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bArab hamulla. . . . that is now building dozens of illegal houses, bfactories, and stores. The residences are then rented to Arabs bfrom the territories.” The police are aware that the area is the bcenter of crime of all kinds and that neighbors complain regu- blarly. On a visit to the site, Ha’Aretz reporter Ilan Shchori was bforcibly prevented from entry by two Arabs. Says Miriam Levi, ba Jewish resident of the neighborhood: “We live in constant fear. bThere is a nearby playground for children and the Arab hood- blums hit them and chase them away. After 7:00 P.M. we are bafraid to leave the house. It is difficult to believe that we live in bJaffa. . . .” bWhat makes the problem politically explosive is the fact that bthe Abu-Sayafs claim the property was theirs before 1948 and bthat they have merely retaken it. This effort to return Jaffa to the bpre-state situation is a clear and present danger to the state. Nor bis Jaffa an isolated case. bIn Jaffa Gimel, near the border of Bay Yam, is an area bbelonging to the Israel Lands Administration. It has been bplanned by the state that the twenty-dunam (five-acre) area shall bbe used to build 250 housing units, a public park, and public ser- bvices. But the Dacha Arab hamulla has decided otherwise. bThey have taken over the land (it is now known as “The bDacha Orchard”) and built numerous dwellings in which live bArabs of the territories. They also claim title to the land since bbefore the days of the state. This seizure of land by Arabs is a bforerunner and precedent on the part of a hundred thousand bothers for the return of “their land” all over the country. And bthe authorities? “Everyone complains but the authorities do not blift a finger”—the words of Shula Elyakim, who lives opposite b“The Dacha Orchard.” bAnd as the Arabs turn the clock back to 1947 in terms of bgeography, so, too, with demography. Ilan Shchor wrote in bHa’Aretz (May 9, 1980): “A new phenomenon has appeared in bthe last months in the region of Kedem Street in Givat Ha’Aliya bin Jaffa. Scores of Jewish residents have sold their apartments to bArab families and are leaving the area. The region has changed bcharacter and become an Arab ghetto, and an unseen hand has beven changed the street signs from Hebrew to Arabic. The bapartments are sold over and beyond their real value. Members bof the Alfandari family . . . relate that they received an offer from b
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