Palestinians in Jaffa denied access to bomb shelter by Israeli neighbours

Middle East Eye

4 hours ago

Palestinians in Jaffa say they are being denied access by their Israeli neighbours to an underground bomb shelter which they had previously been allowed to use during Israel's escalating war with Iran.
Residents of Yehuda Hayamit Street told Middle East Eye they had been told the entry code giving them access to the shelter had been changed after about a dozen or so of them had taken refuge there in recent days as sirens sounded, following Iranian missile attacks targeting nearby Tel Aviv.
They say the episode highlights the discrimination and the dangers they face as Palestinian citizens of Israel even in one of the country's mixed cities, where about a third of the population remains Palestinian.
Nasir Ktelat, a 63-year-old with health issues who lives in a fourth-story apartment across the road from the shelter, said that he and others from his residence had been given access by someone on their building committee, and said it had been usual for those living in nearby older buildings to gather there when sirens sounded.
But he said when they entered the shelter over the weekend they were made to feel unwelcome by the Israeli residents of the newer building.
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'It was clear they were not happy to see us,' said Ktelat.
'We were about 12 to 15 Muslims and Christians from the building nearby. Of course, we felt not welcomed, but we didn't care.'
'They said: 'We made a made a decision that we don't want you to come, and we are going to change the code.'.. It was clear that it was because we are Arabs'
- Nasir Ktelat, Jaffa resident
The next day, Ktelat said, they had returned and were allowed in but it was again conveyed that they were unwelcome.
'In the end, they told us it was the last time,' he said. 'They said: 'We made a made a decision that we don't want you to come, and we are going to change the code.'
One resident of the building had appeared sympathetic, but told them nonetheless that all of the residents agreed that they should not be allowed to use the shelter, Ktelat said.
Yehuda Hayamit Street is a mixture of older residences and newer buildings. Jewish Israelis living in older buildings in the neighbourhood appeared to have still been allowed access to the shelter, he added.
'It was clear that it was because we are Arabs. This is our reality and not something that us new to us,' Ktelat said.
Palestinian citizens 'hostage to Israel's wars'
Once a thriving Palestinian port which now lies in the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv, Jaffa was ethnically cleansed during the Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from their homes during the events leading to the creation of Israel in 1948. Much of the city's population was driven south to refugee camps in Gaza.
In recent years, the area has been regenerated, with historic buildings restored and museums and galleries making it a cultural hub for Israelis and tourists, though Palestinian residents complain that their neighbourhoods and residential buildings have been largely neglected.
Iran's attacks on Israel, launched in response to Israeli attacks on Iran which have killed hundreds of people, have highlighted how Palestinian citizens of Israel – who make up about 20 percent of the population – have been excluded from the country's extensive system of public air raid shelters and legislation requiring safe rooms and shelters to be built into new buildings.
Iranian strikes expose lack of shelters for Palestinian citizens of Israel, residents say Read More »
On Saturday, four Palestinian citizens of Israel were killed in the predominantly Arab town of Tamra, some 25km east of Haifa, after an Iranian missile unexpectedly struck their residential building.
Before Saturday's strikes, Tamra's residents had repeatedly complained of the lack of bomb shelters in the area. Residents told MEE that despite the town being home to more than 35,000 people, there were no public shelters.
Meanwhile, according to reports, the nearby Jewish Israeli community of Mitzpe Aviv had at least 13 public shelters for its 1,100 residents.
Video footage published on Sunday showed a group of Israelis celebrating the Iranian missile falling on Tamra and singing an anti-Arab song "May your village burn", popularised by the Israeli pop singer Kobi Peretz.
Abed Abu Shahada, a Palestinian activist based in Jaffa, told MEE that the refusal of Israelis to allow their Arab neighbours to share their bomb shelters highlighted an 'ingrained racism' within Israeli society.
'If we were shocked by the video showing a Jewish family rejoicing as a missile struck Tamra in the Galilee, the case in Jaffa reveals another layer: the complete abandonment of neighbours to their fate, and the broad public legitimisation of such behaviour,' said Shahada.
Shahada accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of knowingly putting all Israeli citizens in danger by attacking Iran in the knowledge that Israel would face a response.
'However, this danger is not equally distributed. Over the past decades, as missile attacks and strikes became unavoidable, Israel promoted war-adapted construction. Yet this policy was implemented primarily in Jewish localities, with no parallel planning for Arab towns and neighbourhoods.
'As a result, Palestinian citizens have been made hostages to Israel's military ventures.'