THE AL-RAHIM HOUSE IN JAFFA

In memoriam of my friend Dr. Khalid Abdel Rahim

The father of my friend Dr. Khalid Abdelrahim was Muhammed al-Rahim, an Arab notable in Jaffa. who owned citrus groves. By the 1930s, Jaffa was exporting tens of millions of citrus crates to the rest of the world, which provided thousands of jobs for the people of the city and its environs, and linking them to the major commercial centers of the Mediterranean coast and the European continent. With the success of its citrus exports, the city witnessed the emergence and growth of various related economic sectors, from banks to land and sea transportation enterprises to import and export firms, and many others.

My friend’s father attended the Rotary Club where he met with Jews, Arabs and British people. He became friend with Yitzhak Rapoport a well-known and respected Jewish architect born in Ukraine and asked him to build  a house for his family in the neighborhood of Ajami in Jaffa. The villa overlooking the Mediterranean sea was designed and built between 1936 and 1938. The house was built according to modern criteria features, but retain the concept of a traditional Muslim family home in which public and private spaces were separated as were the rooms for women and men. During the British mandate in the 1920’s and 30’s there was tension between Jews and Arabs but the friendship between the father of my friend and Yitzhak Rapoport remained intact. The two had a secret however, my friend’s father was the treasurer of the Arab organization responsible for perpetrating attacks against Jews and Rapoport was a member of the secret service, the Haganah.

In 1948 when the war broke out and the Arabs were defeated, the father of my friend was a signatory to the surrender of Jaffa (May 12, 1948, a deputation of Arab notables from Jaffa arrived at the Haganah Headquarters in Tel Aviv and, after negotiations, signed a surrender agreement. On 13 May, the last British troops left Jaffa). Subsequently, my friend’s father decided to leave to Lebanon. He entrusted the keys and title to his house only to Rapoport in whom he had great confidence and considered him a true friend who would defend his interests.

In 1949, the house was sold to the French Government for 20,000 pounds sterling by Rapoport who transferred the amount of money he received to my friend’s father who was now living in Beirut and this house became the private residence of the Ambassador.