Gentrification and diversity in Jaffa- is a balance possible?
The stark contrast between old and new, the juxtaposition of historic and modern and the
glaring disparity between shabby homes and gentrified apartments has come to define the
A’jame neighborhood of Jaffa. The Sabas have been in Jaffa for generations. They are
an Arab family of five living in a one-room home with unfinished cement walls, barbedwire fencing and a corrugated tin roof. Their newest neighbors include several multistory elegant apartment buildings and construction sites for what promise to be equally
stunning luxury homes. Jaffa’s history, beachfront setting and proximity to Tel Aviv
make it prime real estate for numerous diverse populations. And the views of the
Mediterranean from A’jame are particularly appealing. Therefore, as crowding in Tel
Aviv increases and the demand for housing grows, gentrification is to be expected. The
question that remains is; what should happen to the hundreds of families like the Sabas?
The struggle over land and housing in Jaffa is perennial. In recent months, the latest
episode of this conflict erupted when Amidar housing company and the Israeli Lands
Authority (ILA) issued 497 eviction and/or demolition notices to Jaffa families including
the Sabas. As with previous waves of eviction and demolition orders, the population
most greatly affected is that of poor Arab families in A’jame and Jabaliya, two
neighborhoods along Jaffa’s shoreline. Lately however, many of these families, as well
as other Jaffa residents whose homes are not directly affected by the evictions and
demolitions, have decided not to take these actions sitting down. Community
organization, led by the newly established “Jaffa Popular Committee,” is well-underway
with many concerned citizens working hard to protect their homes, as well as those of
their neighbors and to propose alternate development plans which take their needs into
account.
This story of land and housing issues dates back to 1948, when the size of the Arab
community in Jaffa plummeted from 70,000 to approximately 3,600. This skeletal
community was consolidated into A’jame and Jabaliya, where a small minority was able
to remain in their own homes, and others moved into homes that had been vacated.
Through this move many Jaffa Arabs ended up living in homes to which they had no
legal rights or official ownership. Further complicating matters, in the 1950s, the Israeli
government temporarily housed thousands of new Jewish immigrants in empty A’jame
and Jabaliya homes, and even in rooms of occupied homes where they often shared
kitchens and bathrooms with the Arab residents. While most residents described this
period as a time of relative coexistence and cooperation, it was short-lived. As the Jews
moved out to newly built Jaffa Gimel and Dalet neighborhoods and to Bat Yam and
Holon, the government acquired ownership over the homes, or parts of home which they
had inhabited. According to Fadi Shbeita, Director of ‘Sadaka-Reut: Arab-Jewish Youth
Partnership’ and a leading activist in the Jaffa Popular Committee, it was these historical
irregularities that lay the foundation for generations of debates over ownership.
Furthermore, many historical neighborhoods of Jaffa have been effectively “frozen” by
the government for years, making any building or renovation work illegal. Therefore,
there are many cases where only parts of homes are illegal such as a second floor or an
extra room because family growth necessitated additions even if the law would not grant
permits. Additionally, many families lost official possession of their homes when the
government did not recognize rights passed on from generation to generation.
As ownership of A’jame and Jabaliya buildings swapped hands, final control most often
fell to Amidar. Established in 1949, Amidar housing company is owned by the Israeli
government, Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund and controls a significant
portion of lower-income housing in the country.
In the 1970s and 80s over 3,000 buildings- homes, schools, stores, etc- were demolished
in Jaffa. This was followed by over a decade of relative quiet in terms of the housing
issue. However, several months ago Jaffa lawyers noticed a sharp increase in the number
of cases pertaining to housing rights, eviction and demolition orders. Careful
investigation, including a meeting with representatives from Amidar, the ILA and several
members of Knesset, revealed the scope of the issue with 497 families affected by
eviction and demolition orders. These 497 injunctions were not issued all at once, but
have tricked out over a period of weeks and months, and each case has an individual
story.
The first case to attract large-scale attention was the Saba family. In 1972, without
receiving a permit, Bashara Saba added a room to his parent’s home. He later married,
closed off the room from the main house and today lives in this same room with his wife
and three children, aged 8, 4 and 2. In March 2007 they received notice that they had
three days to evacuate the building. Through help from the Jaffa Popular Committee and
pro-bono work by lawyer Ibtisam Tannous, the Saba family was able raise NIS 2500 in
fees to postpone and eventually convince the court to cancel the demolition order on their
home.
The Saba case rallied community support, including dozens of Jaffa and Tel Aviv locals,
both Arab and Jewish, who turned out to stand in solidarity with the family the morning
the bulldozers were originally scheduled to arrive, March 11th, 2007. Many even slept at
the house the night prior.
While the Jaffa Popular Committee is active in supporting individual cases, its main goal
is to address the issue of housing and land rights collectively, rather than on a case-bycase basis. Shbeita points out that the mass of cases is proof that these are not a few
renegade individuals trying to avoid permits and legality, but rather a larger issue facing
the community where bureaucracy has rendered permits virtually unattainable. On the
contrary, Amidar prefers to negotiate with individuals, insisting that if there is an issue
with a specific case, they are willing to deal with it.
To increase awareness about the scope of the issue, the Popular Committee, Al-Rabita:
The League for the Arabs of Jaffa and other local organizations, combined their efforts to
put on a peaceful demonstration on April 27th which attracted hundreds of participants,
again both Arab and Jewish, from Jaffa and beyond. Slogans and speakers called for
housing rights for the poor and protection for the community of native Jaffa locals- “Yafo
l’Yafowim.”
Taking their community organizing a step further, these organizations, along with
Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights and the Arab Center for Alternative Planning, put
together a two day conference on April 30th-May 1st on issues related to housing and
development. Demonstrating the universality of gentrification issues, keynote speaker
Michael Edwards from University College London described the community struggle in
the Kings Cross area in London, which successfully prevented developments that would
have ousted the neighborhood’s poor inhabitants. Other Israeli speakers, both Arab and
Jewish, spoke more specifically about the case of Jaffa and offered development
alternatives such as “improving without moving,” and creation of mixed income
neighborhoods which allow for gentrification without displacing the native residents.
While these events have attracted attention and support, the issue of housing and
gentrification in Jaffa is far from settled. On May 27 police arrived at the home of the
Thaka family to enforce the eviction order issued to the branch of the family living in the
illegally-built second story of their home. They live in a neighborhood known as Pardes
Thaka, named for the days when said family owned an orchard on the lands. The trees
were replaced by homes years ago to meet the growing demand for housing in the city.
When met by dozens of concerned Jaffa residents sitting on the roof of the house, the
police called in support from the municipality and through careful negotiation eventually
agreed to postpone the demolition in order to give the family time to fight it through the
courts.
The Jaffa Popular Committee insists that it is not development that they are opposed to,
but they will not resign themselves to accept development which forsakes the native
population. Furthermore, they do not support illegal building. Shbeita explains that they
want to work out a process of legalization which allows families to buy, or buy back,
their homes at reasonable, affordable prices. The committee also proposes setting up
public housing for the illegal residents, but within A’jame and Jabaliya so as to protect
the native community and preserve the cultural character of the neighborhoods. These
proposals do not negate the possibility of luxury homes and money-making enterprises
along Jaffa’s coast. But by taking multiple interests into account, such compromises
could allow for development in a socially-conscious manner, while protecting the ethnic
and socio-economic diversity of the city.