Arab-Israeli love in Jaffa? This photographer captures a city of coexistence

Published June 1st, 2015 - 12:02 GMT

No room at the inn? More than a biblical storyline, it’s also the happy accident that served as the catalyst behind a stunning new book of black and white images of ancient port city Jaffa by Melbourne-based, Israeli-born photographer Nathan Miller.

As a boy growing up in Tel Aviv, Miller rarely ventured into Jaffa, the older and then-mostly Arab part of the city. He preferred to explore lands far away from his birth, eventually settling in Australia. Three years ago, he traveled on business to Israel. Unable to find lodging in Tel Aviv, he booked himself into a nearby Jaffa hotel and rediscovered a city at once familiar and exotic. It sparked a new fascination with the region, which he set out to capture on film.

His pictures document the side of places you don’t typically see on TV news. "At the end of the day, TV and newspapers are interested in the controversial; that's what people like to see. You don't get the background of the story,” Miller said. “I'm showing you the background. I'm showing the landscape, the human landscape and the landscape itself."

His book, “Somewhere in Jaffa,” is sold via his website where you also view all 77 images in the series. Al Bawaba brings you a sampling — you can almost smell the sea.

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Jaffa is one of the world’s oldest cities and considered the oldest port. It looms large in biblical stories, famous as the setting for Jonah before he was swallowed by a whale. It may have been named for Japheth, son of Noah, who allegedly built the city after the Great Flood.

In 1950, Jaffa merged with Tel Aviv two years after Israel was established. It’s a cultural melting pot with a population of around 46,000 Muslims, Christians and Jews — poor and affluent, traditional and modern — all living together. Miller says, “Jaffa is a place of contradictions.”

Miller’s project documents daily life from varied cultural perspectives, capturing the commonplace as it occurs, simple scenes that bring the essence of Jaffa to life. He says he sought to show its genuine vibrant spirit through his images.

Jaffa is a place where Arabs and Israelis shared daily life and interacted together. "It was Christians, Jews and Muslims all together, sitting side by side, boys and girls," Nabil Shaath, former Palestinian chief negotiator who also grew up in Jaffa, told The Washington Post.

Miller’s work focuses on capturing daily life in places that grab headline news, but where, he says, we rarely see the full picture. He hopes to encourage greater understanding of Jaffa.

"Jaffa is a place where you've got more or less half Jews and half Arabs and they completely mix with each other," Miller told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Arabs are buying from Jewish-owned shops and vice versa. They still have their own views. But ... they’re living in one community."

Israeli-Arab journalist and political activist Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka wrote an essay for the book that addresses her hometown’s inequitable division in wealth. She describes Miller’s work as “an honest record of a difficult period in the life of a town struggling to maintain her dignity and her charm.”

Jaffa has many stories to tell. Miller was frequently invited back to homes to share meals with the families of people he photographed. He says there are few places in the world where this would happen once let alone numerous times. Welcome to the Middle East.

Many of Jaffa’s old buildings and historical sites were renovated under a 1968 reconstruction plan. The ancient port and modern marinas, old gardens and new galleries are core to Jaffa’s appeal. Jaffa’s also known for its orange exports, a key ingredient in Jaffa Cakes, which Irish and British readers already knew. One billion eaten annually!

"I can live wherever I want and with whom I want without the limitation of nationality, religion or socio-economic status; this is what makes Jaffa the ultimate place to live,” Jaffa resident and graduate student Sara, originally from France, told i24news.

Jaffa is one of the world’s oldest cities and considered the oldest port. It looms large in biblical stories, famous as the setting for Jonah before he was swallowed by a whale. It may have been named for Japheth, son of Noah, who allegedly built the city after the Great Flood.

In 1950, Jaffa merged with Tel Aviv two years after Israel was established. It’s a cultural melting pot with a population of around 46,000 Muslims, Christians and Jews — poor and affluent, traditional and modern — all living together. Miller says, “Jaffa is a place of contradictions.”

Miller’s project documents daily life from varied cultural perspectives, capturing the commonplace as it occurs, simple scenes that bring the essence of Jaffa to life. He says he sought to show its genuine vibrant spirit through his images.

Jaffa is a place where Arabs and Israelis shared daily life and interacted together. "It was Christians, Jews and Muslims all together, sitting side by side, boys and girls," Nabil Shaath, former Palestinian chief negotiator who also grew up in Jaffa, told The Washington Post.

Miller’s work focuses on capturing daily life in places that grab headline news, but where, he says, we rarely see the full picture. He hopes to encourage greater understanding of Jaffa.

"Jaffa is a place where you've got more or less half Jews and half Arabs and they completely mix with each other," Miller told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Arabs are buying from Jewish-owned shops and vice versa. They still have their own views. But ... they’re living in one community."

Israeli-Arab journalist and political activist Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka wrote an essay for the book that addresses her hometown’s inequitable division in wealth. She describes Miller’s work as “an honest record of a difficult period in the life of a town struggling to maintain her dignity and her charm.”

Jaffa has many stories to tell. Miller was frequently invited back to homes to share meals with the families of people he photographed. He says there are few places in the world where this would happen once let alone numerous times. Welcome to the Middle East.

Many of Jaffa’s old buildings and historical sites were renovated under a 1968 reconstruction plan. The ancient port and modern marinas, old gardens and new galleries are core to Jaffa’s appeal. Jaffa’s also known for its orange exports, a key ingredient in Jaffa Cakes, which Irish and British readers already knew. One billion eaten annually!

"I can live wherever I want and with whom I want without the limitation of nationality, religion or socio-economic status; this is what makes Jaffa the ultimate place to live,” Jaffa resident and graduate student Sara, originally from France, told i24news.

Arab-Israeli love in Jaffa? This photographer captures a city of coexistence

Jaffa is one of the world’s oldest cities and considered the oldest port. It looms large in biblical stories, famous as the setting for Jonah before he was swallowed by a whale. It may have been named for Japheth, son of Noah, who allegedly built the city after the Great Flood.

In 1950, Jaffa merged with Tel Aviv two years after Israel was established. It’s a cultural melting pot with a population of around 46,000 Muslims, Christians and Jews — poor and affluent, traditional and modern — all living together. Miller says, “Jaffa is a place of contradictions.”

Miller’s project documents daily life from varied cultural perspectives, capturing the commonplace as it occurs, simple scenes that bring the essence of Jaffa to life. He says he sought to show its genuine vibrant spirit through his images.

Jaffa is a place where Arabs and Israelis shared daily life and interacted together. "It was Christians, Jews and Muslims all together, sitting side by side, boys and girls," Nabil Shaath, former Palestinian chief negotiator who also grew up in Jaffa, told The Washington Post.

Miller’s work focuses on capturing daily life in places that grab headline news, but where, he says, we rarely see the full picture. He hopes to encourage greater understanding of Jaffa.

"Jaffa is a place where you've got more or less half Jews and half Arabs and they completely mix with each other," Miller told the Sydney Morning Herald. "Arabs are buying from Jewish-owned shops and vice versa. They still have their own views. But ... they’re living in one community."

Jaffa has many stories to tell. Miller was frequently invited back to homes to share meals with the families of people he photographed. He says there are few places in the world where this would happen once let alone numerous times. Welcome to the Middle East.

"I can live wherever I want and with whom I want without the limitation of nationality, religion or socio-economic status; this is what makes Jaffa the ultimate place to live,” Jaffa resident and graduate student Sara, originally from France, told i24news.

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