BLUE and white flags with the star of David brighten Jaffa's streets for Israel's sixtieth anniversary and the roar of practice aerobatics in the sky adds to the sense of anticipation.
But Sami Abu Shehadi, a member of Israel's Arab minority, is in no mood for tomorrow's festivities across Israel. As he likes to remind visitors, until 1948 this was a thriving Arab city, a cultural capital known for its writers and newspapers and a
commercial centre with an ancient port. As part of what Palestinians view as the nakba, or catastrophe, of Israel's creation, Jaffa was conquered in April 1948 by the Irgun Jewish underground group and nearly vanished, with all but 3,000 of its 80,000 residents fleeing under Israeli pressure and becoming refugees in Lebanon, Gaza and elsewhere.
Scratch an Israeli name, or glimpse under a flag and you will find Palestinian history, Mr Shehadi, whose grandfather was one of the few Jaffans to stay, says on his alternative city tours.
Nearby, however, at the ministry of defence's museum honouring the Irgun and its conquest of Jaffa, veteran Joseph Nachmias, 82, recalls the fighting as one of the most glorious periods of his life and the battle as a turning point on the way to Israel's establishment that removed the threat of Palestinian snipers from Tel Aviv.
"The Irgun decided to liberate Jaffa and cut the arms that were sending death into Tel Aviv," he says.
On what is now David Raziel Street, named after an Irgun leader, Mr Shehadi, who is writing a thesis on Arab Jaffa, says: "Before 1948 this was Iskander Awad Street. He was a Lebanese investor who built the first important modern streets in Jaffa that were paved and very wide.
"This area was the heart of Yafa," he adds, using the city's Arabic name. "Here was the British police station. In the market, you had people from Syria selling sweets and Egyptians selling cloth. Over there were the offices of foreign companies that exported oranges. There were a few importers, a few banks, stores for rugs and cloth and an office building for engineers, lawyers and doctors. Some mosques were destroyed in the fighting. One mosque is today a nice pub and restaurant."
He points at a building scheduled for renovation that used to house government offices. It was blown apart in a lorry bombing by the Lehi Jewish underground group in January 1948 that killed and wounded dozens of Arabs. Lehi said orders were being issued from there to Palestinian snipers. Mr Shehadi disputes this and says it was one of many terrorist attacks by both sides.
At the museum, Mr Nachmias becomes animated when recalling how Irgun leader and future Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, who had a £1,000 bounty on his head from the British authorities, came out of hiding to address the Irgun fighters on the eve of the Jaffa battle. "It was the first time Begin appeared in front of us. Many people fainted from excitement. He told us: in front of you is a ruthless enemy who wants to wipe us out. Behind us are our women, children and parents."
Mr Nachmias, who commanded 80 men during the battle, says chasing away the Palestinians was not the intention. However, according to other Israeli accounts, Amichai Paglin, the Irgun's chief of operations, said in a pre-battle briefing that relentless mortar bombardment would be used to fuel chaos among the population "to create a mass flight".
Mr Nachmias himself fought the battle with a £400 British bounty on his head. He had joined the British Army at age 14 in 1940 with a forged birth certificate. Beginning in 1944, he led a double life as a British soldier and a fighter in the Irgun attacking British "occupation" targets. In 1946 he was arrested and sentenced to be shot as a traitor by a British army firing squad but the sentence was reduced to 15 years' jail. He escaped in time to join in Israel's war of independence.
Mr Nachmias says of the Jaffa battle: "We shelled the municipality, the electric power and the water power so they would surrender. We didn't want to hit citizens, only strategic points."
The toughest part of the battle came when British forces intervened to force the Irgun to pull out of parts of Jaffa, Mr Nachmias says. "Of the 41 dead we suffered, 28 were killed by the British. Their cannons gave us hell." But the British intervention failed to stem the Arab exodus.
On 14 May, after British forces withdrew at the close of the Palestine Mandate, the Irgun fighters joined in a "victory parade" in Jaffa. They prepared buses and trucks to expel the remaining 3,000 Arabs, Mr Nachmias recalls. "We were prepared to send them where their brothers went. But Begin said 'let them stay and live in peace with us'. Mr Nachmias says he regrets that any Arabs were allowed to stay. "Now the Arabs in Jaffa number 30,000. We have a lot of problems with them, but they are Israeli citizens and we can do nothing about it. If they had conquered Tel Aviv there would be not one Jewish soul alive."
Mr Shehadi says the flags in Jaffa show "indifference" to the feelings and existence of the Arab citizens. "The Israeli flag represents only the Jewish people. They are raising the flag because they won the war but in this war there were victims. These victims are my people."
SIXTY TURBULENT YEARS29 November, 1946: United Nations partitions Palestine into Jewish and Palestinian states, with British overseeing. Arabs reject plan.
14 May, 1948: David Ben-Gurion proclaims the state of Israel hours before the British mandate is due to end. The next day, forces from five Arab countries attack Israel.
1949: Armistices with Arab states.
29 October, 1956: Israel invades Gaza Strip and Sinai in conjunction with Suez Canal campaign launched by Britain and France against Egypt. Israeli forces withdraw in March 1957.
5 June, 1967: Israel makes pre-emptive strikes against Egypt and Syria. Six Day War leaves it occupying the West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem, Gaza, Sinai and Golan Heights.
6 October, 1973: Egypt and Syria attack along Suez Canal and Golan Heights. After initial reverses in Yom Kippur War, Israel defeats both armies.
26 March, 1979: Israel and Egypt sign peace treaty at the White House.
25 April, 1982: Israel hands back Sinai to Egypt.
6 June, 1982: Israel invades Lebanon. PLO withdraws from Lebanon in August.
December 1987: Palestinian intifada breaks out in West Bank and Gaza. About 1,500 Palestinians and 400 Israelis killed in conflict over following six years.
13 September, 1993: Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shake hands on limited Palestinian self-rule under Oslo Accords.
26 October, 1994: Israel signs peace treaty with Jordan.
4 November, 1995: Mr Rabin shot dead by Jewish ultra-nationalist Yigal Amir.
24 May, 2000: Israeli troops leave south Lebanon.
22 August, 2005 – Israel completes pull-out of troops and settlers from Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.
25 January, 2006: Hamas wins Palestinian parliamentary election and rejects peace accords with Israel.
July-August 2006: At least 1,100 people in Lebanon and 157 Israelis die in 34 days of fighting after Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid.
The full article contains 1239 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
