Jaffa

:For the fictional Stargate race, see Jaffa (Stargate).

Modern Jaffa

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the population of Jaffa had swelled considerably and new suburbs were built on the sand dunes along the coast. By 1909, the new Jewish suburbs north of Jaffa were reorganized as the city of Tel Aviv.

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Modern Jaffa has a heterogeneous population of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The city is now an integral part of the municipality of Tel Aviv-Yafo.

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Jaffa is a major tourist attraction with an exciting combination of old, new and restored. It offers art galleries, souvenir shops, exclusive restaurants, sidewalk cafes, boardwalks and shopping opportunities and a rich variety of culture, entertainment and food (fish restaurants).

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Restoration of the Old City

The poverty of the population threatened the continuation of active life in Jaffa as a thriving city. In 1968, the government of Israel and the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipality decided to establish a corporation for the development of Old Jaffa, entrusting to it the task of averting the total destruction of Old Jaffa's glorious past.

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Old Jaffa has since become one of Israel's tourist attractions. It is filled with artists' quarters, studios and art galleries. Shops catering for Judaica, archaeology, jewelry and art, line its narrow alleys which are named after the signs of the Zodiac.

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Visitors arriving at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel can hear about the old homes in a booklet called "The Opinionated Tourist Guide". The guide is given to tourists, who can read that "the most beautiful homes in the country are the old Arab ones made of stone, built in the early part of the century, that dot the capital and some streets of Haifa and Jaffa. They cost a fortune, however: a price of $1,000,000 is not uncommon and there are not many of them for sale."

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Places to see

• The Clock Square, built in 1906 in honor of Sultan Abed al-Hamid II's 25th anniversary, became the center of Jaffa, and it is centered between Jaffa's markets.
• The Abulafia bakery in Yeffeth Street (the main street of Jaffa) is a famous restaurant and a symbol of Jewish-Arab coexistence.
• Mahamoudia Mosque which was built by Abu Nabut (the city governor during the 19th century) and includes a water fountain (Savil) for pilgrims.
• St. Peter Church, a Franciscan church, built in the 19th century on the remains of Crusaders' fortress, which serves also as a hostel. It is told that Napoleon stayed in that church while it was a hostel.
• The Andromeda rock, according to legends this was the rock to which beautiful Andromeda was chained.
• The Zodiac alleys, a network of restored alleys, full with art galleries, which lead to the Jaffa seaport.
• Jaffa's Old Seaport.
• Jaffa's Hill, a center for archeological excavations of the ancient cities. The most ancient are the Ancient Egyptian gates, about 3,500 years old, which were restored.
• The Libyan Synagogue called Beit Zunana was purchased by the Jewish landlord Zunana in the 18th century. During the 19th century it stopped being used as a synagogue, and became a hostel and later a soap factory. In 1948 it was re-established as a synagogue for Libyan Jewish immigrants, and in 1995 it became a museum.