THE SAWAF family of Jaffa, twice evicted from its home, has been living since early December in a tent in a public park.. Their case crystallizes the struggle of the poor (usually Arabs) against the rich (usually Jews) in the mixed Arab-Jewish cities. On February 25 a local court decided against the Sawafs. Their fight, which has been both judicial and public, will now shift entirely to the public realm.
Here is the background:
Israeli actor Yosef Shiloah had bought the rights to an apartment in a building at 57 Kedem Street where the Sawafs also lived. (Like many Arab Jaffans without the means to buy or rent, the Sawafs had settled in their flat as squatters. They lived there for fifteen years, even getting a government loan to fix up the place.) Shiloah wanted to be able to offer the whole building to a real estate firm, which agreed to buy it if it were empty. He came to the Sawafs one night with his lawyer, who wrote a contract on the spot. Da'ud, who can neither read nor write, did not have a lawyer. He signed by making his mark.
According to the agreement, Shiloah would buy for Da'ud the status of protected tenant in an alternative apartment, on condition that the family, seven people in all, leave the Kedem Street house. The size and value of the alternative apartment were not specified. Shiloah then proceeded to offer flats so small and miserable that Da'ud refused to budge. Finally, Shiloah obtained a court order to put an old eviction notice into effect. That was the first eviction (March 1996). For two and a half years after that, the Sawafs lived in an apartment rented for them by Shiloah. On December 9, 1998, when Shiloah stopped paying the rent, their landlady had them evicted from here as well. [end special font]
Yosef Shiloah has received $1,750,000 for the Kedem Street building from a real estate firm, which plans to turn it into luxury apartments. The Sawafs sued Shiloah to fulfil his part of the agreement and secure them the status of protected tenant in a two-room apartment like the one they had left, where seven people can live. The Tel Aviv court has now rejected their suit.
The issue has entered the national consciousness. Israel's Second Channel recently devoted fifteen minutes to the Sawaf affair on its Weekend Report. Shiloah responded with a lawsuit, claiming violation of sub judice and libel. Senior journalist Moti Kirschenbaum, who made the report, has told Challenge that he submitted it in advance to the channel's legal advisor and made all the recommended cuts.
Da'ud, Ruweida and the five children have no choice but to continue living in a tent until a solution is found. Here too, however, they have already undergone a series of evictions: the first on December 17, the second on January 27 and the third on February 8. Each time city inspectors with police came before dawn and confiscated the tent, mattresses, blankets and personal belongings. Each time, the Committee for Solidarity with the Sawaf Family put up a new tent and collected essential items for the family.
On January 20, the last day of Ramadan, this routine gave way to a merrier one. The Committee organized a mass solidarity event with the family in the park. Top Israeli and Palestinian singers participated, including Eviatar Banai, Amal Morkus, Yigal Lev, The Drummers Circle and many more. Artists Tal Matzliah and Dannie Ben Simhon, both active in the Solidarity Committee, organized an outdoor exhibition showing the works of fifty colleagues. The Sawaf issue has raised public awareness in Jaffa. It has brought home to a great many families the possibility that they too may face eviction. The Sawafs and other Jaffans are the victims of "economic transfer": by all the means at its disposal, the city gets them to leave their homes, which are gentrified and sold to the rich. (On the techniques of eviction, see Challenge # 46.) The Solidarity Committee is picketing two hours each Friday on Yefet street in Jaffa. One sign reads: "Do your children sleep well, Mr. Mayor?" In addition, every Saturday evening in the park, Jaffans join an open parliament on housing problems. The Sawafs refuse to accept any solution that is merely temporary. If the city takes their tent again, they insist they will pitch a new one.
| The Committee wishes to thank the dozens of people who wrote protest letters to Mayor Ron Khulda'i. These letters make an impression! They show the city that it does not have carte blanche. We also wish to thank Kibbutz Tzora, as well as the municipalities of Kufr Bara and Kufr Qassem, for their support in providing tents. We are grateful to the Pontifical Mission for its donation. |
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