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Fascinating Historical Photos of Tel Aviv in the 1930s, Before the Israeli Occupation

Tel Aviv was founded in 1909 as an urban housing estate on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa, then a part of the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem during the Ottoman Empire. A majority of Jewish refugees moved to Tel Aviv, causing the city’s growth to outpace Jaffa, which had a majority Arab population at the time. Two years after Israel’s Declaration of Independence, Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into one municipality. Tel Aviv had grown to more than 1 square kilometer by 1914. Tel Aviv had a population of 2,679 at the time of the 1915 census. Scottish pioneering town planner Patrick Geddes created a master plan for the Tel Aviv township in 1925 inspired by the garden city movement. After the British occupied Jerusalem during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in late 1917, the British imperial army annexed Tel Aviv to Mandatory Palestine until 1948.

Jaffa’s Arab population was 69,000, while Tel Aviv’s Jewish population reached 150,000 by 1937. During the next two years, it grew to 160,000, making up a third of Palestine’s total Jewish population. Tel Aviv became a center of urban life after new Jewish immigrants disembarked in Jaffa, making it the hub of Jewish immigration to Palestine. The population of Tel Aviv was more than 200,000 when Israel was established in May 1948. Up until December 1949, Tel Aviv was the temporary capital of Israel until Jerusalem became its permanent capital. The majority of embassies remained in or near Tel Aviv due to the international dispute over the status of Jerusalem. 1948 marked the beginning of disagreements between the Tel Aviv municipal government and the Israeli government over the boundaries of Tel Aviv and Jaffa.

Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians

The process of creating a Jewish state in Palestine was deliberate, long, and violent. Large swathes of Palestinian land were seized. In 1948, over 80 percent of Palestinians who lived in what became Israel became refugees. Although the process may have culminated in 1948, it began as early as the 20th century – and continues today. Zionist forces attacked some 530 Palestinian villages and major Palestinian cities to create the State of Israel. The Zionist movement expelled around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and killed approximately 13,000 Palestinians during the 1948 war, culminating in the country’s ethnic cleansing. More than seven million people today are refugees and descendants of refugees. They are still waiting to return home to refugee camps in neighboring Arab countries.

Today, Tel Aviv is an economic hub and serves as Israel’s financial capital. It is the fifth most visited city in the Middle East.

#1 Looking south along Allenby Road (now Allenby Street) at the intersection with King George Street, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#2 Great Synagogue looking south on Allenby Road (now Allenby Street), Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#3 Looking east along Boulevard Rothschild (now Rothschild Boulevard) near the intersection with Herzl Street, Tel-Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#4 Looking north along Ben Jehuda Road (now a street) from the intersection with what is now Sderot Ben Gurion, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#5 Looking north along Ben Jehuda Road (now Ben Yehuda Street) near the intersection with Allenby Road, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#6 Looking north along Bialik Street, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), circa 1937. The historic Bialik House is on the right.

Looking north along Bialik Street, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), circa 1937. The historic Bialik House is on the right.

The old Town Hall (aka City Hall) is in the centre of the image

#7 Looking south-west across the old Tel Aviv port facility as dock workers wait next to a port crane, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#8 On the seaside.

On the seaside.

Commercial sign for “Cafe Semadar” can be seen on the multi-storey building at far right of the pic, along with some more advertising in Hebrew. Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#9 The Bialik School in Tel Aviv was built in the 1930s in the Modernist style, by Yaacov Shiffman (Ben Sira), Tel-Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#10 The Zina Dizengoff Square, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1937

#11 Mugrabi Opera, better known in later years as the “Moghrabi Theatre”, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1938

#12 Reading Power Station, Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 1939

#13 Soldiers relaxing outside the Australian Soldier’s Club, Tel Aviv Yafo, Palestine (now Israel), 4 November 1940

#14 The commercial is for “Bira Nesher” (Neshser Beer).

The commercial is for “Bira Nesher” (Neshser Beer).

“Nesher” means “vulture”. It was the first beer industrially produced in Israel/Palestine (It exists from 1936 until today), 4 November 1940

#15 Wreck of a small illegal Jewish immigration ship that was deliberately beached at Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 4 November 1940

#16 Wreck of the illegal Jewish immigration ship SS “PARITA”, beached at Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), 4 November 1940

#17 Allied troops and local Tel-avivians enjoying the sun, sand and surf on the crowded beach at Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), July 1942

#18 Australian Army 4th Anti-Malarial Control Unit mates in Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), July 1942

#19 Australian Army private WX5340 Sydney “Syd” Frederick Peters of 2/4 AMCU in a street of Tel-Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), July 1942

#20 Australian Soldiers Club main entrance looking west with the Mediterranean Sea in the background, Tel-Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), July 1942

#21 Australian Soldiers Club on the beach front, Tel-Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), July 1942

#22 Looking south towards the old coastal town of Jaffa, along the crowded beachfront at Tel Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), July 1942

#23 View south towards Old Jaffa as allied troops and crowds of local Telavivians enjoy a beautiful sunny day on the beach at Tel-Aviv, Palestine (now Israel), July 1942

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Written by Aung Budhh

Husband + Father + librarian + Poet + Traveler + Proud Buddhist. I love you with the breath, the smiles and the tears of all my life.

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