I entered Ajami through "Ajami Gate", as it is known to the residents, and rode my bike up the narrow street. I could immediately feel the difference and clear border between Ajami and its neighboring Old Jaffa and Southern Tel Aviv neighborhoods. The streets are narrow and quiet, and from the buildings' windows I could hear the voices of people talking and the sounds of silverware clanking. I could find only few people walking along the streets...
At the northern-most part of the neighborhood, new large houses stand facing the sea, clearly a sign of the gentrification process that is taking place in the neighborhood. The private homes, occupied mainly by Jewish families, are surrounded by walls that send me the message "Do not enter!"
Just a few hundred meters westward, I find an empty corner that a house used to occupy. A passerby informs me that an Arab family once used to live here, but the house was demolished a few years ago due to some form of "illegal building".
I can't help but notice the contrast between the closed doors of some of the homes (of new Jewish residents)...
And the wide open doors of others (of native Arab families)...
When I reach the southern part of Ajami, I can feel the atmosphere of the old neighborhood, something in the air unchanged from time ago. And with it, dilapidated old buildings...
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