Hassan Bek Mosque

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Hassan Bek Mosque in Tel Aviv, Israel

The Hassan Bek Mosque, also known as the Hasan Bey Mosque, is considered to be one of the most well-known mosques located in Jaffa, which is part of Tel Aviv, Israel. It is also known to have a reputation to be a site of much eventful controversy, as demonstrated in recent years. The unique Ottoman style architecture it displays, is known to contrast sharply with the contemporary modern high-rises that are situated near it. It is located between Neve Tzedek and the Mediterranean Sea, on the fast road to Jaffa.

1 History
2 Architectural style
3 Recent events
4 References

[edit] History

Tel Aviv residents taking cover from Arab snipers fire from Hassan Bek Mosque, 1948

The Hassan Bek Mosque was built in 1916, by Jaffa's Turkish-Arab governor, of the same name, with the intention of blocking the early Jewish development of Tel-Aviv that was heading west towards the Mediterranean. Hassan Bek had robbers pilfer and confiscate building materials from construction sites in Tel-Aviv, with the claim that they were needed for the Ottoman war effort in World War I. The true use of these materials was to aid in the construction of the Hassan Bek Mosque, as well as various other construction projects he initiated throughout Jaffa.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, the mosque served as an outpost for Arab snipers who would often shoot at the Jewish population centres nearby.^[1]

[edit] Architectural style

In a unique building style, the mosque employs a white limestone instead of using the more common stone of the area being a yellow-brown limestone. The walls of the mosque are perforated with intricately decorated and colourfully glazed windows. The walls are also refined by narrow engaged piers that divide the wide façades into smaller sections.

Its towering slender minaret contrasts with the square prayer hall and it has a proportionally low flat concrete roof and shallow dome projecting from its central bay. A very low tower can be seen attached to the opposite side of the mosque.^[2]

[edit] Recent events

A major anti-Arab demonstration took place on June 3, 2001. Over one thousand Israelis participated in sporadic rock and fire-bomb attacks toward the mosque, calling for revenge against Arabs. This was done following a Hamas suicide bombing across the street at the Tel-Aviv Dolphinarium which claimed the lives of 21 Israelis. Muslim worshippers, from inside the mosque, hurled rocks and bottles at the protesters. Sixty Israeli protesters were lightly injured as a result. There were no Arab casualties.^[3]

The mosque served also as the scene of a hate crime that occurred in August of 2005. Several Israelis allegedly threw a pig’s head on the lawn of the Hassan Bek Mosque. The pig's head was wrapped in a keffiyeh with "Muhammad", the name of the prophet of Islam, written on it. Those suspected of taking part in this incident were promptly arrested and charged by Israeli police officials. ^[4]

This event later led to an act of revenge by Abed al-Muaz Jueba, a Hamas sympathizer and resident of Hebron. He stabbed three yeshiva students on their way to the Old City of Jerusalem. The stabbing attack killed one, Shmuel Eliyahu Mett, while seriously wounding the two other boys who accompanied him.^[5]