JAFFA, Israel - One day after U.S. President Barack Obama called for a halt to Israeli settlement construction, Israeli Arabs in this city protested against what they see as a parallel Jewish settlement effort - not in the West Bank but in the heart of Israel.
The protest and rally, supported by both local Israeli Arab and Jewish residents, was organized after the "B'emuna" company won a tender in early May to purchase state-owned land now used as an orchard for the building of 20 housing units intended for Jewish national-religious families in an Arab neighborhood of Jaffa known as Ajami.
Jaffa, which has a large Israeli Arab population, is a largely low-income city located on the Mediterranean coast within the municipal boundaries of Tel Aviv.
Other recent projects in Jaffa by the Jewish national-religious sector, which is identified with the Jewish West Bank settlement movement, have increased tensions in the mixed Arab-Jewish city. A number of religious and educational institutions catering to the Jewish national-religious sector have recently been established there.
B'emuna said the Ajami housing "was only the beginning" and that its efforts in Jaffa would include the construction of an additional 200 housing units for Jews. The Arab population in Jaffa is facing a severe housing shortage that has not been handled by local or national authorities.
Far-right national-religious Jewish groups affiliated with the West Bank settlers seek to increase the Jewish population in mixed cities within Israel proper, including Acre, Lod, Ramle and Jaffa, and their efforts, labeled as "Judaization" by critics, often lead to increased tensions and a concurrent displacement of Arab residents.
Speaking in a Cairo address to the Muslim world on Thursday, the American president called for a halt to Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank, one of the issues at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop," Obama said.
Jewish construction in Arab communities within Israel, however, is seen as an internal Israeli issue and is thus not addressed by international mediators in the framework of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Rallying under the slogan "Jaffa is in danger! Our strength is our Unity," a number of Jewish and Arab groups joined forces to combat the new construction plans. Among those participating in the effort are the Popular Committee for Land and Housing Rights in Jaffa, the Rabita, the Jaffa List, the Southern and Northern Islamic Movements, the Islamic Council, the Orthodox Society, the Ajami Neighborhood Committee, the Jaffa municipal council members and other public figures.
(Mati Milstein is a freelance photographer and journalist based in Tel Aviv. A former chief desk editor at Haaretz.com, the website of Israel's leading daily newspaper, his work has appeared in National Geographic News, Archaeology magazine and other media outlets in Israel and abroad. He may be found on the Web at www.matimilstein.com)
