Jaffa Clock Tower

The Jaffa Clock Tower (מגדל השעון יפו, Migdal haShaon Yafo, يافا برج الساعة) is one of seven clock towers built in Palestine during the Ottoman period. The others are located in Safed, Acre, Nazareth, Haifa, Nablus (West Bank) and Jerusalem, the last being the only one that has not survived until today.The Jaffa Clock Tower stands in the middle of Yefet street at the northern entrance of Jaffa, the ancient city that is now a part of the greater Tel Aviv. The tower, which is made of limestone, incorporates two clocks and a plaque commemorating the Israelis killed in the battle for the town in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.HistoryThe tower was built to commemorate the silver jubilee of the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Abd al-Hamid II. The tower was built with contributions of the residents of the city, Arabs and Jews, headed by Joseph Bey Moyal.The first stone of the tower was laid in September 1900. Within a year two floors were built and the construction of a third floor had begun. In 1903 the clock tower had been erected. It is similar to the clock tower of Khan al-Umdan in Acre that is dedicated to the same purpose. More than a hundred similar clock towers were built throughout the Ottoman Empire due to this occasion.