US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV2257

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEL AVIV 002257 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/IPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EFIN, EIND, PGOV, PHUM, IS, ISRAELI SOCIETY 
SUBJECT: MAKING BREAD, NOT WAR, IN JAFFA: AN ISRAELI ARAB 
GROWS HIS BUSINESS THROUGH PEACE ACTIVISM AND OUTREACH. 
 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
1.  (SBU) Summary:  In the mixed city of Jaffa, where Jews 
and Arabs buy and sell side-by-side in one of the busiest 
marketplace environments in Israel, prominent bakery owner 
Hamis Abouelafia made news this week by presenting a 
ceremonial loaf of leavened bread to Jews at an 
end-of-Passover celebration.  This event was the most recent 
example of the work Abouelafia has been doing for years, 
which aims to foster a better business environment for 
Israeli Arabs as well as encourage peaceful coexistence in 
the broader arena.  Economic officer spoke with him about 
subjects ranging from his multi-ethnic charity organization 
to the annual Arab Land Day events, and discovered that his 
unusual perspective may offer some surprising solutions to 
the issues Israeli-Arab businesses face in the current 
environment.  End summary. 
 
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Bread and Circus: In a Mixed Marketplace, Symbolic Gestures 
Pay Dividends 
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2.  (SBU) Hamis Abouelafia, a familiar Jaffa personality 
whose family has worked on the same spot in the town's center 
since 1879, became news this week when Israel's channel 2 
aired a spot featuring his participation in the historic 
revival of a Moroccan Jewish Passover tradition.  Invited by 
the Savir family of Tel Aviv as the guest of honor at the 
Mimuna celebration, Abouelafia presented over 300 revelers 
with the first plate of hametz, or leavened bread, at sunset 
to mark the end of the holiday.  Quoting the late Zionist 
poet Natan Alterman's statement that "peace will be made in 
the marketplace before it is made in the government," he 
encouraged others to follow suit in coming years. Host Ami 
Savir explained that this gesture of mutual respect was once 
a cornerstone of the Passover celebration and a way of 
affirming the good relations between Jews and Muslims in the 
mixed areas of Morocco.  He said the symbol was particularly 
apt for modern Israel, where the circumstances are dire and 
the need for coexistence urgent. 
 
3.  (SBU) At a meeting with Abouelafia at his street side 
bakery, he restated that he believes peace will be made 
primarily through the activities of everyday people, in the 
streets and markets of the "schonot", or close-knit 
neighborhoods.  He should know, he says: his family has seen 
six generations of booming business in Jaffa, through five 
wars and two Intifadas.  Today Abouelafia and Brothers 
employs over 200 workers in restaurants, bakeries, and a real 
estate office.  He says the key to his success should 
surprise no one: take care of your employees and invest 
resources in your customer base.  He believes that in this 
environment, 'resources' means intangible, not-for-sale items 
such as respect, understanding, and a careful tread around 
sensitive political issues. 
 
4.  (SBU) In the workplace, Abouelafia said he endeavors to 
foster harmony by requesting that his employees turn off the 
television during potentially incendiary events, and by 
discouraging political discussions on the job.  He said he 
makes a point to hire Jews, Muslims, and Christians in equal 
measure, working closely himself with the Jewish woman he 
employees as his assistant.  His customer base is mixed as 
well, and on any given day a passerby can spot black-hatted 
Haredim haggling next to bearded sheikhs for the softest 
laffa and freshest baklava.  He takes pains to keep such 
Jewish customers coming back by doing them an unusual favor: 
he closes up shop over the Passover holiday out of respect 
for the dietary restrictions of the observant.  He notes that 
the gratitude the gesture gains him is more valuable than the 
money he does not make during the holiday week.  Efforts like 
these may help keep his business on solid ground even amidst 
conflict, because, as he says, "Abouelafia is a household 
name on both sides." 
 
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Facing the Reality of the Intifada 
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5.  (SBU) Despite such gestures of outreach and goodwill, 
Abouelafia speaks freely about the difficulties he and other 
Arab businessmen face in the mixed cities.  He says that the 
second Intifada has harmed Israeli-Arab business more than 
any previous conflict - and he is unsure whether it is fear 
or a vague concept of punishment that has caused a drop in 
the number of Jewish customers.  Economic officer held an 
informal conversation with a group of young Tel Aviv Jews who 
emphasized the punitive element.  They noted that when it 
came to light that some Israeli Arabs had supported several 
of the suicide bombings in Tel Aviv, Abouelaffia was hit 
especially hard because of his visibility.  Despite the fact 
that Abouelafia's bakeries and restaurants employ and serve 
Jews as well as Israeli Arabs, rumors began circulating that 
his employees spit on or even poisoned the food. 
 
6.  (SBU) Abouelafia believes that his response to such 
negative sentiment is unique in that it reaches beyond his 
own economic self-interest.  During last year's intense 
period of almost-daily suicide bombings and heightened 
tensions, many of his friends who owned small to medium-sized 
businesses such as humus stands, gift shops, and garages, 
simply closed up shop and left for Canada or the United 
States.  Abouelafia took a different tack, printing up 
plastic bags for customers on which were written, in Hebrew 
and Arabic, "Abouelafia calls both sides to be patient and to 
refrain from violence."  Similarly, Abouelafia saw this 
year's Arab Land Day as an opportunity to discourage his 
neighbors from activities that could be seen as incendiary 
and lead to situations of real danger.  He says he called all 
of the Arab leaders of Jaffa together ) businessmen and 
sheikhs, Christians and Muslims alike - and advised them to 
keep a tight hold on their neighborhoods.  "You can know how 
a protest starts", he told them, "but not how it might end. 
Stay inside this year."  Whether through his influence or due 
to other factors, there were no demonstrations ) and hence 
no clashes with Israeli authorities ) in Jaffa on Land Day. 
 
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Sponsoring Peace: Abouelafia's Coexistence Association 
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7.  (SBU) Abouelafia explains that when he realized the 
second Intifada would not end quickly, he wanted something in 
place that would counteract its devastating effects on his 
business and his community.  Last year he founded 
Abouelafia's Coexistence Association, a charity run by a 
board of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim residents of Jaffa. 
The Coexistence Association gives financial assistance to 
needy families from the three religious groups, for anything 
from a Passover Seder to children's clothing.  The only 
catch, he says, is that beneficiaries are made aware the 
money comes from an organization founded by Arabs.  When he 
donated money to a soccer team that included Jewish and Arab 
children, for example, their jerseys bore his name.  When the 
Association paid for supplies and tee shirts for a school 
tour group traveling the country, Abouelafia was especially 
glad to see his logo in a short spot on the Hebrew news. 
 
8.  (SBU) Comment:  Abouelafia acknowledges that his 
Association does as much to counteract the unpopularity of 
Israeli-Arab business in times of conflict as it does to 
foster peaceful coexistence in the broader arena ) and he 
makes no apologies for promoting peace because of its 
economic benefits.  Abouelafia is unusual in his local fame 
and his inherited wealth, and it would be difficult for less 
established Arab businessmen to imitate the outreach tactics 
he employs, such as quoting Zionist poets and making 
conciliatory public statements at a Passover Seder, without 
alienating some community members.  But the fact that his 
daily turnover has increased since the founding of the 
Coexistence Association may encourage other Israeli-Arab 
businessmen to find their own programs of outreach to Jewish 
customers.  End comment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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