I have taken a tip from a new friend (check out his site at orientalismegypt.blogspot.com) and have decided to throw in excerpts of my masters' thesis in architecture to cover up some writers block. My thesis was "A Seventy Five Year Urban Peace Plan for the Status of Jerusalem." Grand aye. Through it I hoped to document a real solution for the issue of Jerusalem (arguably the most enigmatic of the many problems found in the Middle East fiasco) so that in a fantastic circumstance of peace the idea would be there on a shelf ready to go.
I had big names on my committee including renowned architect Moshe Safdie (who stubbornly refused to sign, but we did have some fabulous arguments) and its been viewed by some interesting people such as Michael Terazi (Harvard Law graduate and chief advisor on litigation to the Negotiations Department of the PLO) Accompanying the thesis was a 25 minute documentary on the history, issues, and solution to Jerusalem that I need to find a way to make available online (I have a mini-div copy if anyone has a decent solution). Please forgive some of the outdated material; it is three years old, and my rambling.
Architecture is the quintessential representation of a civilization. Style and types readily identify their origins; pyramids are Egyptian, skyscrapers are American, gothic is Christian and so forth. Architecture is also a luxury. We architects are not the master builders of centuries past, and homes now come ready made. No, we are required only when the basic needs of the people are met. This is why civilizations are judged by their architecture. The architecture is the civilization's pinnacle and is attained only after everything else is sustained. True architecture is proof of our greatness and of our sheer existence. Like planting trees, we must also leave our buildings for newer generations; it is our responsibility as architects.
As architecture shines for tomorrow, it is politics that moves today. Politicians cumulatively determine our lives and its course. Everything from the most mundane traffic law to whether or not we will be sent of to war to die. Most important, though, it is our politics that will determine whether or not we will be remembered and why. And if we do manage to achieve greatness through our politics it will fall on the architects to represent us.
The question of Palestine is a difficult one. The initial United Nations partition of the land of Palestine called for the segmentation of the land into a Jewish state and an Arab one. The Jewish state successfully developed into the nation of Israel. The Palestinian one has been in limbo since. Three main obstacles face the development of a Palestinian nation and subsequently a lasting peace in the region. The "right of return" (the right of the Palestinians that fled the fighting in 1949 and their descendants to return to their homeland), and establishment of the borders of the Palestinian state (calling for the relocation of many Israeli settlements from within the confines of the West Bank and Gaza into Israel proper) are the first two. The third and most controversial is the status of the city of Jerusalem. Throughout all the peace initiatives this has been the largest obstacle as the other two have more closely reached a satisfactory state of compromise (with Israel consenting to a marginal number of returned refugees with due compensation and the resubmission of nearly 94% of the occupied lands).
The status of Jerusalem has not been as well addressed because of the lack of foresight by the United Nations to designate it in its initial solution. Defining it as an international city giving no party control was the source of most of the turmoil. Jerusalem is claimed by both parties to be its respective capital. Combined with its historical and religious importance to all factions involved, the current status of Jerusalem is likely to fail. Jerusalem is the source of the problem, and I hope to offer a solution that would be deemed satisfactory by both parties. As architecture dictates spatial arrangements and politics determines positioning I feel this particular problem could never succeed without the full and equal incorporation of the two.
1 - With all due respect, Israel has its own unilateral plan that is currently under implementation. The object is ofcoarse to merge East and West Jerusalem into one city to become Israels capital. The plan hase different elements, some of which are:
1)Architectural: Expansion of Gush Emunim and other settlements from the east which in 10-20 years will reach East Jerusalem and encircle it, building the security barrier, slicing off Palestinian lands in little cantons.
2)Changing the demographic character of Jerusalem: Making life generally hard for Arab East Jerusalem residents. offering American/European/Australian migration options to the residents to create demographic barriers to any claim by the Palestinians in the future, continuing to confiscate, buy or scam their way into buying more land in East Jerusalem(as the recent property sale scandal showed). This is all accompanied by constant threat to Muslim holy places,that may become very real one day.
Nonetheless, I am a peaceful man myself, and I am interested in how your thesis would approach this problem.The intro is cool, looking forward to reading the whole thing. Maybe post it as a whole, or maybe write some HTML and put it in a file on the side, up to you.
I am sure you are very aware of the issue, but here are some more references on Judaization of Jerusalem among many others:
2 - Yes Orientalism (Ive got to come up with some kind of nickname for you buddy but Ori sounds to Israeli) you are sadly right. Bare in mind at the writing of my thesis we were closer in the timeline to Taba then to today and Disengagement wasnt yet on the table. Arafat (AY) wasnt even critical and no one knew how long the stalemate was going to last.
The ring block of settlements, however was always at the heart of the issue. With blatant and hypocritical disregarded for international law and common decency the Israeli government has continued to chock off Jerusalem. This is the one issue I feel in which we cannot compromise. If you have read my My Kingdom of Heaven posting you are now calling me a hypocrite or confused at the very least, but I am neither. Nothing .Everything
I even have a solution for the displacement of the Jewish settlers that currently reside there too. Offer them the same benefits, rebates and low interest loans, free infrastructure services, and the employment of a high percentage of settlers in the public sector to name a few, to move back as you did to get them there in the first place. Surveys taken in some illegal settlements show that .damn it, I cant find the percentage of settlers that are there for the sole reason of incentives as opposed to the ideological bunch, I have come across it several times, I remember it was shockingly high, the vast majority.
But still, the majority of the settlers in the entire occupied territories (upward of 200,000 out of 400,000) are in those ring blocs. I just like to stay positive and optimistic even if it is naïve.
\"I don\t think there is any greater obstacle to peace than settlement activity that continues not only unabated but at an advanced pace\"
James Baker,
US Secretary of State, 1991
(back in the day America was still under pretences of an impartial mediator)
3 - Karim, the blog looks good. This is my post in response to your request for input. It turned out to be a good topic, although the post turned out much, much longer than expected: Thoughts on the New Pan-Arabism
The post immediately preceeding it is a brief history of Arab nationalism, a primer for those unfamiliar with it. I doubt much if any of it will be new to you.
4 - Karim, Bravo! best wishes and please share the whole thesis. On any legal questions you might have please check out Diana Buttu she is the legal advisor of the PLO Canadian-Palestinian, she is the head of the negotiations Unit. Young blood, Peaceful with a PHD from Stanford.
Please let me know if you need any references I will be more than happy to be of any help. (Comment this)
5 - thank you viki. thank you very much. what a mature thing to do, that disscusion was so stupid untill you made that insightful post. layil'an abuha imak cahbeh (Comment this)
1)Architectural: Expansion of Gush Emunim and other settlements from the east which in 10-20 years will reach East Jerusalem and encircle it, building the security barrier, slicing off Palestinian lands in little cantons.
2)Changing the demographic character of Jerusalem: Making life generally hard for Arab East Jerusalem residents. offering American/European/Australian migration options to the residents to create demographic barriers to any claim by the Palestinians in the future, continuing to confiscate, buy or scam their way into buying more land in East Jerusalem(as the recent property sale scandal showed). This is all accompanied by constant threat to Muslim holy places,that may become very real one day.
Nonetheless, I am a peaceful man myself, and I am interested in how your thesis would approach this problem.The intro is cool, looking forward to reading the whole thing. Maybe post it as a whole, or maybe write some HTML and put it in a file on the side, up to you.
I am sure you are very aware of the issue, but here are some more references on Judaization of Jerusalem among many others:
http://www.arij.org/paleye/Segregation-Wall/3.The%20Israeli%20plan.pdf
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_25.shtml
http://home.iprimus.com.au/fidamelhem/ssnp/judaization_of_jerusalem_continu.htm (Comment this)
The ring block of settlements, however was always at the heart of the issue. With blatant and hypocritical disregarded for international law and common decency the Israeli government has continued to chock off Jerusalem. This is the one issue I feel in which we cannot compromise. If you have read my My Kingdom of Heaven posting you are now calling me a hypocrite or confused at the very least, but I am neither. Nothing .Everything
I even have a solution for the displacement of the Jewish settlers that currently reside there too. Offer them the same benefits, rebates and low interest loans, free infrastructure services, and the employment of a high percentage of settlers in the public sector to name a few, to move back as you did to get them there in the first place. Surveys taken in some illegal settlements show that .damn it, I cant find the percentage of settlers that are there for the sole reason of incentives as opposed to the ideological bunch, I have come across it several times, I remember it was shockingly high, the vast majority.
But still, the majority of the settlers in the entire occupied territories (upward of 200,000 out of 400,000) are in those ring blocs. I just like to stay positive and optimistic even if it is naïve.
\"I don\t think there is any greater obstacle to peace than settlement activity that continues not only unabated but at an advanced pace\"
James Baker,
US Secretary of State, 1991
(back in the day America was still under pretences of an impartial mediator)
http://www.labournet.net/world/0011/israel8.html
http://domino.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/181c4bf00c44e5fd85256cef0073c426/b95e04a73edd1f38802564df0049c143!OpenDocument (Comment this)
Thoughts on the New Pan-Arabism
The post immediately preceeding it is a brief history of Arab nationalism, a primer for those unfamiliar with it. I doubt much if any of it will be new to you.
Regards, (Comment this)
Please let me know if you need any references I will be more than happy to be of any help. (Comment this)