New Letter and Petition to Jerusalem Mayor Barkat - April 2010

FROM: ARCHITECTS AND PLANNERS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE

TO: Nir Barkat

Mayor of Jerusalem

Safra Square 1, Jerusalem, Israel

30 April 2010

Dear Mayor Barkat

RE: Stop the Silwan Demolitions!

 Our group APJP wrote to you last year regarding the Silwan demolitions. Now we hear that you have demanded  (Ynet News  4 April 2010) that the city’s police renew the razing of “illegal structures” in East Jerusalem on which demolition orders have been issued. You have no basis to declare Palestinian structures illegal, since Israel’s annexation of  East Jerusalem, like all settlements built in the West Bank after 1967 are illegal, according to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and numerous UN resolutions. East Jerusalem has been stipulated as the Palestinian capital in all peace agreements, yet your persistent disregard of international law and defiance of even a temporary freeze of construction in East Jerusalem does not bode well for peace, and denies the Palestinians their right to self determination.

Demolitions and Evictions:

Occupying Powers are prohibited from destroying property or employing collective punishment. Article 53 of the Geneva Convention reads: “Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons…is prohibited." Under this provision the practice of demolishing Palestinian houses is banned, as is the wholesale destruction of the Palestinian infrastructure.

Despite international anger and objection, house demolitions continue, and the most extreme settler organisations like Elad in Silwan and Ateret Hacohanim in Sheikh Jarrah are allowed full reign, support and protection, while the most brutal reign  of terror and intimidation is being imposed on East Jerusalem Palestinians, who are being evicted from their homes by settlers. Only last Sunday, (25 April), hundreds of police officers were deployed in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan as extreme Israeli rightists set out to march in an attempt to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem. Soldiers and police shot and injured Palestinians in Al Bustan and Wadi Hilweh, and blocked all roads. In Sheikh Jarrah , where some homes claimed to be on land originally owned by Jews in the last century, settlers are advancing the construction of at least 540 housing units in the neighbourhood, helped by Israel's legal system, wealthy backers and cooperation from the Jerusalem municipality and Israeli government.

 As Ze’ev Sternhell wrote in Haaretz on 16 April, “The question is, how much longer will it be possible to maintain a situation in which the Jews will have the right to demand ownership of Jewish property that has been left on the eastern side of the Green Line, while the Arabs are forbidden to demand rights of ownership to their property that has been left on the western side of that same line?” From 1948 to 1967, Israel expropriated properties of Arabs in West Jerusalem equivalent to about 40 per cent of the area of that part of the city. These lands were confiscated under the Absentees' Property Law. Will Israel now return all this land and the stolen properties back to their original Palestinian owners?

International Law & the Geneva Conventions:

 You and Prime Minister Netantyahu keep insisting that Jerusalem will be an “undivided Jewish city”, but in fact East Jerusalem’s status under international law, as understood by every country besides Israel, is universally considered ‘occupied territory’. Similarly, Israeli settlements in the parts of the city that lie across the Green Line are in clear contravention of the Fourth Geneva Convention and are completely illegal, especially with the frenzied proliferation of settlement building, and the infiltration of Israeli settlers into the heart of  Palestinian areas. There is no movement of Palestinians into Jewish areas in the Old City or in West Jerusalem contrary to your claim – this is prohibited by Israel.

Settlements constructed beyond the international border established in 1967 violate Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that states: The Occupying power shall not deport or transfer part of its own civilian citizens into the territory it occupies” Settling Israeli citizens in the Occupied Territories thus contravenes international law.

In May 2001, the head of the International Red  Cross  delegation to Israel and the Occupied Territories said that  settlements are  "equal in principle to war crimes". "The transfer, the installation of  population of the occupying power into the  occupied territories is considered  as an illegal move and qualified  as a 'grave breach.' It's a grave breach, formally speaking, but  grave breaches are equal in principle to war crimes". (Rene Kosirnik, head of the ICRC  delegation to  Israel and the OPT, press conference 17 May 2001.) "

As recently as 22 March 2010, the UN General Assembly has reaffirmed “the illegality of the Israeli settlements in the occupied territories, including in East Jerusalem, which is applicable de jure to Palestinian and all Arab territories occupied by Israel since 1967, including East Jerusalem”.

World Vision and the King’s Garden

 In your recent visit to Chatham House in London on 22 March 2010, you presented your Modern Vision for Jerusalem, including the plan for a ‘King’s Garden’ in Silwan. You said "The whole world is watching us. This obligates us, Jews and Arabs, to work together, without discrimination, to advance the city's interests”.

The world is indeed watching with incredulity the breaches of human rights and international law that constitute your ‘modern vision’ which has been exhaustively documented and condemned  by reputable Israeli sources, particularly Ir-Amim,  and Peace Now, and by the Wadi Hilweh Community Centre. Silwan community organisations are never consulted or listened to, and are subject to enforced closure and restrictions by your police forces. 

 Your vision of ‘restoring’ the gardens of King David and Solomon to what it was 3000 years ago is a dangerous nationalist fantasy. There are no such archaeological findings in the area and there is no real archaeological reason to build a tourist park on the land of the al-Bustan neighborhood, or in Wadi Hilweh. The plan is politically motivated and is one that actually excludes the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem and has the goal of expanding tourism settlement in Silwan for the benefit of the Elad settlers. It is noteworthy that the municipality appointed architect Arieh Rahamimov to draw the plan is the same architect who is working on a number of plans in Silwan for the settlers of the Elad organization - in order to establish Jewish hegemony over Jerusalem  - and ignore and erase any other evidence of other peoples’ existence before and after the short 30 year period of Judea at the time of Herod. His grandiose plans for the huge new visitor’s centre on the Givati Parking lot at the entrance to the Wadi-Hilwe neighbourhood is intended to rival and dominate the Al Aqsa mosque, and is contrary to international law and the religious sensitivies of the local population and likely to inflame religious passions. This must not go ahead.

Similarly the office of the architect Moshe Safdie, who has produced plan 11555 has been paid directly by the Elad organisation, to produce the town plan for Wadi Hilwe and the adjoining Silwan areas, against the wishes of the existing Palestinian community, and which consolidates Elad’s control over the whole area.

Architects and Planners

We, as architects and planners  are particularly  concerned with the travesty of architecture and planning and professional ethics used in carrying out all these building  projects. These are being driven forward regardless of the  consequences on the helpless  Palestinian population by the Mayor,  backed by the Israeli state. The inequalities of municipal services provided to these residents entrenches the  warehousing,  fragmentation and apartheid condition of the city, which was meant  to be a ‘corpus seperatum’ city for all, administered by the UN in the 1947 partition.

Regarding the above Israeli architects, and others building in East Jerusalem;  their designs  are used as a weapon with which human rights are violated, and are practically aimed at disturbance, suppression, aggression or racism directed towards the Palestinian residents. As these stand, clearly and brutally, in breach of basic human rights, a crime has been committed.  The question of responsibility and liability must be addressed.

The International Union of Architects at recent meetings, when the subject of Israeli architects was raised, declared that: “The UIA Council condemns development projects and the construction of buildings on land that has been ethnically purified or illegally appropriated, and projects based on regulations that are ethnically or culturally discriminatory, and similarly it condemns all action contravening the fourth Geneva Convention.”

This statement, as the Israeli architect Eyal Weizman has written, “opens up architecture to a different kind of critique. Beyond the re-introduction of morality and ethics into the architecture debate, does this not call for legal proceedings that should be prosecuted by international law?”

Silwan community and King’s Garden Plans

The demolition orders to 89 houses in Al-Bustan and the recent demolitions of houses in Silwan, and the on-going demolitions and expropriation of Palestinian homes in Sheik Jarrah and Jabel Mukhabar have all been condemned by the international community, by President Obama, the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and the EU in its latest report (December 2008) on Israel’s annexations in East Jerusalem. Most of the 1,500 inhabitants in Al-Bustan in the houses scheduled for demolition have been living there for decades. Some of them put down stakes already pre-1967, way before the authorities handed control of the compound to Elad and changed its name to "City of David."

Your latest proposal to retroactively legalize some houses, and even to issue several permits for construction of second floors, while demolishing 20 homes and suggesting that those inhabitants move into two upper storeys built in adjoining houses, is absurd and unworkable You promise ‘green parks, economical growth and eternal sunshine’. But the residents are no fools, having experienced discrimination and neglect under Israeli occupation and know the bitter truth: “Wadi Hilweh and al-Bustan will be plasticized, commercialized and ethnically cleansed” say the residents’ committees.

The architect Yosef Jabareen has presented a sustainable plan for the Al-Bustan community to the Jerusalem Planning committee, which retains all the houses, and existing green space, and should receive the permission that it deserves for the long standing residents.

The residents of Al-Bustan absolutely oppose the ‘Kings Garden’ plans, which leads to the confiscation of their lands and demolishing of their homes. Despite their paying full taxes, the Palestinian area of Silwan have received no improvement to their area and infrastructure and poor services. The residents demand the municipality to first care for the infrastructure and their social needs before providing more recreational grounds for tourists.

Since 1967, not a single building plan has been approved for Palestinians in Wadi Hilweh. The systematic denial of building permits to Silwan’s Palestinian population since its annexation by Israel in 1967 has served as a fundamental tool in the Israeli government’s prevention of the natural growth and expansion of its residents. When Palestinian residents have no choice but build on their own land, their houses are demolished, while a blind eye is turned to the illegal activities of the Elad settlers, and the occupiers of ‘Jonathan House”. The Absentee Properties Law, and ‘open space’ laws are used fraudulently to take over Palestinian houses.

This means that the residents cannot build or expand their homes. As families grow, the residents are compelled to build without permits. Hundreds of families found themselves in an impossible situation. In addition to poverty, a deficient education system and poor physical infrastructure, the state also turned the residents into criminals who had to pay hundreds of thousands of shekels in fines, and issued demolition orders to many homes. Ir Amim, the Israeli organisation which promotes peaceful relations, has pointed out that since 1967 fewer than 20 construction permits have been issued to Palestinians in this area, forcing them to build illegally. All these practices are illegal and discriminatory, and have been well documented by human rights groups, Ir Amim, B’tselem, ICAHD and the EU in two major reports.

Regarding your proposal for 50,000 new dwellings, two thirds for Jewish Israelis and one-third for Palestinian residents, to relate to the demographic proportions of these communities in Jerusalem, Meron Benvenisti, who is a leading expert on Jerusalem remarked  "As if there could be a correct percentage. It's pure racism. We live in the only city in the world where an ethnic population ratio serves as a philosophy."

The costs and legal bureaucracy involved in bringing these homes into compliance is prohibitive to the Palestinian residents of Silwan and the only structure which will likely benefit  from  this plan is Beit Yonatan. While Palestinians are under constant pressure, discriminated against, with constant threat of demotion of their homes, the Israeli settlers like Elad are given a free reign to take over and dominate any area they please, with their avowed intention to remove the Palestinians from Silwan. Instead you refuse to follow the Supreme Court’s repeated instructions to demolish the Illegal seven storey Beit Yonatan built by the extreme Ateret Hacohanim movement.

Archaeology and Excavations

With huge funds by settler organizations and fully backed by the Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality, the Israel Antiquity Authority is conducting excavations in tunnels under the neighborhood's houses and lands. The Authority did not initially inform the residents, nor did it seek their consent. Apart from being ethically wrong according to international archaeological standards and academically challenged worldwide, these excavations pose an immediate threat to the residents' present safety and future existence,. Many Palestinian homes have become unstable because of a network of underground tunnels which are being dug as part of the City of David excavation work.

An UNWRA school which partially collapsed last year, wounding the school children, is in danger of falling down again.

Elad promoting the idea of the ‘City of David’ would preclude the presence in this area of any other people even though they may have been there for centuries. This is a dangerous illusion that will destroy the chance of peace. These parks and walks  are used as the justification for demolishing hundreds of Palestinian  properties and to form a binding ring around the city that  will foreclose the  possibility of a viable shared capital, and with  potential completion of E1,  any viable contiguous Palestinian  state.

Among the dozens of archaeological strata excavated in the City of David, there was no single evidence found that attested to the presence of King David, or in fact any Judea or other king. Archaeologists in Israel and around the world have come to the conclusion that archaeology cannot be used to corroborate the occurrence of events or the existence of characters in the bible or to declare that the Al-Bustan neighborhood has a great archaeological significance. Al-Bustan does not reside in any national park. Evidence to the existence of the King's Garden in Al-Bustan are not archaeological, and the state must not claim that the demolishing of houses is done in the name of archaeology.

Poor signposting in the ‘national park’ tells the Jewish narrative of Jerusalem while neglecting the stories of many other cultures whose part in the city’s history is no less significant than the Jewish one. Important finds not considered relevant to ancient Jewish settlement are being destroyed. There is no precedent in Israel for handing over responsibility for serious archaeological work to a militant political organization with its own clear extremist agenda. A balanced history would tell a story that relates to most of the world’s population: Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Such a multi-cultural narrative of the chronicles of Jerusalem might encourage tolerance and reconciliation in a split and contested Jerusalem. Instead, today the site is used by Elad as an educative tool to promote an agenda of exclusively Jewish settlement. The separation between the residents and the tourists fosters feelings of alienation and bitterness in the locals, making them foreigners in their own village..

Public and private spaces used by residents for hundreds of years have been blocked off and incorporated into the national park, and the municipality wishes to expropriate those remaining for “public needs”, that is,  parking lots for the tourist site’s visitors, in a neighborhood where there are no playgrounds, no public gardens, no sport facilities, few classrooms and no clinics. Dozens of security cameras and armed guards have been installed in the streets and alleys. Palestinian residents have no protection from the settlers’ activity in the neighborhood, and episodes of increasing violence occur between residents and guards who see themselves as law enforcers.

The EU has condemned this development in their report (see items from their report below) in 2005 and now again in 2009. The threatened Silwan action also contravenes the spirit and letter of the Road Map which specifies that "the Government of Israel ends its actions undermining trust, including attacks in civilian areas and confiscation/demolition of Palestinian homes and property…as a punitive measure or to facilitate Israeli construction."

In summary, our recommendations:

1. The activities and the control of Silwan that has been handed over to the Elad fundamentalists, who are given extra judicial control over the Silwan residents, backed by the police and IDF, and persecution and intimidation of the Silwan residents must be ended.

1. The illegal and very damaging tunnelling without proper permission or legal procedures, under their houses, also causing the collapse of an UNWRA school, must end

1. The alternative plan by the Palestinian residents of Silwan must be consideredwho should be removed,

1. The plans for the archaeological park must be stopped

1. This whole “park walk” project must not be allowed to continue

1. The head of Elad, Mr Be’eri, must return the house that he has fraudulently occupied to its rightful owners

1. The actions of the Jerusalem Municipality and Israel’s Housing Ministry on Silwan, E1 and Lifta prompted an advertisement in the London Times in 2007 signed by over 350 architects, planners and academics and NGOs from all over the world

    10.  End all settlement and house construction in East Jerusalem, in Ramat Shlomo, Har Homa, Har Gilo, Atarot and throughout the illegally annexed areas, on expropriated Palestinian land, and end all Wall construction.

11.  This call is co-ordinated with local Israeli and Palestinian architects and NGOs like BIMKOM, ICAHD, IR-AMIM, ACRI, BAT-SHALOM, ARIJ, the residents’ committees of Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah, Rabbis for Human Rights  and others.

To quote Sternhell again “Instead of turning Sheikh Jarrah into a paragon of coexistence, Israel is about to enable the settlers to reinstate its residents with refugee status and to turn the entire area into a new symbol of Israeli arbitrariness, aggressiveness and distortion of justice. Indeed, Jerusalem is not a settlement, but those who are turning it into a settlement now are the settlers themselves. It is not difficult to forecast how this additional fuel will fan the growing flames of delegitimization of Israel in the world.”

We hope that you will listen to this call, in the interests of peace and justice in Israel/Palestine, and the future of a peaceful Middle East.

Yours sincerely

Abe Hayeem, Architect RIBA

Chair: Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine

and all the following signatories:w

Charles Jencks: Architectural Historian, Writer and Critic, UK/USA.

Ted Cullinan, CBE, RA: Edward Cullinan Architects, UK.

Will Alsop RA, OBE: Principal SMC William Alsop, Winner Stirling Prize 2000, UK.

Zvi Hecker: Architect, Germany/Netherlands/Israel.

Sir Terry Farrell: Principal Terry Farrell Partners, UK.

Sir Richard McCormack: Partner MJP Architects, Former RIBA President, UK.

George Ferguson: Acanthus Ferguson Mann Architects, Former President RIBA

Jack Pringle :RIBA President, 2005-2007 UK.0

Sunand Prasad: RIBA President, 2007-2009, Principal Penoyre Prasad Architects, , UK.

Eva Jiricna: Principal Jiricna Architects, UK.

Rick Mather: Principal Rick Mather Architects, UK.

Eyal Weizman: Author ‘A Civilan Occupation’, “Hollow Land”,  Director Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmith’s College, UK/Israel.

Paul Hyett: RIBA President 2001-2003, UK.

Hans Haenlein: Principal Hans Haenlein Architects, UK.

Neave Brown: Artist and Architect of Alexandra Road, UK.

Robin Nicholson: ECA architects, UK.

David Levitt: Architect Levitt, Bernstein, UK.

Tom Kay: Architect, UK.

Jeff Halper : ICAHD Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, Israel.

Malkit Shoshan: Director of Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST), Netherlands/Israel.

Shmulik Groag: BIMKOM, Israel. (E1, Silwan)

Cezary Bednarski: Principal Studio Bednarski, UK/Poland.

Professor Nasser Rabat: Aga Khan Professor, MIT, USA.

Professor Mike Davis: Author ‘City of Quartz’, Professor University of California Davis, USA.

Professor Saskia Sassen: Author ‘Cities in a World Economy’, University of Chicago,          London School of Economics, USA/UK.

Suad Amiry: Author, Founder and Director of RIWAQ, Centre for Architectural Conservation, Palestine.

Beatriz Maturana: Archimage, President and Founder of Architects for Peace, Australia.

Eitan Bronstein: Director of Zochrot, Israel.

Professor Uri Davis: Al Quds University, PA,  IAIS, Founder of Al-Beit, Israel.

Professor Samer Akkach: Director Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture, Adelaide, University, Australia.

Professor Zvi Efrat: Department Head, Architecture Department, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, Jerusalem, Israel.

Professor Derek Gregory: Distinguished Scholar, Professor of Geography, University of British Columbia, Canada.

Professor Neil Smith: PhD Johns Hopkins, Distinguished Prof. CUNY Graduate Center, USA.

Osama Hamdan: Conservation Architect and Lecturer, Al Quds University, Palestine.

Professor Haim Bresheeth: Filmmaker, Photographer, Chair of Media and Cultural Studies, University East London, UK/Israel.

Professor Bob Tavernor: Director of Cities Program, Architecture and Urban Studies, London School of Economics, UK.

Dr. Gaetano Palumbo: Institute of Archaeology, University College London, UK.

Professor Oren Yiftahel: Professor of Geography, Ben Gurion University, Israel.

David Tartakover: Graphic Designer, Israel Prize Laureate for Design 2002, Israel.

Professor Mario Coyula: Architect and Urban Planner, Cuba.

Professor Peter Marcuse: Columbia University,NY,USA

Dick Urban Vestro: Professor Emeritus,School of Architecture, Stockholm

Lynda Thorne: EU Environmental Consultant, Romania.

Ian Martin: Architects Journal Magazine, UK.

Louis Hellman: Architect and Cartoonist, UK.

Robert Bevan: Author ‘The Destruction of Memory’, UK.

Dr. Jim Berrow: Architectural Historian, UK.

Arad Sharon: AA dipl, Director Arieh Sharon, Eldar Sharon Architects & Town Planners L.T.D, Israel.

Angela Godfrey-Goldstein:ICAHD

Georgeann B. Burns Assoc. AIA: Principal, RTKL Associates, Inc., USA.

Gail Waldman: Waldman-Jim Architects, UK.

Ceridwen Owen: Architect, Lecturer in Architecture, University of Tasmania, Australia.

Karen McWilliam: Architect, Lab Architecture, Australia.

Raphael Sperry AIA: Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, USA.

Claudia Bloom: Director, Avanti Architects, UK.

Michael Safier: Planner, Bartlett College, University College London, UK.

Junko Iwaya: Architect, Japan.

Professor Bas Molenaar: Healthcare Architect, Netherlands.

Aurore Julien: Renewable Energy Consultant, UK.

Charles Dunnett: Dunnett Craven Ltd., UK.

Ross Ramus: RAIA Ramus Architects,USA.

Mikolaj Kadubowski: Partner GRUPA 5 ARCHITECTS, Warsaw.

Mungo Smith: Director of MAAP Architects, London.

Susan Francis: Special Advisor on Healthcare, CABE, London.

Mark Kubaczka: Dyrektor, artchitecture sp zo o, Warsaw.

Liane Friedrich: Architect, Brazil.

Prof. Hennu Kjisik: Architect, Finland.

Derek Stow OBE: Architect, London.

Professor Irene Bruegel: Planner, London South Bank University, UK.

Dace Kalvane: Aplus architects, Latvia.

Douglas Carson: Eric Parry Architects.

Hubert Murray AIA, RIBA: President of Boston Society of Architects, USA .

Nick Jeffrey: Retired Head of School of Planning the Architectural Association, Guest Curator in Arch. Tate Modern, UK .

Phil Gusack: Architect, UK 

Keith Bennett, RIBA: Architect, UK .

Laura Natkins: Architect, Harvard University , USA .

Shelley Indyk: Architect, Principal Indyk Ltd., Australia .

Salem Thawaba: PhD Bir Zeit University , Palestine .

Tchaik Chassay: Chassay+Last Architects. 

Kate Mackintosh: Architect, UK.

Haifa Hammami: Architect, APJP Secretary, UK

Walter Hain: Architect, UK.

Alon Cohen Lifshitz: BIMKOM, Israel.

John Murray: Architect, UK.

Mayyad Bader, Architect, Australia,Palestine

David Berridge,Architect,UK

Sidney Bernstein: Architect,

Prof David E.Pegg, York University 

Omar Qattan: Qattan Foundation, UK.

Erland Seilskkjaer: Architect, Norway.

Frank de Marco: Architect UK.

Yara Sharif, PhD, Architect,UK,Palestine

Prof. Nasser Golzary, Golzary Architects

Francesca Viceconti: Architect, Italy.

Martin O’Shea: Architect, UK.

Salim Jaleel: Architect, UK.

Michael Gwilliam: Planner, UK.

Clive Jones: Architect, UK.

Mike Macrae: Architect, UK.

Michael Goulden: Architect, Wales.

Joanna Heilig: Architect, Sweden.

Ahmad Barclay, PhD, Cardiff Uni.

David Yeaman, Architect,UK

Reuven Rosenfelder , Israel

Sharon Rosenfelder, Israel

Anne Markey, Architect, London Metropolitan Univ.

Joanna Chambers: Planner, UK.

Jeremy Dain: Architect, UK.

Malcolm Hecks: Architect, France.

Kelvin Bland, Architect, UK

Joe Lynes:Engineer & CPT, Palestine.

Nadia Habash: Architect, UK.

Zahira Nazer: Urbanist, UK.

Karin Pally: Planner, LA.

Ed Hall: Architect, UK.

Shaqir Sufian: Architect, UK.

John Waller: Architect, UK.

Paul Barham: Architect, UK.

Geoff Haslam: Architect, UK.

Prof.Terry Meade: Architect, Brighton University, UK.

Martin Crookston: Architect, UK.

Alan Arnstein: Architect, UK.

Tarek Ragheb: Architect, UK.

Gil Doron: Artist, UK/Israel.

Nicholas Wood: Architect UK/South Africa.

Sarah Wood, UK

Keith Cowling: Architect, UK.

Jake Brown: Architect, UK.

Steve Fox: Architect, UK.

Keith Hallett: Architect, UK.

Adrian King: Architect, UK.

John Hodge: Architect, UK.

Issa Sarie: Architect, UK.

Wade Sowman: Planner, New Zealand.

Jose Vilar: Architect, USA.

D. Shah: Architect, UK.

Samir Srouji: Architect, USA.

M. Azhar: Architect, UK.

Stefano Ferrari: Architect, UK/Italy.

Fahmi Salameh: Architect, Palestine.

Ray Bowden, Architect, UK.

Vassilis Ierides: Architect, Greece.

Khaldun Bishara:RIWAQ Architect, Palestine.

Steve Kessel: Architect, UK.

Javiera Maturana: Planner, Australia.

Yaron Turel: Architect, Israel.

Orna Shatil: Architect, Israel.

Frederico Zaidan: Architect, Brazil.

Shelly Roberts: Architect, Australia.

Tim Bruce Dick: Architect, UK.

M. Azhar: Architect, UK.

Hasan A. Hammami, USA.

Eleanor Chapman: Australia.

Nadia Piette: Netherlands.

Ivar Leivestad: Australia.

Merinda Hall: Australia.

Racheli Bar Or: Israel.

Walid Issa: USA.

Julian Rutt: Australia.

Nadine Samaha: Australia.

Imm Chew

Ranad Shqeirat

Kabir Hussain

Abdulmajid Karanouh

Neil Lambert, Architect,UK

David Reidy

Leena Ismail

Miranda Pennell

Jennifer Dudgeon

Susan Mellersh Lucas

Noor Salman

Rand el haj Hasan

Eleanor Mayfield

Jose Vilar

Tariq Z. Khayyat

Emily Jack

Samer Rabie

Jalal El Ali

Noor Tibi

Yusuf Tibeh

Dave Reidy

Amal Moh

Dan Rigamonti

Judy Andler

Sharon Rosenfelder, Israel (Silwan)

Reuven Rosenfelder, Israel(Silwan)

Rosaleen Crushell

MJ Bissan: Sculptor

Hugo David Moline

Mima Kearns

Alex Whitton

Gareth Mantle

Nathan Fothergill

Randy Eveleigh

Roger Rajaratnam: Australia.

Kim Roberts (Lifta)

Alif Nadya Inniar Rosa

Noor Tibi (Lifta)

Yasid Abed Rego

Nihal Alayyah

Daoud Abdallah

Hala Atik

Shaden Qasem

Samira Shehadeh

Giselle Benitez: Planner, NSW, Australia.

Ruba Awwad

Marc Loran

Sandina Robbins

Rory Toomey: Architect, Australia.

Sarah Bridges: Australia.

Afaf Shehadeh

Sophia Hammoudeh

Liana Obeidi

Mohammad Abdlah Said Abdallah

Adwa Kamal

Osman M. Elkheir

Sulaiman M. Aqel

Fatimah Mohammed (Lifta)

Farhat Y. Muhawi (E1)

Brazilian Palestine Interest Committee (Lifta)

Nour Salman (Lifta)

M.J.Bissan

Heidi Splay

Anil Korotane, F.A.S.T

Alisar Aoun

Paul Ballora: Paul Balora Architects.

Claudia Cleaver

Abder Ghouleh: USA.

Damian Eckersley

Mohammad Odeh

Mariane Mathia

Hana Abdallah

Sulaiman M. Aqel

Mira Roses

Damian Eckersley

Mathew Bond, Australia.

Goren Vodicka

Mohammed Hilala

Shirin Alqadi

Mohamed Hdaib

Sami B Suriyisami

Stephen Hyland: Planner PGDiptp MRTPI.

Suhayla Odeh

James Charles Jameson: Australia.

Anthony McCInneny

Tony Horan (E1)

Christopher Myles

Susan Bromley

Richard Buckley

Thomas Ableman

Caroline Weir

Robert Cunningham

Mary Emmerson

Nahida Yasin

Michael Iffrig

Christian Drinkwater,DLA Architects

Michael Praamsma

Uschi Jesson

Michael Thomas Bambrick

Paula McIlwrath

Barbara Crow

Kathleen Desmond

Yara Abdullah

Phil Henneman

Judith Jeffrey: Architect (retired), UK.

Michael Bambrick

Thomas Adelman

Clare Holohan

Hussam Siam

Ken Taylor

Irmila Benner

Webb Wilber

Mada Al Carmel: Arab Centre for Applied Social Research

Anita Vitello

Khaled Azmi

Emad Salameh (Lifta)

Dean La Tourelle,(Silwan)

Maya Pasternak

Ahmad Abassi (Silwan)

Micha Andreieff, Urbanist, Strasbourg, France

Gunter Schenk, IAPP, Denmark (E1)

Jean-Paul Francois Galibert, Rec. Honoraire P.T.T., Ancien Casque Bleu (E1)

Lois Swartz,(Lifta)

Nick Bourns,(E1), Melbourne, Australia

Adnan Harambasic, Architect, Norway

Rania Halawani(Lifta)

Hammam Farah, (Lifta)

Tamara Tootasali

Hani Nasser

Rowiena J. (Lifta)

Keith Bennet, ARIBA

Corinne Bennett (E1)

Barbara Crow (E1)

Andrew Holohan (E1)

Paul Mclwrath,Belfast (E1)

Roseleen Walsh, Ireland (E1)

Liam Barr, Ireland(E1)

Tierna Cunningham,Ireland (E1)

Jack O'Neill, Ireland (E1)

Rolf Clayton, (E1)

D.Alwan,(E1)

Noor Maraqa

Yazan Salameh, (Lifta)

Nabeha Bages-Zegar (Lifta)

Fabio Bagnara, Architect, Spain,Italy(E1)

Michel Iffrig (Lifta)

Nidal Jaber Saadeh,Dublin (E1)

Chrissie mhic giolla mhin, Belfast

Fra Stone, Ireland (E1)

Roger Higginson (E1)

Deletto Micsardi (E1)

Ghislaine Soulet (E1)

Dr.Issam Salameh (Lifta)

Mick Scott,Ireland (E1)

Ben Alofs (E1)

Wail Obeidi (Lifta)

Isabel Camacho Garcia, Architect,Spain (Lifta)

Ismail Atiyeh Ahmed El-Liftawi Jr.(Lifta)

Salma Salim (Silwan)

Philipp M. Rassman, Dep't of Anth.,U.of Washington (Silwan)

Walid M. Awad (Silwan)

Hadas Snir (Silwan)

Wail Obeidi (Lifta)

Basma Hanouda (Lifta)

Rebecca L.Stein (Lifta)

Nassab Ali (Lifta)

Samira Alostath (Lifta)

Princess Heba (Lifta)

Doa'a El-Batta (Lifta)

Heba R. Abed (Lifta)

Manar T'al Saleh (Lifta)

Lina Shaath (Lifta)

Salma Shaath (Lifta)

Shaimaa El Hissi (Lifta)

A.M.A Shimaa (Lifta)

Alaa Kishawi (Lifta)

Alaa Nizar Al-Kishawi (Lifta)

ياء موسى (Lifta)

Jass Men (Lifta)

Naala N.Ibrahim (Lifta,E1)

Reem J. Abu ell Khair (Lifta)

Faten Joma'a (Lifta)

Heba A. Alalawi (Lifta)

Nesreen Qdeh (Lifta)

Edwin Jay Rutledge,Architect,UK

Abeer Abu Haleep (Lifta)

Eman el Shegh Ghalel (Lifta)

Roaa Abu el Komboz (Lifta)

Hanaa Eldahshan (Lifta)

Monda Taleb Heriz (Lifta)

Rawan Jouda (Lifta)

Dr. Abdurahman Mohamed (Lifta)

Jan Jordaan (Lifta)

Kevin Ramzi Nasir

James Bowen: Str Engineer , Ireland .

Sarah Khalid

Joanna Matos, France

John Dorman, RIAI, Ireland PSC

Alaa Mandoor (E1)

Shorouq Al Jabari (Lifta)

Lilian Morgan (Silwan)

Olive Isidro-Cruze (Silwan)

Christina Isorina

Margaret Morgan (Silwan)

Edwin Jay Rutledge (Silwan)

Neil Lambert, Architect (Silwan)

Naomi Wimborne-Idrisi (Silwan)

Deborah Maccoby (Silwan)

Ruth Tenne (Silwan)

Ibrahim Moss (Silwan)

Peter Halpin (Silwan)

Edd Lawrence(E1)

John Dorman (E1)

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Copies to:

Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

President Barack Obama, White House

David Miliband , Foreign Secretary, UK

Ban Ki-Moon, UN Secretary General

Israeli Association of United Architects

President, International Union of Architects

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FROM the EU Report (Dec 2008) on East Jerusalem

The EU policy on Jerusalem is based on the principles set out in UN Security Council Resolution 242, notably the inadmissibility of acquisition of territory by force.  In consequence, the EU has never recognised the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967 nor the subsequent 1980 Basic Law (Basic Law Jerusalem Capital of Israel) which made Jerusalem the “complete and united” capital of Israel. EU Member States have therefore placed their accredited missions in Tel Aviv.[i]  The EU opposes measures that would prejudice the outcome of Permanent Status Negotiations, consigned to the third phase of the Road Map, such as actions aimed at changing the status of East Jerusalem.

In conferences held in 1999 and 2001, the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention reaffirmed the applicability of the Convention to the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and reiterated the need for full respect for the provisions of the Convention in that territory.

Israel is continuing increased settlement activity in and around East Jerusalem, linked by new roads and a tramway, which accentuate the separation of Jewish and Palestinian citizens, and an implementation of an apartheid policy that is inconsistent with a proclaimed democracy.     

In combination, these measures unmistakably indicate an intention to sever all of East Jerusalem and the surrounding settlement blocks from the West Bank.

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