Hassan Bek Mosque

The Hassan Bek Mosque (Hebrew: מסגד חסן בק‎), (Arabic: مسجد حسن بك‎), also known as the Hasan Bey Mosque, is considered to be one of the most well-known mosques located in Jaffa, which is now part of the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality in Israel. It has been a site of much controversy, as demonstrated in recent years.

Its history is closely bound up with the various stages of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, from its beginnings as a communal strife under Ottoman and British rule up to the present. It has been on various occasions the subject of heated debate and eventful controversy, and has a deep symbolic and emotional meaning to Jaffa Arabs.

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.

History

The Hassan Bek Mosque was built in 1916, by Jaffa's Turkish-Arab governor of the same name. At the time, Arab Jaffa and the recently founded Jewish-Tel-Aviv were both competitively expanding and seeking to block each other; the mosque was part of Manshiye, Jaffa's northernmost neighbourhood which spread northwards along the Mediterranean seashore.