P.S. For context, first read the transcript of my conversation with Nasri in the Oral History section.

Nasri Talamas and I did a short “walk” on Google Street as he identified the different families that lived in his neighborhood of Jabal Araktingi. The details are below.

P.S. All pictures, unless otherwise specified, are screenshots from images captured by “Google Street View”. Some of these are quite old and may look different today. The dates when the pictures were captured by Google are indicated for each image.

N.T: For the Gargour house, the wall you showed me on the road (pictured below) was not the wall of the house. Their house was set back, behind a garden. There were stairs that led up from the road all the way to the house, and the garden was on both sides of the stairs. Near the house, there was a small entrance that led to a workshop where they made Sirej. Sirej is the sesame oil used to make Halaweh. The Gargours had a workshop there. It was the house of Toufic Gargour, the father of Berthe Gargour, who later married to Alexandre Berouti.

N.T.: Turn left from the pharmacy to go up to Jabal Araktingi. The first house here was the house of Nagib Jabagi.

A.B.: How about this one?

N.T.: This one — forget it, I’m not sure. I don’t want to say something wrong. Now, keep going.

Later, Efteem (Timmy) Azar, my mom’s cousin’s husband, wrote to me that this house belonged to his maternal cousin, Afifeh (Fifi) Khouri Abdelnour, who lived there until 1948 with her husband, Antoine Abdelnour. This was confirmed by their daughter, Nelly, who wrote that her grandfather, Wadie Khouri, had built the house for Fifi and Antoine when they married. Nelly also noted that she and her siblings lived in this house during their early childhood.

N.T.: Here, this used to be the Khouri house. I don’t know which Khouri. Everything has been altered. They (the Khouris) had a garden here. They (the Israelis) built a structure — this protrusion you see here — on top of the garden. Everything has been altered.

While Nasri couldn’t recall which branch of the Khouri family owned the house, Timmy Azar later confirmed that his uncle, Wadie Khouri (Fifi’s father), had lived there. Timmy also shared a video he filmed during his visit to Jaffa in 2009, where he was accompanied by his cousin Tony Khouri, Wadie’s son. In the footage, Tony, who was born in 1924, describes what the house looked like before 1948, confirming Nasri’s recollection that the enclosed protrusion did not exist at the time.

Instead of the rolling shutter, visible on the left side of the photo, Tony explained that there had been large marble stairs leading up to the main entrance. The current front enclosure was originally a terrace. He further noted that the house was a single-story villa.

N.T.: Here, on the right, was the Bitar house.

In the video that Timmy Azar later shared with me, Tony Khouri confirms that this was the house of Georges Bitar, who served as the Honorary Consul of Bolivia. He also points out that, unlike most houses in the neighborhood, this one has remained in its original form.

N.T.: Across from the Bitar house was our house. All this you see here — the white stone wall structure — used to be a garden. This white stone wall didn’t exist. There were two garages — one on each side of the house — and a garden. Above the garages, there were verandas, and behind the verandas, another garden, and then the house. They demolished everything and built all this. In the back, there were columns and stairs. They completely remodeled the house. They changed everything here.

We lived on the first floor. Najla Tyan, Michel Tyan’s sister, also lived on the first floor, on the other side. On the second floor, there were two units. Right above us lived the family of Dr. Boureau. Nicolas Gargour’s family also lived on the second floor. He was the son of Toufic Gargour, who lived near the pharmacy, and he had two boys. The owner of the house was Tony (Antoine Gabriel) Berouti, and we rented from him.

N.T.: About ten years ago, I drew a sketch of what our house looked like to show my wife. Here is the drawing (picture below).

The main street of Jabal Araktingi (today named “Siona Tagger”) was on an upward slope, so to compensate for the incline, garages were built on each side of the house (as pictured), and in the middle there was an entrance with 12 to 15 steps. Above the garages, there were two verandas, and there was a garden. Behind the garden, there were another 5 to 6 steps, and you would climb those steps to reach a large veranda, which was the veranda of our house. Dr. Boureau’s family lived upstairs, and the Gargours were behind.

A.B.: It’s gorgeous, and so much nicer than the remodeled house.

N.T.: Yes. If you go up this side street, here, they destroyed the Berouti house.

A.B.: You mean, where the parking spaces are?

N.T.: Yes. Tony Berouti had a big house here where he lived. They demolished the whole house.

N.T.: On the left was the Danil (ضنيل) house — Fayek Danil. (we weren’t able to see the house from Google Street View.) The Danil house was set much farther back, and there was a garden in front.

Fayek Danil used to own an ice cream shop on Ajami street, near the police station.

N.T.: On the right, this was the Tyan villa, Michel Tyan’s. It was modified; they added floors, I think, and this front structure did not exist. Back then, It had a very large veranda on the other side overlooking le Jardin des coptes (The Coptic Garden). Leila Tyan, when she was born, lived in this house. Today, it’s an assisted living facility.

A.B.: And you are sure of all this?

N.T.: 100% sure.

A.B.: Just to double-check, we are currently in Jabal Araktingi?

N.T.: Yes, this is Jabal Araktingi.

N.T.: In the background is the house of Mitri Saliba, who married my dad’s cousin. There was no upper floor back then; that was added later. Mitri’s children were Georges, Tony, and Michel Saliba. To the right of the Saliba house, there used to be a downward path that I believe has been closed off. That path led to a dead end, and at the dead end was the Araktingi house. Basically, the backs of the Saliba, Isaac, Gelat, and Si’id houses had small gardens that opened onto the dead end where the Araktingi house was located.

A.B.: Do you remember which Araktingis lived there?

N.T.: There were Edmond, Wadie, Marie, Fouad, and Joseph (children of Negib and Zakieh Araktingi). They were all siblings. These Araktingis left for Damascus in 1948. None of them ever married, and they continued living together in Damascus until they passed away.

Now, go back to our house. On the right of our house was the Gelat house. I think the son’s name was Elie Gelat. I forgot the father's name. He had a sister named Charlotte, I think.

In the video that Timmy Azar shared, Tony Khoury confirms that this was the house of Hanna Gelat, father of Elie Gelat.

N.T.: In front of the Gelat house, there was the Azouri house.

N.T.: This door leads to stairs and a small garden, and that’s where the Jabbour house was. You can’t see it from here. It’s in the same building as the Azoury house but it was on the main floor, on the southern side of the building, overlooking a parallel street.

Jabbour house, Jabal Araktingi, Jaffa, 1948 — This entrance leads to the Jabbour’s house, which cannot be seen from the street. Google Image captured in August 2022.

N.T.: Then after that, here, I know his name was Elias. I forgot his last name.

N.T.: OK, here, do you see this white wall? Here, they modified the house of my grandfather, Daoud Gelat. They lived here. They built on top. The Gelat house wasn’t two stories; it was just one.

N.T.: And across from it, where the parking lot is now, there was a property they rented, which was destroyed and no longer exists. And at the back, they had another property that was completely modified.

N.T.: Here, I remember there was an Orthodox priest who lived here: Beit S’eed (بيت صعيض). There was a garden here that they turned into a garage. Everything has been changed.

N.T.: Down here, this was the Khouri house, but I don’t remember which Khouri. It hasn’t been touched; I don’t know why.

A.B.: It looks abandoned.

Again, Timmy Azar later confirmed that this Khouri house belonged to his maternal grandfather, Andoni Khouri, who was the father of the aforementioned Wadie Khouri. He also mentioned that the house had since been renovated to serve as a yeshiva for religious Jews. During his visit to Jaffa in 2016, Timmy took a photograph of the renovated building and kindly shared it with me. It appears below, underneath the photo of the house in its dilapidated state. I’m grateful to Timmy for allowing me to include it here.

For context, I checked when the Google Street View image was last captured; it dates back to 2011. This explains why the Google image still shows the house before its renovation and does not reflect its current condition.

N.T.: If you continue down — where the garden is — that was the Sayegh house. Toufic Sayegh, I think. His son, who was the same age as me, was called Nicolas. He lives in Vienna now.

N.T.: Down there, there are stairs, because what we call the Jabal is a hill. On this side, there is no road going down; there are stairs going down. At first, there are spaced-out stairs, and then regular stairs. But you can’t see them here. Some ofthe families who lived down there are: Farah, Serafim, and Batatu.

A.B.: So, If we go back to the green pharmacy on Ajami Street, we know that the second house down, on the opposite side of the street, was Emile Nicolas Berouti’s family home. (In 1948, Alexandre Berouti and Berthe Gargour were living there with their children.)

A.B.: Across from the pharmacy (to the right), do you remember who lived in this big building?

N.T.: I don’t know; I can’t tell you for sure, but I think Albert Talamas lived there. I think he was married to a Debbas, but I’m not sure. He had three children: Emilie, Fredo, and Andrée. Fredo later worked for UNRWA and moved in Vienna, whereas Andrée moved to Athens.

A,B,: We’re going to keep going and go past the Latin church.

N.T.: Here, there was Armand Kettaneh’s house. His mother was a Talamas. The first floor was modified, and they put up shops there, including a women clothings shop. The destroyed the old window and put up a display window.

Jabal Araktingi, pre-1948

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