JAFFA, jarfa or yhTfa (ancient JOPPA ; Ar. Yata; Heb. Yapho, beauty), Asiatic Turkey, in the western part of Palestine on the Mediter ranean Sea, about 35 miles from Jerusalem. Jaffa is an old Phoenician town mentioned in several places in the Bible. It was the port of entry for Jerusalem and for several of the interior cities of Palestine. Here the cedars from Lebanon were landed and then carried overland for the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. The house where Simon the tanner lived, and where Saint Peter lodged, is still pointed out. In 1187 it was taken by Saladin, in 1191 by Richard I. In 1799 it was captured by Napoleon, who here put to death 1,200 Turk ish prisoners. The narrow entrance to the harbor is extremely dangerous. The city is built on a high rocky coast, and presents to day the same irregular arrangement of streets, and unattractive looking houses that it may have had hundreds of years ago. The remains of Roman fortifications and dwellings are in the vicinity. The old road to Jerusalem is ex tremely interesting; but a railroad, built in 1892, connects the city with Jerusalem. The
chief exports are oranges (said to be the finest in the world), other fruits, soap, sesame, wine, oil, raw silk and nuts. The chief imports are sugar rice, lumber, cotton goods, petroleum, tobacco and silk goods. The city contains sev eral mosques, a Franciscan monastery and a mission school. Some attempts have been made to establish colonies of Jews on land near Jaffa. Pop. about 45,000, which includes colonies of some 15,000 Jews cultivating an area of some 120,000 acres. They are mostly Russian Jews, some maintained by various Zionist societies, and others by the Jewish Colonization Associa tion (founded by Baron E. de Rothschild). The colony maintains Hebrew schools, agricul tural schools and experiment stations. There are also four German agricultural colonies in the Jaffa region. In the European War the British took Jaffa on 18 Nov. 1917. See WAR,