A Civilian Occupation: The Politics of Israeli Architecture

Rating:
Summary: architecture and politics
Review: During decades, while pretending to be mere "professionals", Israeli architects collaborated massively with Israel's expansionist agendas, and thus had a central role in the bleeding territorial conflict that divides Israelis and Palestinians.
By exposing the simple truth that architecture and planning cannot be dissociated from political power, and by revealing systematically Israeli architecture's most basic condition (and most hidden secret) from the Thirties to our days, this book has succeeded to jam a whole profession: in Israel it no longer possible to be an architect without taking into consideration the political dimension of any "architectural" choice or dilemma.
Therefore, the true lesson of this pioneering small book is not only about the evil banality of Israeli architecture, but also about the potential evil banality of any architecture. The debate inaugurated in "A Civilian Occupation" should serve us as a reminder that the idiosyncratic and narcissistic approaches that characterize a great deal of the contemporary architectural discourse, either through its spectacular expressions (Liebeskind, Gehry), through its pro-capitalistic ideologies (Koolhaas) or through its pseudo-avant-garde strategies (Tschumi, Eisenman), are today a luxury that very few can afford. The acute test case of Israeli architecture displayed in this important book is only one more proof that sometimes architecture can kill.

Rating:
Summary: Propaganda against human rights
Review: Is architecture ever political? Of course.

I think it was political when Arabs built their homes with doors so low that folks couldn't ride their horses through them. And obviously, it was political in 1936 to 1939, when Jews built 57 "stockade and tower" settlements, many of them in a single day. But most of the politics I saw in this book was pro-ethnic cleansing of Jews from the West Bank, from the contributors.

This book does have some maps and photos. You may want to look at them in the library. But don't buy the book.

The book says that Jews are putting up buildings in the West Bank. It implies that such construction is hideous. It calls all this "arrogance." And it says that even a Jewish withdrawal from the West Bank will not undo all the damage. But I think anything it says about the West Bank can be equally well applied to the rest of the Earth, and I think the bogus argument for removing Jews from the West Bank is no different from the one to remove them (or any other people) from this planet.

In fact, Israel is land-poor. Its people ought to have a right to buy land and live on that land, just as people everywhere in the world ought to have such a right. The West Bank is disputed land, not the personal property of some Goddess who has permitted only Her People, the West Bank Arabs, to live on it. Jews need to have as much of a right to live in the West Bank and build on it as do Arabs. The authors, by failing to agree, have shown their opposition to human rights, not just for Jews, but for everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Problems abound
Review: The argument here is pretty simple. A Jewish refugee living on the West bank is "wrong", he should not live there and it is not fair that if he chooses to live there that he might choose to live in a safe place, with gorgeous vistas. This book was compiled by left wing Israelui architects, whose meager experience in politics does not dull their hatred of the country for which they have worked in the past, namely the state of Israel. Their arguments are strong, they dont think its fair that Jewish villages happen to be located on hill tops or that those villages happen to be clean and neat and tidy or that those villages have defenses like fences to keep people out.

The book begs the question of what is so interesting about a village in the west bank. The Authors are entirely racist in that they do not also covers similar settlements in the American west or the Moroccan occupied Western Sahara. This book doesnt draw any parrallels between places throughout the world where immigrants have designed new communities, out of fear or in order to live safely and in culturally homogenous places. THus in the end this racist narrow minded presentation falls far short oft he great work it could have been. it could have shown how early Islamic occupation of the same area was also dominate dby hilltop villages and armed military camps, as in the Roman period. THe subject lacks depth and history, whereas the subject itself; how immigrants settle land, is an amazing one.

Seth J. Frantzman

Rating:
Summary: A very narrow-minded one-sided work
Review: This book is written by a group of extreme left wing architects and journalists. It's a flirt with antisemitism and a major self-hatered manifesto. It is full with half-truths and misleading information. It's not worth the paper it was printed on. If you do intend to read it, do yourself a big favor and read "A Durable Peace" by Benjamin Netanyahu. For a true insight of the reality of this complexe reality which is the Israeli-palestinian conflict.