Hope is not yet extinguished in Jaffa

00:00 05:52

David Swift has narrated this article for you to listen to.

When I first heard of the 7 October attacks, I feared it would be the beginning of a war on several fronts: in Gaza, in northern Israel, and in the West Bank. My biggest concern was that the high casualties from the retaliatory Israeli airstrikes would cause violence within Israel itself, as Palestinians in mixed cities such as Jaffa, where I live, took to the streets. This was exactly what happened two years ago, when mob violence erupted in Jaffa, Lod, Acre and other areas where Jews and Muslims live side-by-side, in response to the clearance of the Muslim neighbourhood Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem. During those riots, three people – two Jewish and one Arab – were killed. In some of the most gentrified parts of Jaffa, Palestinian youths torched cars and set up barricades. Yet for now, despite the death toll in Gaza passing 12,000, the mixed cities remain quiet and peaceful.