The Jaffa orange has become a symbol for
Palestinians of an idealistic past, of the better and wealthier life they
imagined they had. This makes the Jaffa orange of some interest but it would
have been noteworthy, both as a fruit and as a bit of history, in any case.
The courtyard of the Saint Nicholas
Monastery on the waterfront of the Jaffa harbor is one of the oldest structures
in Jaffa. Here, in the grounds of the Armenian Church Napoleon purportedly
visited the victims of the plague. The monastery is no longer used and there
are few Armenians left in Jaffa but their association with the town goes back
to the Hellenistic period. Later, they, and not the Turkish rulers, were
responsible for rebuilding Jaffa at the beginning of the 18th century.
Back then, the Armenians were a
prosperous people and could afford to build and expand as they traded all
across the Middle East. Armenian 'priests' went on 'missions' visiting their
widely dispersed fellow countrymen. As well as spiritual comfort, they did some
business as the line between trade and religion was blurred. When one such travelling
priest from Saint Nicholas Monastery saw an orange with economical potential,
he brought some pips home with him. It was the 'shamouti', which was already
famous in 1519 in eastern Persia for being good to trade, because it travelled
well. This was due to its thick skin - in general, all good travelers are thick
skinned. It was not a particularly nice orange but it made long distance trade
without cooling facilities possible.
The initial trees must have been a
disappointment because the crop was a nasty little orange completely unlike the
oranges the priest saw in Persia. Then one day, on one of the trees there was a
branch with the good fruit. The 'shamouti' is a naturally occurring mutant -
only the branch mutates, not the whole tree. This was great but nobody in Jaffa
knew what to do about it.
Many years later, in 1868, a group of
Germans turned up in Israel. They were a Christian breakaway group from the
Lutheran Church who had particular ideas about the Messiah and they established
communities in Haifa, Bethlehem in the Galilee and Jaffa. They called
themselves 'Templars', bought a piece of land from the Greek Orthodox Church,
and called it 'Sarona' from 'Sharon'. They were dirt poor and struggled to tame
the land and overcome malaria. But they were quick to notice the branches with
'shaouti' oranges. These they grafted onto hardy trees, like the lemon and in
no time at all, they were exporting and marketing oranges in Europe and as far
as America. It was a true success story. They expanded their operations and
bought land from all the Arabs around them. They became wealthy and employed
thousands of Arabs who they brought in as cheap labor from Syria, Jordan and
Lebanon. In their ears, they whispered anti Allied propaganda at the start of
WWI.
The British took offense and shipped them
to Egypt. Upon their return in 1920, they were furious with the British because
their farms and homes had been ruined. They started spreading a strong anti
British and anti Jews (especially the Bolsheviks) message amongst the Arabs.
After Hitler came to power, the Nazi swastika flag flew over Sarona (and Haifa
and Bethlehem) and they boycotted Jewish shops. When WWII started in 1939, some
went back to Germany to join the Nazis. The rest were deported to Australia.
From the Templar communities of
Palestine, 322 joined a 'special tasks' Nazi SS regiment. As a select group
within the foreign Waffen SS (SSf) associated with the Amt VI (Foreign
Intelligence Service), they formed the backbone of a unit carrying out small
team missions across the Middle East. One such mission, 'Operation Atlas' was
under the command of Colonel Kurt Wieland, a Templar from Sarona.
The objective of the mission was
to have the Arabs attack Jews in Mandated Palestine in a variety of ways. The
British would then have to send troops to defend the Jewish communities and so
weaken their forces in Europe.
Wieland had a successful career
in the Waffen SS and worked as a commando with Otto Skorzeny. With experience
of small team operations in the Middle East and an understanding of the Arab
situation and knowing the Jews of Israel, he must have known the mission was a
load of rubbish.
The rest of his team consisted
of two Arabs and two Germans. The Germans were both from Mandated Palestine and
the Arabs were close confidants of the Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini.
The notorious, Hassan Salami was one of them. Salami had commanded Palestinian
forces during the 1936 uprising, fled, received training from the Iraqis,
fought the British, and received paratrooper and commando training in Germany.
The unit was dropped on 6
October 1944 over Jericho and being a night-drop the altitude was incorrectly
calculated and with strong winds the group and their equipment was scattered - as
was the large amount of money they had with them to bribe the Arab leaders into
the war. Hassan Salami, though injured in the drop, managed to get to Jerusalem
and made contact with local leaders but without money, they weren't interested
in him. He escaped as did one of the other Germans but Wieland made no moves
except to surrender at the first opportunity.
Salami went into hiding and then
turned up as the commander of the Mufti's forces (the 'Army of the Holy War')
in Jaffa in 1947. He died in combat with the Israelis soon after.
Ali Salami, the son of Hassan
Salami was 39 when the Mossad assassinated him in 1979. It was the final act of
retaliation for the Munich Massacre. In the words of Ankie Spitzer who was left a widow by the Munich Massacre, It cannot be that people can terrorize other
people and kill them - somebody has to pay a price. And somebody did.
Ali Salami was born to
substantial wealth in Jaffa. He received the best education at schools in
Europe and was trained by the masters of terrorism in Moscow. In Fatah, he
became Yasser Arafat's right hand man and head of 'Black September' - and
organized and took part in horrific acts of terrorism. His honeymoon in
Disneyland with a Miss Universe was a gift from the CIA - he fed them lies
about the peaceful intentions of the PLO, which influenced US policy toward
Israel. He was considered the best and most flamboyant terrorist in the world.
But not even the best could escape the Israeli operation against the planners
and executioners in the PLO - they were all eliminated, every single one - even
Salami with his CIA contacts and protection. Like his father, Ali Salami,
achieved nothing for the Palestinian people. He was a failure and towards the
end of his life, a ridiculous figure.
In 1948, the Israeli army took over the
Sharona property and paid compensation to the German families. The property was
too valuable for an army to sit on so it was sold it to developers who created
an up-market, outdoor indoor market with luxury shops and restaurants. It is
nice.
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