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Zajel / An-Najah National University
Saleem Abu Dheair
Born in Jaffa in 1939.
I was nine years old when we left Jaffa, but I still remember it very clearly. I used to go to the market with my father, and I still remember many events.
English soldiers used to come near our house in al-Manshiya and open fire on Arabs in order to think that Jews were responsible for that.
Then they used to open fire at Jews in order to make them think that we were responsible for that.
We didn’t want to leave Jaffa until the last days of troubles. We didn’t expect that we would be refugees in Nablus and leave Jaffa.
My father brought the key with him. He also brought a nail clipper and a copy of the Holy Quran. My father put two pieces of wood over our wooden door in order to return and find it in the same state and not broken by Jews.
My father, my sister Nada and I went to al-Manshiya. We tied up our clothes and baggage. We left in order to come and take them after two days. The baggage included food, quilts and jars. After two days we brought a lorry to move our things. I stayed in the lorry in order to yell at my brother Mohammad to come if any Jew came. Mohammad opened the lorry and started to put things in. When we left al-Manshiya we were able to see Jaffa. Tel-Aviv was so close to us. We used to bake our bread in a place that is now replaced by Shalom Building. When we drove our lorry, Jews started to fire at electricity wires to kill us, but thanks God we escaped with all our stuff until we reached al-Ajami in Jaffa. The old city was called “the castle”, beside al-Madfa’s café’, which had a church and some mosques.
Once a lorry passed by al-Azaz café’ in Jaffa, and Jews started to roll some barrels towards it. We thought that those barrels just fell down and started to wave for them to stop the barrels. When those barrels reached the café, they exploded. Every one in the café was injured. The same thing happened in the market and in the orphanage. People found a dead woman there with her baby alive beside her. They also found the dresser covering with his hand the face of his client on the chair and both of them were dead.
The orphanage was full of orphans. It was on an arch in Ad-Darhali market. I was with people who went to see English soldiers with their dogs to look for things.
In spite of the bad situation, people refused to leave. Al-Mokhtar of al-Manshiya stayed there and was the last one to leave.
There was a fabric factory in al-Manshiya which belonged to our neighbor. There was also a blacksmith or an aluminum factory behind our house.
Life was a lot of fun. When my brother Khalid quitted his work for his Jewish employer, my father gave him a cart full of almonds to sell. At that time he earned a lot of money. He reached Arshid with his cart.
People were separated from each other. My brother used to gather oranges from orchands by his lorry because he was working in picking up oranges. Once Jews caught his lorry at Niler, but English soldiers came and let him return to Jaffa without his lorry. When he returned the next day to take his lorry, he found it burnt. He came around a closed road from Yazoor side; every one had to come around through a smuggling road.
When the Rescue Army came, we were in Jaffa. When we heard of some one called Fawzi al-Kowikji, God Knows how much we clapped in welcoming him.
When Abdelqader al-Husaini died we were in Al Manshiya. My sister Nada brought the paper and she was crying and shouting saying: “Dad, take this paper and read what is in there.” The paper was black mourning Abd-Alqader’s death.
Rumours and terror were the causes of people’s fear and fleeing away. A lot of people didn’t leave quickly preferring to die in their town rather than leaving.
Abo- Laban’s family had a gristmill; they put a cannon on its top to defend it.
My brother then used to load peoples’ furniture in his lorry from Jaffa and to Nablus. Any one was able to buy any piece of furniture he liked from the ones brought by drivers.
After An- Naksa, two of my friends and I went to Jerusalem.
We rode Tel -Aviv bus; I told them if we lose our way, I would be responsible. I walked from Tel-Aviv to Jaffa. I knew the road because I’ve marked it with the path to the sea. We used to walk from Tel- Aviv to Jaffa with the sea across from our house door. The Municipality made some thing that lessened the strength of sea waves and prevented them from reaching our stairs and door beside the sea. The sand’s height was only about ten meters because water reached our stairs some times.
We used to swim at night. My cousin used to come to our house only to swim at night because it was shameful for girls to swim during the day.
My relatives and my uncle’s wives used to visit us only to swim in the sea. We used to buy ice-cream and clothes from Tel-Aviv. My last suit was bought from Tel-Aviv. I kept walking until I saw the dome of the mosque.
Until the time of An–Naksa we still had some houses in al-Manshiya. We went straight to al-Manshiya, the first house was ours which was still as it had been. We walked to the next street and found it the same. The next street was where my aunts and cousins used to live and the houses were still the same. When we reached Hasan Beik Mosque, it was divested. Jews used it to practice bad acts. We entered Ad-Derhali and al-Balbisi markets where we ate some fish and went to al-Ajami. After that we went to Beit-Yam which we used to call al- Jabaliya neighborhood. My uncle Abu Ali Ash- Sharqawi lived there. Jews used to come and open fire all the night so they forced people to leave. This area changed a lot and was renamed Beit-Yam.
I took my father and my father in law to Jaffa after An-Naksa. We sat in a café called “al-Madfa’ café” which was famous at that time.
People who didn’t visit al-Madfa’ café have not virtually seen Jaffa; I took my father to see his house.
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