Alaa Moussa remembers a time when\u00a0Akka\u2019s\u00a0old city looked much different.<\/p>\n
Over the last decade, he has watched his hometown\u2019s fabric change significantly: new restaurants, bars, hotels and youth hostels are now wedged between the historic stone buildings, homes and cultural landmarks.<\/p>\n
Situated on the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea in present-day Israel, Akka (known as\u00a0Acre\u00a0in English and Akko in Hebrew) \u201cis different now,\u201d Moussa, the 30-year-old owner of El-Mursa, a popular Palestinian seafood restaurant, told The Electronic Intifada.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the alleys of the old city to the coastal line, everything is changing. There is no comparison to when I was young. Even the history is being changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much of the city\u2019s architecture dates back to the era when historic Palestine was under control of the Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n
The old city is also home to several mosques,\u00a0khans<\/em>\u00a0(ancient inns), Turkish baths and a citadel, most of which are built atop structures that testify to Akka\u2019s past as a crusader town.<\/p>\n These cultural treasures led the\u00a0United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization\u00a0(UNESCO) to designate the old city as a \u201cworld heritage site\u201d in 2001.<\/p>\n Yet local Palestinian residents accuse Israel of aiming to push them out of the old city so that it can be Judaized.<\/p>\n State-owned housing management companies are dishing out eviction orders as Israeli and foreign development companies buy up blocks of homes and undertake development projects across the city.<\/p>\n Although Jewish Israelis make up more than 70 percent of Akka\u2019s total population, the old city is almost exclusively home to Palestinians.<\/p>\n Residents told The Electronic Intifada that state-owned housing management companies, such as Amidar and Akko Old City Development Company, regularly deny their applications for housing renovations. During inspections, the homes are subsequently deemed too dangerous to live in and the residents are given eviction orders.<\/p>\n Amidar has been given responsibility for property belonging to\u00a0Palestinian refugees\u00a0who were displaced during the\u00a0Nakba, the\u00a0ethnic cleansing\u00a0of Palestinians that preceded and followed Israel\u2019s establishment in May 1948.<\/p>\n Omar Shannawi, 44, explained that he and his sister recently won a local court case against Amidar. After a nine-year legal battle, the company was forced to pay for renovations in their two-room home in the old city.<\/p>\n \u201cAmidar wouldn\u2019t let us do renovations in our home by ourselves or bring our own contractors,\u201d Shannawi told The Electronic Intifada, adding that the company \u201ccharges us unaffordable prices for simple fixes.\u201d<\/p>\n Shannawi, who owns a local coffee shop with his sister, added that his recent success was not the norm: most of Akka\u2019s residents cannot afford to take on Amidar in lengthy court cases or simply give up and search for more accessible housing.<\/p>\n Although Amidar is supposed to foot the bill for home repairs, \u201cthe house is falling apart already,\u201d said Shannawi.<\/p>\n His sister Shahro recalled that while their elderly mother was slowly dying of cancer several years ago, Amidar refused to adequately fix several leaks in the apartment that dripped water on her at night throughout the winter season.<\/p>\n Klay Amara, an employee at the local municipality, confirmed that \u201cAmidar rarely approves applications for home renovations and improvements in the old city.\u201d<\/p>\n Many homes in the al-Mablata area of the old city have been purchased by Ayalim, an Israeli organization, and transformed into housing for Jewish university students.<\/p>\n The organization says its\u00a0goals\u00a0are to support Jewish students with \u201cZionist values\u201d in order to \u201crevive and renew the Zionist idea in the 21st century.\u201d<\/p>\n It seeks to achieve this goal through the \u201cestablishment of student and entrepreneur villages\u201d in the\u00a0Galilee\u00a0and\u00a0Naqab (Negev)\u00a0regions of present-day Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are currently 30 students living in\u00a0five renovated structures\u00a0in the old city [of Akka],\u201d according to Ayalim\u2019s website.<\/p>\n \u201cThe social life in the village aims to take advantage of the diversity found within [Akka] and focuses on activities attractive to both Jews and Arabs alike with the aim of fostering co-existence from the ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n Tensions over plans to push Palestinians out led to week-long riots in 2008, which left 14 Palestinian families displaced from their homes.<\/p>\n Five homes were burned to the ground and dozens of Palestinian homes and shops were damaged (\u201cRecipe for a riot,\u201d Middle East Research and Information Project, 15 November 2008).<\/p>\n Activists and human rights groups warn that the threats of expulsion and gentrification are not limited to Akka.<\/p>\n More than 1.5 million Palestinians are\u00a0citizens of Israel, constituting some 20 percent of the total population. Spread out in villages, towns and cities across the country, they suffer fromdozens of discriminatory laws\u00a0that limit their access to land and housing.<\/p>\n The state is actively trying to Judaize the remaining Palestinian parts of Israel, according toNadim Nashif, director of\u00a0Baladna, a\u00a0Haifa-based advocacy group.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is basically the same pattern in Akka that the Israeli establishment is using in Haifa or even\u00a0Jerusalem,\u201d he said, adding that the goal \u201cis to make it too difficult for people to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n In Akka, however, it is much more difficult for Palestinian residents because their population center is concentrated in the old city, Nashif explained.<\/p>\n In the nearby city of Haifa, at least two neighborhoods that predate Israel\u2019s establishment are facing impending evacuation and demolition.<\/p>\n In Wadi al-Siyah, over sixty people live in eight homes that the Haifa municipality\u00a0plans to raze\u00a0in order to make way for a nature reserve.<\/p>\n The\u00a0al-Mahatta\u00a0neighborhood, home to around 150 persons from 33 families,\u00a0may also be removed\u00a0and replaced by nightclubs, bars and cafes designed to bring in increased tourist revenue.<\/p>\n A similar process has sent\u00a0living costs sky-high\u00a0in\u00a0Jaffa\u00a0in recent years, pushing indigenous Palestinian residents out and forcing them to search for affordable alternatives.<\/p>\n Abdel Hakim Mufeed is a spokesperson for the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in present-day Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is a continuous plan that comes from the government, Amidar, and Akko Old City Development Company to kick Palestinians out of their homes,\u201d he explained to The Electronic Intifada.<\/p>\n \u201cThey want to change the face of cities like Akka,\u201d Mufeed added.<\/p>\n Plastered on the stone walls of dozens of homes are signs warning that the old city\u2019s Palestinian homes are \u201cnot for sale.\u201d Dozens of Akka-based activists have also rallied to preserve the city\u2019s cultural heritage and support local residency rights.<\/p>\n After the municipality tried to auction off the Khan al-Umdan (Arabic for \u201cCaravanserai of the Pillars\u201d) \u2014 a historic inn built in 1874 under the rule of Ahmed Jazzar Pasha \u2014 to be transformed into a 200-room boutique hotel, residency rights campaigners waged a long legal battle that resulted in the plan being\u00a0halted.<\/p>\n Mufeed stated that Akka is an integral to Palestinian identity in present-day Israel: \u201cWe do not need to keep residents in their homes here to protect Akka. It is this city protects our history on this land.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\u201cToo dangerous\u201d<\/h2>\n
Legal battle<\/h2>\n
\u201cRenew the Zionist idea\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cToo difficult to stay\u201d<\/h2>\n
\u201cNot for sale\u201d<\/h2>\n