Israeli "settlement" housing surveys and dominates the landscape, West Bank, Palestine
THE ARCHITECTURE OF VIOLENCE (2014)
It feels like an important time to revisit this short documentary. Part of the Rebel Architecture series, the film examines, clearly and concisely, the use of design as a weapon of intimidation and subjugation within the Palestine Israel conflict. One element it focuses on is Palestine's 'architecture of occupation': the way the built environment, even in the form of suburban 'settlement' housing (in which tracts of Israeli homes have been built in occupied territories like the West Bank), has been deliberately shaped to intimidate, surveil, segregate, and even dehumanise.
"Israeli settlements are built on hilltops, overlooking Palestinian valleys, to dominate. They're laid out to create a suburban-scale optical device that can survey the territory. The bright red roofs of the houses are mandated by law... to allow military to understand what's friend and foe: where to bomb and where not to."
"...When you put Israeli colonies on highways, you accelerate Israeli movement through the space. In the same way, with every twist and turn of terrain, Palestinians encounter a checkpoint, a border, a fence, a valley they cannot cross..."
It's important for architects and urban designers everywhere to understand that our craft has the potential to be weaponised. It's important that, no matter whom the client, we think about how a project will impact everyone whose life it touches. But sadly, as essential as these considerations are, they're of no immediate help to the people in Gaza and the rest of Palestine right now. So, it seems worth sharing:
Some ways that we can help Palestinians:
1. Speak up. Send an email to your elected representative. Sign petitions. Stand up in any forum you can against human rights violations, and against both islamaphobic and antisemitic behaviour.
2. Contribute to a trusted aid organisation working in Gaza, such as Unicef or the British Red Cross. Sites like charitynavigator and charitychecker can be used to check it's a group who'll use it well.
3. Understand the context. Short videos here and here provide a clear introduction/overview.
4. Boycott companies that are directly profiting from the illegal occupation, and from human rights violations.
(Images: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters via Guardian, Léopold Lambert/Funambulist)
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