Jaffans, Where Are You Now?

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The Hamos Fled in a Buik

Waleed was born in Jaffa in 1941 and lived in the prosperous Al Nuzha neighborhood. He went to the “Hosni Al-Asmar Kindergarten” in 1945. Waleed’s grandfather exported Jaffa oranges to London and Britain and owned 400 dunums of orange orchards in Jaffa. The grandfather also owned shares of Al-Hamra Cinema. Waleed was seven years old when they had to flee the occupation of Jaffa. “I remember Al-Hamra and other cinemas, Apollo and Nabeel. The Sakakini Market, the Iskandar Awad Market, and the many bakeries.” Waleed is known as engineer Waleed Khaled Hamo.

Jaffan Waleed Hamo (second from left) with one of his sons (behind) and grandchildren in Georgia, USA

1948 and Exile

The Hamo family owned a car import business and shop in the center of the city. In 1948, they turned into refugees when Jaffa was occupied. The grandparents, their seven children, their spouses, and all the grandchildren had to leave their birth city and were crammed into the family business cars. The Ford, Dodge, and Buick model 1936 were taken out of the shop vitrine and cramped. Waleed’s father Khaled Hamo drove the Buik, with the women of the family. They drove through the Palestinian towns of Anabta, Rafidiyeh, and Nablus. They stopped and rented a stone summer house in Nablus. After living in the best neighborhood in Jaffa with running water and electricity, Waleed remembers seven lanterns for lighting and that the water was pumped from the nearby well to fill eleven barrels. Most Palestinians were sure of returning home after a while. Although the Hamo family lost the 400 dunums of orchards, the shares in the cinema, their network, and their homes, they were much better off than most Palestinian refugees. After a year of being refugees living in a summer house without water or electricity, the family moved to Baghdad, Iraq. After kindergarten in Jaffa, Waleed went to school and graduated from the University of Baghdad. He worked with the Union of Engineering and Environmental Consultants Company in Jordan, Amman, for 14 years. Waleed was also an engineer in Iraq, Kuwait, Sudan, Libya, North Yemen, South Yemen, and Sudan until he retired at the age of 69 years. Jaffan Waleed Hamo now lives in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States.

Image Source: Tarek Bakri — Car Dealership, before and after the occupation

References

https://palcamps.net/ar/post/51

http://palcamps.net/ar/post/51/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE-%D8%A3%D9%82%D8%AF%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AA%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%B7%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A%D9%86-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%81%D8%A7