Injustices of Occupation

Architectural Review, The, Dec, 2004 by Abe Hayeem

SIR: In reply to the concern of Josef Habas (AR Nov 2004), no one doubts the talent of Israel's architects--in fact the work of Zvi Hecker and others have featured regularly in AR. As a student in the 1960s, I worked for Arieh Sharon, a key exponent of Tel Aviv's Bauhaus architecture, of which I am a great fan. But since 1967, until the present, when the Middle East dominates the news, it is quite natural that where politics have such an impact on architecture, and other fields such as health, that critical opinion (not hatred) will find its way into responsible professional journals.

Creating the physical reality of Israeli and Zionist aims and policies of settlement, including Ariel Sharon's 'facts on the ground' requires the expertise of architects, planners, economists and other professionals. The most significant aspect of Israeli architecture is its political dimension. This was explicitly presented in a study done by Rafi Segal and Eyal Weizman, now published as A Civilian Occupation--the politics of Israeli Architecture (Verso Press), Israel's exhibition entry to the International Union of Architects Conference in 2002 in Berlin, which was withdrawn by the Israel Association of United Architects (IAUA), Esther Zandberg wrote in Haaretz, 'the Israeli community of architects very piously follows a total separation between "pure" professionalism and "dirty" politics. Apart from a few honourable exceptions, Israeli architects never seem to have examined their actions critically. There is little moral stocktaking, particularly among its veterans, who have never seen the national conflict as involving themselves.' Famous architects produce projects on illegally annexed territory, with the explicit aim of expanding the Jewish population in Jerusalem. There are few instances of integrated Jewish and Arab housing within Israel, and there is total separation, emphasized by the obscene Wall, between Israeli settlements and Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.

Just as the boycott of Schools of Architecture during the Apartheid years in South Africa, reluctant though it was, eventually added to the pressure that brought about the downfall of apartheid, so Israeli architects should examine their role in perpetuating the injustices of the Occupation.

Yours etc

ABE HAYEEM

Edgware, Middlesex, England