ABSTRACT
The above epigraph may be found on the back of a photograph (see Figure 2.1) that documents a refugee Jewish woman from Poland who immigrated to Israel and who was settled in Lod – the Hebrew name of the city that, in the last chapter, we referred to as Mandatory Lydda. The refugee woman is seen in front of a house, which belonged previously to Palestinians, decorated with Arabic writing indicating both that this is Salon al-Shabab (the youth’s salon) and that it is Hada fadel al-Rab (in the favor of God). On the left side of the façade, a sign in Hebrew marks “St. No. 7.” This photograph encapsulates the spatial and demographic transformation of the city as well as of the production of the “new territory” after 1948. The demographic change is at the core of this chapter, which analyzes the ways in which the Palestinian city of al-Ludd was transformed into the city of Lod.
