach to the deputy District Commissioner
- Davar
Davar, 6 Sep. 1945; Letter from Yisrael Rokach to the deputy District Commissioner, 11 Sep.
1945, TAMA 4/2209.
Minutes of the meeting between the District Commissioner and the neighbourhoods committee CZA J1/6599;The District Commissioner to Yisrael Rokach
- Haboker
Haboker, 22 April 1947; Mishmar, 29 April 1947; Minutes of the meeting between the District
Commissioner and the neighbourhoods committee, 23 April 1947, CZA J1/6599;The District
Commissioner to Yisrael Rokach, 18 June 1947, TAMA 4/2209.
Wartime Spatial Changes: Former Arab Territories within the State of Israel
- See A Golan
On the annexation of Jaffa to Tel Aviv, see A. Golan, Wartime Spatial Changes: Former Arab Territories within the State of Israel, 1948--1950 (Sede Boqer: The Ben-Gurion Research Center, 2001),
pp.127À31 (Hebrew).
The History of Tel Aviv: The Birth of a Town
- G Shavit
- Biger
On the establishment and development of the neighbourhoods, see Y. Shavit and G. Biger, The
History of Tel Aviv: The Birth of a Town (1909--1936) (Tel Aviv: Ramot À Tel Aviv University, 2001),
pp.217À9 (Hebrew).
Central Zionist Archives (CZA) S25/6493; Memorandum of the Tel Aviv municipality to the
For example, see Report from the Jewish Agency to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry
on Palestine, 1946, Central Zionist Archives (CZA) S25/6493; Memorandum of the Tel Aviv
municipality to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP), July 1947, CZA
S25/5961.
(Hebrew); H. Fireberg, 'Urban Society in Crisis: The Emergence of the " Oriental Problem " in Tel Aviv and Jaffa during the Great Arab Rebellion of 1936', Social Issues in Israel
- H Fireberg
H. Fireberg, 'Tel-Aviv Change, Continuity and the Many Faces of Urban Culture and Society during War, 1936À1948' (PhD dissertation, Tel Aviv University, 2003), p.173 (Hebrew); H. Fireberg,
'Urban Society in Crisis: The Emergence of the " Oriental Problem " in Tel Aviv and Jaffa during
the Great Arab Rebellion of 1936', Social Issues in Israel, Vol.1 (2006), pp.178, 183, 189, 191
(Hebrew); A. Golan, 'Accommodation for Jewish Refugees from Tel Aviv at the Time of the Great
Arab Revolt', Aley Zait Vacherev, Vol.5 (2004), pp.58, 60 (Hebrew).
HA 105/184; Reports from the Arabic newspapers HA 105/185; Hamashkif
Reports from the Arabic newspapers, 1945, HA 105/184; Reports from the Arabic newspapers,
1945, HA 105/185; Hamashkif, 1 Nov. 1945; Haboker, 1 Nov. 1945; Falastin, 20 Nov. 1945; Falastin,
21 Nov. 1945; Reports from the Arabic newspapers, 6 Dec. 1945, HA 105/389.
The Jews of Jaffa'. 19
- Goren
Goren, 'The Jews of Jaffa'.
19. Ibid.
Report from the Arabic newspapers
- Hamashkif
Hamashkif, 12 March 1947; Report from the Arabic newspapers, 12 March 1947, HA 105/185.
The content of the item was based on publications from the journals Falastin and Al-Difa.
Local Government in Palestine, Memorandum submitted to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine
- Vaad Lemi
Vaad Lemi, Local Government in Palestine, Memorandum submitted to the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine, Jerusalem, 1947, p. 20.
The British Decision to Leave Palestine
- M Cohen
M. Cohen, 'The British Decision to Leave Palestine', Cathedra, Vol.15 (1980), pp.143À56 (Hebrew);
When did the British Decide to Leave?
- A Ilan
A. Ilan, 'When did the British Decide to Leave?', Cathedra, Vol.15 (1980), pp.156À75 (Hebrew);
Mediniyut Britanya Erev Milhemet Ha'atzma'ut
- G Cohen
G. Cohen, 'Mediniyut Britanya Erev Milhemet
Ha'atzma'ut' [British policy before the war of Independence], in Y. Wallach (ed.), Hayyinu Keholemim À Kovetz Mehkarim al Milhemet Hakomemiyut [We were as dreamers À Studies on the War
of Independence] (Givatayim: Massada, 1985), pp.13À177 (Hebrew);
The Last Commissioner General Cunningham
- M Golani
M. Golani, The Last Commissioner General Cunningham, 1945--1948 (Tel Aviv: Am Oved, 2011), (Hebrew).
On the policy adopted by the Jewish Yishuv toward the British and the Arabs in 1945À1947, see P. Ofer, Enemy and Rival: The Zionist Movement and the Yishuv between the Arabs and the British
- Y Shimony
Y. Shimony, 'The Arabs Positions', in G. Sheffer (ed.), The Struggle
for the State (Jerusalem: The Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, 1992), pp.73À81
(Hebrew). On the policy adopted by the Jewish Yishuv toward the British and the Arabs in
1945À1947, see P. Ofer, Enemy and Rival: The Zionist Movement and the Yishuv between the
Arabs and the British, 1929--1948 (Tel Aviv: Cherikover, 2001), pp.191À212, 235À43 (Hebrew).
- R Kark
R. Kark, Jaffa À A
City in Evolution 1799--1917 (Jerusalem: Yad Ben-Zvi, 1984), pp.158À79 (Hebrew).
From an Abandoned Village to an Urban Neighborhood: The Case of Salame
- A Golan
A. Golan, 'From an Abandoned Village to an Urban Neighborhood: The Case of Salame', Merhavim, Vol.4 (1991), pp.74À5 (Hebrew);
Introduction to the History of Local Government in Israel
- M Gorion
M. Gorion (Wager), Introduction to the History of Local Government in Israel (Jerusalem: University of Tel Aviv, 1957),
p.234 (Hebrew);
On the establishment and development of the neighbourhoods, see
- Y Shavit
- G Biger
On the establishment and development of the neighbourhoods, see Y. Shavit and G. Biger, The
History of Tel Aviv: The Birth of a Town (1909--1936) (Tel Aviv: Ramot À Tel Aviv University, 2001),
pp.217À9 (Hebrew).
Tel-Aviv Change, Continuity and the Many Faces of Urban Culture and Society during War, 1936À1948' (PhD dissertation
- H Fireberg
H. Fireberg, 'Tel-Aviv Change, Continuity and the Many Faces of Urban Culture and Society during War, 1936À1948' (PhD dissertation, Tel Aviv University, 2003), p.173 (Hebrew);
Urban Society in Crisis: The Emergence of the "Oriental Problem" in Tel Aviv and Jaffa during the Great Arab Rebellion of 1936
- H Fireberg
H. Fireberg,
'Urban Society in Crisis: The Emergence of the "Oriental Problem" in Tel Aviv and Jaffa during
the Great Arab Rebellion of 1936', Social Issues in Israel, Vol.1 (2006), pp.178, 183, 189, 191
(Hebrew);
Accommodation for Jewish Refugees from Tel Aviv at the Time of the Great Arab Revolt
- A Golan
A. Golan, 'Accommodation for Jewish Refugees from Tel Aviv at the Time of the Great
Arab Revolt', Aley Zait Vacherev, Vol.5 (2004), pp.58, 60 (Hebrew).
On the rate of revenues to Jaffa municipality from the Jewish neighbourhoods see
- Fireberg
Fireberg, 'Tel Aviv Change', p. 136. On the rate of revenues to Jaffa municipality from the Jewish
neighbourhoods see, Report from the Homeowners Association of Florentin neighborhood, 4
- Hamashkif
Hamashkif, 12 March 1947; Report from the Arabic newspapers, 12 March 1947, HA 105/185.
The content of the item was based on publications from the journals Falastin and Al-Difa.
CZA J1/6599;The District Commissioner to Yisrael Rokach
- Mishmar
Mishmar, 29 April 1947; Minutes of the meeting between the District
Commissioner and the neighbourhoods committee, 23 April 1947, CZA J1/6599;The District
Commissioner to Yisrael Rokach, 18 June 1947, TAMA 4/2209.
Reports from the Arabic newspapers
- Hatzofeh
Hatzofeh, 22 May 1947; Reports from the Arabic newspapers, 22 May
1947, HA 105/299.