Last weekend I had the chance to visit a good Palestinian friend in
I spend the first day in the city having a general view of it. Haifa is known to be the city of coexistence, because Arabs and Jews live together in it. Arabs (most of them Christians) in Haifa constitute around 10% of the population in one of the very few populated centers not seggregated ethnically. However, my friend explains how in practice this coexistence takes place in theory, but there is not real life together. Arabs live generally in certain areas and Jews in others and unfortunately it does not seem this will change soon in any way.
My friend wants to show me an area called Wadi Salib. Wadi Salib was one of the most prominent Arab neighborhoods in Haifa. After the Nakbah, most of its residents had to leave and were never allowed back or were taken their properties by the Absentee Law. Nowadays, the area is inhabited by some Arabs and Mizrahi Jews, who occupied the empty houses. However, most houses are empty and in ruins and my friend explains me that permits to renovate or rebuild these houses are seldom given by the government. The area looks like it was a really nice Arab neighborhood. Nowadays it looks miserable, as we can see in the following pictures.
My friend expresses his opinion when walking around the area. For him this is just another strategy to wipe off any Arab trace from the face of Haifa. First they changed the names of the streets, then they changed the names of the cities and villages, now they want to destroy the Arab heritage of Haifa.
The local government planned an office area for the region. That would imply eviction of families (most of them have no permits as they are occupying houses that belong to Palestinian refugees), demolition of houses and a complete new appearance for the area, more modern and less historically linked to the Arabs.
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