Violent Acts and Urban Space in Contemporary Tel Aviv: Revisioning Moments

Chapter 3

Jewish demands for autonomy in the early 1920s contributed to the British Mandate’s decision to separate Tel Aviv from Jaffa.1 This decision, officially recognizing Tel Aviv as a separate entity, demarcated the Menshiyeh Quarter between Jaffa and Tel Aviv as a buffer zone with the Hassan Beq Mosque in the center (Map 3.1).2 The establishment of this mosque in 1916 grew out of the decision of the military governor, Hassan Beq, to further develop Jaffa. At the beginning, the Arab community in Jaffa boycotted the mosque because of the forced labor and annexation of property that accounted for its construction . With the end of the Ottoman Empire, the community began using it, transforming it into an active community center. The location and design of the mosque signifies its uniqueness and differences and also emphasizes its proximity to main axes and the communal intention of strengthening its accessibility. During the war of 1948, the mosque functioned as a strategic point in the conflict (Figures 3.1, 3.2, 3.3). When Menshiyeh was occupied by the Israel Defense Forces and with the transfer of the properties of the Palestinian community to the military governor, the mosque was cut off from the Muslim population of Jaffa, becoming a symbol of the exile of the Palestinian community. The scarred and deserted area was changed by the planning and development initiatives of the 1960s, aimed at increasing the land and economic value of the Menshiyeh Quarter, and in 1967 the mosque reverted to the Palestinian Board of Trustees, whose limited means, together with the condition of the mosque, convinced them to lease the site to the Edgar Construction Company . The lease of the mosque (excluding the minaret and the hall below it) was limited to forty-nine years and included permission to use it for commercial purposes.3 The plan, submitted by the architect Arie Elhanani, included Borders, Urban Order, and State-City Relationships along the Shoreline The Suicide Bombing at the Dolphinarium Discothèque, June 1, 2001 Chapter 3 Map 3.1 Jaffa–Tel Aviv, 1936, British Survey of Palestine (Extract). Menshiyeh Village, as an extension of Jaffa bordering on Tel Aviv. (Source: Department of Geography,Tel Aviv University) Figure 3.2 Hassan Beq Mosque, 1941. (Photo: Chava Dotan,Tel Aviv Municipal Archives) Figure 3.1 Hassan Beq Mosque during the 1948 war. (Photo: Collection of David Elazar, Israel Defense Forces Archives) 74 Violent Acts and Urban Space in Contemporary Tel Aviv commercial and service use, but the capitalistic evaluation of the project, an insult to Palestinians and Israelis alike, aroused much debate, and the plan was rejected. The perception of the mosque as a “protected space” gave rise to another initiative in the 1980s to transform it into a Muslim-Jewish cultural center for meetings between Muslims and Jews of the city.4 These plans were also rejected, and the work of restoration and renovation of the mosque commenced in the mid-1980s. This was a first step in strengthening the spatial and communal life of the Palestinian community in Jaffa. Today, the spatial reality of the area is eclectic. In front of the mosque is the Dolphinarium complex for leisure activities; to the north there are residential neighborhoods, to the south a complex of high-rise office buildings, and to the east lies Gan Hakovshim (“The Occupiers’ Park”), with a memorial to the Jewish battle in the 1948 war (Figure 3.4). The proximity of the southfacing memorial (towards Jaffa) with the gate of the mosque (facing north) exemplifies the realities and narratives of the two communities and the parallel discourse (real and imaginary) between them. This spatial context is the site of the suicide bombing on June 1, 2001, when hundreds of youngsters were queuing to enter the Dolphinarium Discoth èque.5 This violent act is a reference point in time and space for examinFigure 3.3 Military forces at the mosque, before occupation, 8/4/1948. (Photo: Israel Defense Forces Archives) the Shoreline 75 ing the complex relationships between the spatial context (i.e., the seashore and the Jaffa–Tel Aviv borders) and the social context (Palestinians, Israelis, Jews, Christians, Muslims, orthodox, secular, labor immigrants) of the area. The discussion first addresses the question of Borders as an ideological sociocultural construct by which communities define and defend their territory. It focuses specifically on the border zone between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, the Menshiyeh...