Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
toric Jaffa was destroyed in 1948, in what Israelis call their “War of Independence.” As in
any war, there were winners and there were losers. When Israel celebrates its Independ-
ence Day each spring, the same day is mourned as “The Day of Catastrophe” on the other
side of the wall. While Israelis set off fireworks, Palestinians remember the destruction
of entire Arab communities that once thrived here and elsewhere, and how hundreds of
thousands of those who survived ended up in refugee camps over a newly drawn border.
Each year on Israel's Independence Day, the happy soundtrack of families enjoying
BBQs fills the parks. It's like the Fourth of July, only with Stars of David rather than
Stars and Stripes.
