Two weeks ago, Yefet Street, one of the central commercial and tourism streets in Jaffa, Tel Aviv’s exotic southern extension, witnessed riots and rallies of activists from the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, a vehemently anti-Jewish group slated for being made illegal by the Netanyahu cabinet. The demonstrations are over, and ever since the local Arab businessmen, like their brethren in other Israeli-Arab cities, have been running on empty. No Jews are coming, and neither are the tourists. For now, Jaffa has lost its appeal.
All the restaurants and most of the shops, including Andrei’s Ice Cream, Haj Kahil and Abu Hilwa, even Motoran Candy, are standing barren, and the vendors are sitting on their hands. “Since 2000, there was no such thing in Jaffa,” Samir Motoran told Walla. Customers are no longer coming to Jaffa.”
Motoran waxes optimistic that “this is not a boycott by Jews, we’re talking here about fear. Even the Arabs are not buying from the Jews, they are also afraid of being attacked. The Arabs do not go into all the malls and the streets of the Jews. Only a few days ago, two young Arab men were standing at a service center, one of them put his hand in his pocket, everybody got scared and ran away, they thought he had a knife and started to run away.”
“My message to all Israelis and Arabs is that we are brothers and we must not let any foreign element drive a wedge between us,” he insisted. “I care about every Israeli, because I make a living from Israelis. In the end we are all Israelis — Arab, Jewish or French.”
The staff of a few Arab restaurants in Jaffa posted pro-Intifada messages on their businesses’ Facebook pages. Some Israeli clients spotted them and took offense. Since then, everybody has learned the value of staying away from politics. At this point, according to Walla, at most you’ll see three tables taken in any given Jaffa Arab restaurant during what is normally the lunch time rush hour. Shops that provide parts at greatly reduced prices, from bicycles to housewares stand empty entire days—they depend entirely on Tel Avivian traffic.
Abu Marwan, who makes the best humus this side of Jerusalem, served his singular customer, a local Israeli Jew, and said, “Only God will restore our livelihoods, nothing can be done. It is not a boycott, people are afraid.”