Nili Yosha

Bio

Nili Yosha is a 13th generation native of Israel. Unlike her filmmaker parents, she focuses on one frame per second. She has a BFA in photography from the San Francisco Art Institute, and is pursuing a Masters in Comparative Literature. She is working on her second photo book, "My Tel Aviv," is ending homelessness with her art through the Western Regional Advocacy Project, and making a living teaching every kid she can catch.

Statement

This summer, on a visit to my hometown, the crowded Tel Aviv beaches prompted me to venture further south along the shore, towards Jaffa.

Less than 3 kilometers from Tel Aviv, and under the same municipality, Jaffa is one of the most ancient port towns in the world.

Jaffa's natural harbor has been active since the Bronze Age, and has been sought after ever since. Pharaoh Thutmose III glorified his conquest of the port town in a letter from 1470 BCE. King Solomon conquered Jaffa and used its port to bring the cedars used in the construction of the First Temple. Jonah the prophet embarked from that port to Tarshish, finishing his journey in a whale. Jaffa was a stronghold of the Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Crusades. It was captured and burned by Cestius Gallus. Pirates operating from the rebuilt port incurred the wrath of Vespasian, who was making his bones in Judea before becoming emperor of Rome. St. Peter's resurrected the widow Tabitha in Jaffa. Saladin took the city in 1187, surrendering it to King Richard the Lionheart in 1191. In 1268 Jaffa was conquered by Egyptian mamluks, led by Baibars. Napoleon captured it in 1799. In 1917, the Ottomans banished all of Jaffa's residents, fearing that the British army would occupy the city, which they did. They let the residents return a year later.

In 1948 Jewish militia, soon to become the Israeli Defense Forces, took the city. Most of the 80,000 Arab residents fled through the ancient harbor.

Those that remain have been second-class citizens of Israel ever since.

In 2001, the Israeli-Arab population of Jaffa participated in the Indifada (uprising), out of solidarity with the Palestinians.

The Arab residents of Jaffa are seen as potential terrorists, dangerous traitors living within Israel's borders.

This perception of Arabs is by no way limited to the 3 kilometers between Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

But in that stretch of beach, you can see people, Arabs, playing with their children in the sand, nothing more.