Yaffa x 2 Narratives

So, it turns out the beach we were at yesterday used to be a cemetery. Literally.

Today we got up earlier than we have so far to meet up with a friend of Emma’s. His name is Dimi and he is part of a Arab-Jewish coexistence organization in Yaffa. This week the organization was going for a tour of Yaffa. The tour incorporated two narratives of the city history; the Palestinian one and the official Zionist version. We tagged along with the tour and the subsequent discussions and lunch.

Again, it felt very strange returning to central Tel Aviv after having been in a more organic (albeit disrupted) urban setting. There is a lot I could say. For now I just give you some pics. As usual you can click the photos to see more on my flickr page.

Pausing for shade and a discussion of the historical part of the tour in the Arab-Hebrew Theatre of Yaffa:

Sami, the Palestinian tour guide briefs us on gentrification and displacement in modern day Yaffa:

Getting the Zionist narrative:

A razed house; most likely Palestinian:

Building new luxury developments:

Yaffa Cafe; a Hebrew-Arabic bookstore in Yaffa. Also excellent mint lemonade:

American Apparel Gays and The Situation

So, I’ll probably offend some people by saying this: I have seen very few people with any discernable “style” in Tel Aviv. That is, until I saw the American Apparel gays who work at the A.A. store down the street. I don’t usually get worked up over such things, but I do find it pretty funny that have the exact same Cheap Monday pants pre-fab hipster look as they would in the Brooklyn store. That’s all.

Also, this will sound banal and trite. And obviously I chose to travel here knowing full well what it would be like. But it really is so strange to be lounging on the beach and then go home and read the news and realize people were killed and rockets fired mere miles from where one is summering and stuffing one’s face with melon and hummus. Tel Aviv really is a strange place.