APJP

Practices, Strategies, and Visions" at the Zionist Organization of American House in Tel Aviv.

22-24 July 2008

The large attendance at the conference – about 300 people – surprised even the organizers since the conference was not publicized in any major media outlets. On the morning of the conference certain influential American Zionists put strong pressure on the ZOA House to cancel the conference. The size of the audience proved that there are more people in this country who are interested in thinking about the return of Palestinian refugees and who understand that without their return the conflict will never end than is generally perceived.

At the conference Israelis and Palestinians presented new ideas for the return of the refugees and for understanding the meaning of such a return for life in this country. Here is a link to Eitan Bronstein's opening remarks and a link to the text "Preliminary Ideas on the Return of Refugees" presented by Norma Musih.

Here is a report of the Conference:

Tel Aviv conference organizes around the right of return

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9686.shtml
Nora Barrows-Friedman, The Electronic Intifada, 14 July 2008
 

All of the conference texts will be posted on the website soon.
Zochrot will continue to develop ideas for the possible return of Palestinian refugees and invites the public to take part in this process.

On Sunday, June 22, 2008, the art exhibit "Architecture of Destruction, Fear, and Subordination" opened at the Art Gallery at Zochrot, curated by Ariella Azoulay. About 100 people attended the exhibit opening.

Sedek 3, on the topic of the return of the refugees, is now in print and can be purchased at Zochrot (50 NIS). It will also soon be available for purchase through the website of Pardes Publishers www.pardes.co.il.

Also in print is the book by Noga Kadman, "On the Sides of the Road, on the Margins of Consciousness," (Hebrew) on the marginalization of the Palestinian villages destroyed in the Nakba from Israeli discourse. It can be purchased at Zochrot (70 NIS) (link to more info on the book on the website).

On Wednesday, June 24, 2008, there was a half-day tour to al-Shaykh Muwannis (northern Tel Aviv) led by Majdulin Beidas, a refugee from the village. Twenty-five people took park. At the end of the tour we visited the cemetery of the village, near the grounds of the General Security Services. The tour had been coordinated in advance with the police, including a joint visit to the cemetery, but despite this the GSS security guards stopped the tour and demanded that participants leave the area. Link to Benny Ziffer's blog (Hebrew)

APJP members participated in this conference held by the “Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory” (FAST) is to raise as much awareness as possible, first to the Nakba (1948) and second to its continuation (2006).

The remains/ heritage of Lifta, a ruined Palestinian village are going to be destroyed soon, because of the implementation of a new Israeli masterplan on top of the village.

All the area will be transformed itself into yet another Jewish neighbourhood (with a biblical narrative), as we’ve already seen happening in other places around the country.

In order to freeze the masterplan and in order to show that the Nakba and the destruction of the Palestinian rich cultural heritage is still going on, we are organizing the event at the Balie.

Renovation projects can be as symbolic as the destruction that necessitates them.

Construction can be used to reinforce a violent sundering of the built environment and to weave the fabric of a former life back together. (Robert Bevan – The Destruction of Memory)

The FAST conference will form an inquiry into the ways renovation projects are being appropriated by official institutions in order to promote ideological and political agendas.

Some torn threads of antiquity include the destruction of Muslim history, and of religious monuments and buildings in Bosnia ; to the reconstruction of the Jewish past and memory in post-war Europe ; to the destruction and distortion of Palestinian past after the creation of the State of Israel.

A poignant example of this eradication of local memory is the village of Lifta , which lies just outside Jerusalem ; the community has been abandoned since the Israeli army drove out the last of its Palestinian inhabitants in 1948. Today Lifta is more or less a ghost town. While the former villagers live mainly in East Jerusalem and Ramallah. Now, however, a renovation project aims to turn Lifta into an expensive and exclusive Jewish residential area – erasing its history in the process.

Is the transformation process of buildings and physical structures, from people living environments, into cultural symbol and national threats can be reversible?

During the conference the case of Lifta will be presented, analyzed and put into the perspective of other international planning and architecture projects.

Participants:

Malkit Shoshan, an Israeli architect, the director of FAST, the Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory .

Eitan Bronstein, The director of Zochrot, investigating the Israeli landscape in relation to the destruction of Palestinian villages.

Shmulik Groag, Architect and Planner-Msc student in LSE Dealing with Conservation and memory regarding the lost Palestinian built heritage in Israel .

Zvi Efrat, the dean of the architecture faculty at Bezalel academy, Jerusalem

Khaldun Bshara, Palestinian architect, representative of Riwak, a center for planning and renovation in Ramallah.

Jakoub Odeh, a refugee from Lifta

Ciraj Rassool, Trustee of the District 6 Museum, Cape Town

Moderator: Lucas Verweij, the dean of the academy for architecture and urban design in Rotterdam .

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