HASSAN BEK MOSQUE

The Hassan Bek mosque seems isolated on its median strip, between an empty parking lot and tall modern towers. In truth, the mosque and its slender minaret were at the heart of a large Arab quarter before the 1948 war, and were the scene of violent clashes. The Manshiya district was razed to the ground by the Israeli armed forces, but the mosque was preserved. Built in 1916 by the Ottoman governor of Jaffa, it is today the only witness to the neighborhood's Arab past, and was returned to the Arab community of Jaffa, which keeps it in operation.