لفلسطين للعروبة اكتبFor Palestain For Arabs I Write

نابلس ومذبحة المناطق الخضراء

2011-02-20T11:52:00.000+01:00

لست ادري ولكن يبدو أن اليوم الذي ستبكي فيه نابلس على أشجارها وحدائقها وبساتينها قد اقترب , تتسارع وتيرة البناء في غياب أي رادع قانوني أو مجرد تنظيم لعمليات قطع الأشجار المعمرة , وتتقلص المناطق الخضراء باطراد .

بساتين نابلس الشهيرة بعيونها وأشجارها ما بين نهاية شارع فلسطين و منتزه جمال عبد الناصر باتت تحتضر تحت جنازير الجرافات التي تشق التربة لبناء مبان خرسانية لا تراعي البيئة المحيطة ولا يتوفر فيها الحد الأدنى من مقومات الجمال المعماري , وهو ما وصفه احد الزملاء المعماريين بغابة من المباني الحجرية الموحشة التي لا تتفق حتى فيما بينها على معيار واحد للارتفاع أو التشكيل .

تلك المنطقة التي لو استغلت بالشكل الصحيح لشكلت رئة خضراء للمدينة و مصدرا هاما للجذب السياحي و الاقتصادي ليست وحدها التي تعاني , فكل المدينة بحواريها الجديدة و القديمة تفشى فيها هذا السرطان .

حزام نابلس الأخضر الذي كان يفترض أن يغطي أعالي جبل عيبال حسب المقررات التنظيمية السابقة شطب بجرة قلم من احد المسئولين لصالح بعض المنتفعين الجشعين الذين استغلوا انخفاض قيمة الأراضي هناك لبناء ثروات على حساب الأجيال القادمة ,

بينما تختفي يوما بعد يوم حدائق البيوت الخاصة التي انتشرت بين عشرينات و ستينات القرن الماضي بما فيها من أشجار و نباتات وتفاصيل معمارية بل وحتى مباني تمثل قيمة ثقافية عالية لصالح مبان سكنية تحمل الصبغة الاستثمارية التجارية المتدنية الجودة دون رقيب أو حسيب , ولن أتفاجئ أن استيقظت ذات صباح قريب لأجد جرافات الاستثمار تقوم بهدم القصور الأثرية ذات القيمة المعمارية العالية في منطقة شارع النجاح القديم مثلا , فكله يهون في سبيل مصالح المستثمرين .

لم يقف الأمر عند هذا الحد فتحت شعار الحي أبقى من الميت الذي يرفعه رأس الهرم الإداري لبلدية نابلس الموقرة فلا مانع من إزالة الآثار القديمة( كما حصل في منطقة بليبوس الأوسط على سبيل المثال لا الحصر ) وذلك لمنع المستثمرين من الهروب من المدينة على حد تعبيره , وللأسف فأن بلدية نابلس و نخبة مهندسي المدينة القدامى التي تصر على تسميتهم بلجنتها الاستشارية لازالوا يشكلون العائق الأساس في وجه تطبيق العديد من القوانين و التعديلات على أنظمة البناء حتى المتعلقة بالسلامة العامة , تحت ذات شعار الحفاظ على المستثمرين .

فلعيون الاستثمار كل شيء يهون , بل وحتى المناطق الخضراء العامة مثل المتنزهات أصبحت عرضة لمشاريع الخصخصة التي غزت الحدائق و المتنزهات العامة فكادت تحولها كافة إلى مشاريع ربحية خاصة , بدء من منتزه سما نابلس إلى حديقة منتزه العائلات , مرورا بالحديقة الدنماركية و حديقة إسعاد الطفولة وحديقة الحرش , و التي فقدت جميعها صفة الحديقة العامة و أصبح الدخول إليها مقيد سواء من ناحية تقييد دخول احد الجنسين أو ربطه بدفع دخولية مهما كانت رمزية أو ربط الجلوس بها بدفع مقابل خدمة لأحد المتضمنين .

وبصراحة لم يبقى في نابلس متنفسا حرا للغالبية العظمى من سكان محافظة نابلس ال 250 ألفا إلا حدائق جمال عبد الناصر بمساحتها المتواضعة التي لا تتعدى الثمانين دونما بعد أن تم اقتطاع مساحة كبيرة لصالح مدارس الوكالة و أخرى لصالح مركز حمدي منكو الثقافي .

وهذه الثمانين دونما ليست عاملة بالكامل ففقط 15 دونم منها مزروعة بأشجار مناسبة , كما وتخلو من استثمار و استغلال المقومات الطبيعية التي وهبها الله للمنطقة , فماء أربعة ينابيع تتدفق من البساتين إليها لازال يحول إلى شبكة المجاري العامة بدلا من استخدامه بالري أو بعمل عناصر معمارية مائية مثل بركة أو نوافير تزيد رونق المكان .

وغزا المكان العديد من الباعة المتجولين للمشروبات و السجائر و الاراجيل الذين سيطر كل مجموعة منهم على إحدى زوايا الحديقة بغير وجه حق فحولوها إلى ما يشبه المقهى الكبير في أيام الصيف المكتظة , فلم يعد فيها مكان يجد فيه المرء خاصة من الطبقات الفقيرة و المتوسطة الدنيا ملتجأ من قيظ الصيف .

المضحك المبكي أن احد زوايا الحديقة يحوي مشتلا تابعا للبلدية , توظف به العديد من الأفراد الذين لم يقوموا منذ سنوات عديدة بزراعة شجرة واحدة في هذا المنتزه , ناهيك عن مجموعة منهم تقتصر مهمتهم على تهذيب الأشجار في شوارع المدينة و العناية بها , وهو الأمر الذي على ما يبدو مرتبط بأهواء بعضهم الذين للأسف لا يراعون أي قاعدة علمية في القص و التهذيب أو حتى احترام الموسم المناسب .

وهؤلاء نفسهم هم من انطلقوا في الأيام الأخيرة في حملة مسعورة لقطع العديد من الأشجار المعمرة في شوارع المدينة تحت حجج ومبررات واهية تارة لزيادة عرض الشارع أو بحجة مرور ماسورة الصرف الصحي لإحدى العمارات من أسفل الشجرة , بدءا من الأشجار بمقابل مركز شرطة المدينة الرئيسي في الجزيرة الوسطى مرورا بأشجار السرو في رفيديا مقابل الطريق المؤدي إلى ملعب البلدية , مرورا بالأشجار على الرصيف أمام برج نابلس قيد الإنشاء انتهاء بالأشجار أعلى الرصيف المقابل لقاعة زينة برفيديا ( أمام وكالة متسوبيشي سابقا ) , وهو ما يذكرني بحملة سابقة لتدمير النوافير التي كانت تزين شوارع المدينة في التسعينات بدءا من دوار المول في رفيديا مرورا بأخر شارع سفيان وصولا إلى الدوار الرئيسي في ميدان الشهداء .

ولم يقف الأمر عند هذا الحد بل خرجت علينا بلديتنا الموقرة في الآونة الأخيرة بمسابقة معمارية تهدف إلى تحويل المتنفس الأخير ( حدائق جمال عبد الناصر) إلى مشروع استثماري ربحي يصادر البقعة الخضراء الأخيرة ويحولها إلى منطقة ترفيهيي خاصة بالأثرياء و أبناء الطبقة الوسطى العليا , فلست ادري كم ستحتمل هذه ال 80 دونما , من مشروع متحف ومسرح ومطعم و ناد خاص و مسجد أخر يضاف إلى ثلاثة بمحيط المتنزه على حساب دافع الضرائب الفلسطيني , بل وحديقة للملاهي وبركة للقوارب , ولعل مقترح المسابقة نسي إضافة مشروع حديقة للحيوان وجامعة نموذجية .

فألا متى سيبقى مستقبل مدينتنا الحبيبة رهينا بيد ومطرقة الاستثمار و إلى متى سيتسلط مهندس بلديتنا الأوحد في الأجيال الثلاثة الماضية على مركز القرار , أسئلة عديدة أوجهها إلى أبناء مدينتي الحبيبة , فهل من مجيب قبل فوات الأوان .

المهندس المعماري شفيق أمين بعارة

كفى تدميرا للبنية الحضارية لمدينة نابلس : Stop Destroying the Urban Fabric of Nablus City

2010-03-07T19:18:00.001+01:00

م. شفيق بعارة – مهندس معماري حاصل على درجة الماجستير بالهندسة المعمارية - ومختص بالدراسات الحضرية و الحدائق .

لطالما لمنا الاحتلال على التدمير الذي يحصل على البنى الحضرية لمدننا وقرانا من خلال القيود و القوانين الجائرة التي شرعها خلال سنوات الاحتلال الطويلة وما تلا ذلك من ممارسات التدمير و الهدم و الحصار التي حولت مدينة نابلس من عاصمة فلسطين الاقتصادية إلى عاصمة للفقر والبطالة .

وكلنا نعرف أن البنية الحضارية لمدينة نابلس و خاصة البلدة القديمة ومحيطها التجاري تحمل أبعادا تراثية و ثقافية متعمقة في جذور التاريخ الفلسطيني قل نظيرها حول العالم , وتمثل اليوم اللبنة الأولى في صراع الهوية و الوجود مع الاحتلال الصهيوني وهذا ما اتضح أخيرا في محاولات الاحتلال فرض تاريخه الزائف من خلال قيامة بضم الحرم الإبراهيمي و مسجد بلال إلى قائمة مواقعه التراثية وربما ستطول القائمة بالمستقبل القريب .

لطالما بكينا كل مبنى أو جدار أو حتى نافذة قام الاحتلال بتدميرها خلال حملات الدهم و القتل التي قام بها طيلة سنوات الانتفاضة في البلدة القديمة , وربما كان عزائنا الوحيد في ذلك هو أن من يقوم بذلك عدونا اللدود , لكن أن ينتقل هذا التدمير من أيدي عدونا إلى أيدينا فهو أمر لا يقبل به عاقل .

ولا أريد أن اتهم أي فرد بالتقصير أو الفساد فلا شك أن كل من يعمل يخطئ , لكن للأسف الشديد لم تنمو لدينا بعد ثقافة الاعتراف بالخطأ والأخطر من ذلك أن الكثير ممن يخطئون يصرون على المغالاة في أخطائهم وزيادة الطين بللاً ,

واحد الأخطاء الكبرى التي وقعت فيها مدينة نابلس هي عملية بناء المجمع التجاري و مجمع التاكسيات الضخم في وسط المدينة , في مجموعة مخالفات صريحة للقوانين التي تنظم البناء في محيط البلدة القديمة من ناحية الارتفاعات و المساحة و الاستخدام , وساد سوء رؤية ضخم لطبيعة المشروع وموقعه غير المناسب بالنسبة لوظيفته كعقدة أساسية للمواصلات في منطقة تشهد أصلا اختناقات مرورية ضخمة , ولم يقف الخلل عند هذا الحد بل تعداه إلى الإهدار الضخم للمال العام من خلال التكلفة الضخمة للمشروع التي فاقت 35 مليون دولار تم تغطية معظمها بقروض لبنوك محلية و أجنبية زادت في عجز خزينة بلديتنا المثقلة أصلا بالديون, ولا يتوقع أصلا لعوائد المشروع أن تكفي لسدادها و لربما سينتقل المشروع في زمن ليس ببعيد من الملكية العامة إلى ملكية البنك الضامن ما لم يحدث تدخل من وزارة الحكم المحلي و المالية في الوقت المناسب .

ولم يقتصر الأمر عند ذلك الحد , فلقد سادت التصميمات المنفذة للمشروع الكثير من مواطن الخلل التي منعت المبنى من أداء وظيفته التي صمم لها , فمجمع التاكسيات الذي صمم ليحتل الطابق الثاني والثالث المفتوحين بحيث يتم تأمين التهوية المناسبة له , لم يؤمن له الأدراج و المصاعد المناسبة للعدد الكبير المتوقع من المواطنين من كبار و صغار وعجائز و بضائع.

مما دفع القائمين على المجمع إلى نقله إلى طابقي التسوية المغلقان من جميع الاتجاهات ويقعان أسفل منسوب الأرض وهما مخصصان لتوقف سيارات المواطنين لفترات طويلة , وقد ثبت من اليوم الأول للبدء بالعمل فيهما عدم وجود تهوية مناسبة تتلاءم مع العدد الضخم لسيارات التاكسي التي تنفث العوادم بشكل متواصل داخل حيزها ولا لتامين الهواء النقي والمناسب لتنفس العدد الضخم من المواطنين الذين يستخدمونه و هي غير مؤهلة أصلا لامتصاص الضجيج الضخم الصادر عن محركات السيارات , ودفعت شكاوى المواطنين من التلوث و الاختناق البلدية الموقرة إلى إيقاف العمل في المجمع لحين إيجاد الحل للمشكلة التلوث السمعي و تصريف غازات العوادم ذات النسب المرتفعة و السامة .

واستعانت مشكورة بعدد من المختصين لحل المشكلة الذين اشارو إلى التكلفة الضخمة للحلول المتوفرة للأشكال سواء من خلال التنفيذ أو تكاليف التشغيل على المدى البعيد من كهرباء و صيانة وفلاتر الخ ....مما سيزيد من ثقل الديون على ميزانية بلديتنا العامة .

وخرجت مجموعة من الاستشاريين بفكرة القيام بعمل نفق يصل بين المجمع واحد الشوارع الرئيسية الملاصقة له بما سيخفف من ضغط حركة السيارات على الشوارع المكتظة المحيطة به و إن كان لا يقدم حلولا جذرية لهذه المشكلة عوضا عن عدم حله للمشكلة الأساسية المتعلقة بالتلوث السمعي و الهوائي بالمشروع و تكلفته المرتفعة المقدرة بمئات آلاف الدنانير التي ستزيد في ثقل الديون على صندوق بلديتنا الموقرة , و تسببه بتدمير احد أهم المعالم الحضارية في منطقة الدوار ( برج الساعة الجديد ) الذي دمر بدون رجعة .

إلا أن أضرار هذا النفق الذي بات يعرف بالمرحلة الأولى لا شك محدودة جدا إذا ما قورنت بالأضرار المتوقعة لما يعرف بالمرحلة الثانية من المشروع والمرحلة الثالثة المقترحة من قبل احد الزملاء المهندسين له و التي تبناها رئيس بلديتنا الموقر في مقابلة إذاعية على إحدى القنوات المحلية , دون أن يدرك الأبعاد الحقيقية لها .

فهذه المشاريع التي تقوم على فكرة عمل أنفاق و أسواق تجارية أسفل منسوب أكثر المناطق حيوية في مدينة نابلس وزرع برج غريب في المتنفس الوحيد المتبقي في وسط المدينة وتحدث تغييرات ضخمة في المنطقة التي تمثل وجهها الحضاري يطلق عليها من قبل المختصين مشاريع راديكالية و هي في الغالب غير مدروسة بشكل جيد و ستؤدي إلى نتائج لا يحمد عقباها على المدى البعيد , و لا تزال مدن كبيرة في أوروبا و الولايات المتحدة تعاني من الآثار السلبية لمثل هذه المشاريع التي انتشرت فيها في ستينات وخمسينات القرن الماضي .

إن المشروع المقترح بمرحلتيه الثانية والثالثة سيؤدي إلى مصادرة البقعة الخضراء الوحيدة المتبقية في وسط المدينة و التي تعطيها تميزها ويحولها إلى مساحات أسمنتية جرداء مع كثير من الأجزاء أسفل منسوب الشارع التي لا يصلها نور الشمس و لا تصلح لنبات ولا حيوان . كما أن مشاريع المجمعات التجارية أسفل الأرض و الأنفاق و الدهاليز ثبت فشلها على المستويين العربي و الدولي , حيث تحولت هذه المساحات المعزولة إلى أماكن لالتقاء المجرمين و المتشردين و متعاطي المخدرات و أصبحت أوكارا للجريمة و أماكن تجمع للنفايات و القوارض و الحشرات ومكاره صحية استدعت الكثير من الدراسات التي عجزت عن إيجاد حلول حقيقية لها سوى الاكتفاء بإغلاقها أو هدمها و تجنب بنائها مستقبلا.

كما أن المشروع سيؤدي إلى تدمير العديد من الطبقات الأثرية المهمة التي تنتشر في المنطقة خاصة الرومانية و الكنعانية , ومن المعروف أن النفق المقترح بين المجمع و المستشفى الوطني يقع مباشرة مكان ملعب الخيل الروماني كما يظهر من الأجزاء المكتشفة .

هذا عوضا عن التكاليف العالية له التي لا توازي الفوائد المرجوة لهذه المشاريع و التي ستقتصر في الغالب على تحقيق مصلحة مجموعة ضيقة من التجار وأصحاب رؤوس الأموال على حساب الجمهور وراحته وعلى حساب الأموال العامة لدافعي الضرائب الفلسطينيين , كما سيلحق أضرارا لا يمكن إصلاحها بالقيمة الثقافية و الحضارية للنسيج الحضاري للبلدة القديمة خاصة من خلال مشروع البرج المقترح الذي سيشغل حيز الدوار الذي اشتهر لعشرات السنوات بنافورته و أشجار النخيل و شجيرات الورد قبل أن يتم تدمير معظمها خلال سنوات الانفلات الأمني .

و للأسف فان بلدية نابلس مثلها مثل كثير من المؤسسات المحلية الأخرى لم تصل بعد إلى المرحلة التي تتقبل فيها اشتراك قطاعات واسعة من المواطنين و المتخصصين في اتخاذ القرارات المصيرية و تبقي هذه القرارات في ايدي مجموعة ضيقة من الموظفين من مهندسين و إداريين و بيد مجموعة ضيقة و مغلقة من المهندسين ضمن ما يسمى باللجنة الاستشارية والذين مع احترامنا لتجاربهم و خبراتهم المميزة إلا أنهم ينتمون لفئة عمرية محددة تتمسك بأفكار معينه لا تمثل الواقع الهندسي العالمي والمحلي لا الاتجاه العام للجمهور .

وفي الختام أدعو إخوتنا في بلدية نابلس إلى فتح أبواب النقاش حول هذا المشروع على المستويين الاختصاصي الهندسي لجميع المهندسين بدون استثناء , والمستوى الشعبي للمهتمين , ومما سيسهم في توضيح الصورة بسلبياتها و ايجابياتها و سيسهم بكل تأكيد في إيجاد البدائل المناسبة و الحلول المثلى عوضا عن الوقوع في أخطاء و قع بها الكثيرين قبلنا .

الشحادة beggar

2009-10-03T15:37:00.002+02:00

في مثل بقول الشحادة عادة , ويبدو انها عادة ما بتميز بين غني وفقير , شهر رمضان عبارة عن موسم بكثرو فيه الشحادين و اللي للأسف معظمهم نصابين , الفلم المرفق بوضح حقيقة احدى المتسولات او الشحادات , و اللي تم التقاطه بكميرا مراقبة مثبته على درج احد المباني في شارع فلسطين بنابلس خلال شهر رمضان الماضي ,

القضاء على هاي العادة بسيط جدا وحلوا بايدينا انو نبطل نشفق عليهم ونوزع الصدقات و الوكاه من خلال مؤسسات معروفة مثل لجان الزكاه او مثلا جمعية البر بنابلس اللي بتقدم خدمات عظيمة للطلبة الجامعيين المحتاجين .

there is a say in Arabic that say beggaring is a habit ,& for sorry most of the baggers those days are frauds & cheaters, the holy month of Ramadan is a season for them where dozens of them go on the street asking for help , this film was taken by a surveillance camera in a building entrance in the west bank city of Nablus , gust see what this cheater did at the end of a Ramadan work day.

Technorati Tags: شحادة,متسولة,تسول,beggar

الديمقراطية و العمارة Democracy & Architecture

2009-07-29T21:08:00.000+02:00

1) الديمقراطية لغةً :

أصل كلمة ديمقراطية و تنطق باللاتينية ( ديموكراسي ) مشتق من اللغة اليونانية , وتقسم الى مقطعين :

ديموس و تعني الشعب ( قديماً كانت تشير الى الناس الفقيرة أو جحافل الشعب و الشق الثانمي وهو كراسي أي الحكم أو القوة , و هكذا ظهرت الديمقراطية في صورتها الأولى حكم الشعب أو كما قال أريستوتول : ( حكم الرعاع ) ( حتمية الديمقراطية كنظام للحكم ) .

2) تعريف الديمقراطية :

ان كلمة " ديمقراطية" تشير فى الوقت الحالى الى أفكار و فلسفات متعددة, يمكن إيجازها فى الآتى:
- حكم الفقير و المغبون
- نظام يحكم الناس فيه أنفسهم مباشرة ,و بإستمرار و بدون الحاجة الى ساسة محترفين أو موظفين رسميين
- مجتمع يقوم على تكافؤ الفرص, و الكفاءة الشخصية, و ليس على المركز الإجتماعى أو الثراء
- نظام يهدف الى الصالح العام, و يذيب الفوارق الإجتماعية
- نظام حكم يعتمد على صوت الأغلبية
- نظام حكم يكفل العدالة و المساواة للأقليات, و ذلك بوضع معايير لتحجيم سلطة الأغلبية
- نظام يهدف الى ملأ المواقع الحكومية عن طريق معركة إنتخابية, للوصول الى الحكم
- نظام يكفل حماية مصالح أفراد الشعب بغض النظر عن ميولهم السياسية.

و بأختصار هي نظام يلاقي قبول من الشخص العادي الحر الذي يرغب في أن يكون له صوتا مسموعا و أن يعامل كآدمي له نفس الحقوق و الألتزامات المتاحة لجميع أفراد الشعب بدون تفرقة سياسية أو أجتماعية أو مالية أو ثقافية أو عرقية . ( حتمية الديمقراطية كنظام للحكم ) .

3) الديمقراطية في الفلسفة :

أ ) الكنفوشية : أسسها كنفوشيوس 551-479 ق,م في الصين ,

أشتهرت بتعاليمها ال؟أخلاقية السياسية التي تقوم على أن السماء هي الأله الأعلى تفرض مشيئتها على الناس, و أن حياة البشر رهن بالقدر و أن الجاه و الثروة منه من السماء .

ب) الديمقراطية في الفلسفة اليونانية :

برزت الفلسفة اليونانية في القرنين السادس و الخامس قبل الميلاد و أستمرت حتى القرن الرابع قبل الميلاد حيث ظهرت الفلسفة الرومانية ,

كانت الفلسفة الأغريقية الرائده في تحرير الفكر عبر تساؤلاتها عن طبيعه الوقع وحقيقه العقل و العديد من القضايا ذات الطابع المعرفي الشمولي.

و يبرز كل من افلاطون و ارسطو كمحور اساسي لهذه الفلسفه ألا أنهما كانا مكملين لعديد من الفلاسفة الذين وضعوا أسس هذا الفكر و منهم :

1- ديمقريطس:

الفيلسوف المادي الذي قال " ليس في هذا العالم ألا الخلاء و الذرات تتألف منها كل الموجودات " و أرجع ظهور الكائنات الحية الى الظروف الطبيعية عبر توحد الذرات و كان نصيرا لديمقراطية العبودية .

2- سقراط :

على عكس دمقريطيس وقف سقراط" ” رائد الفلسفة الارستقراطية النخبوية" بعناد ضد الديمقراطية في اثينا بإعتبار انها تؤدي -كما يقول- الى الفوضى عبر تحكيم الجماهير الدهماء في هذه العملية ، ونتيجة موقفه حكم بالموت رافضاً طلب الرحمة من الجماهير ، من أهم اقواله ” أي شيء اشد سخرية من هذه الديمقراطية التي تقودها الجماهير التي تسوقها العاطفة ” اليس من الغرابة ان يحل مجرد العدد محل الحكمة ”

3- أفلاطون ( 427-347ق.م ) :

كان أفلاطون تلميذا نجيبا لأستاذه سقراط مستكملا رسالة العداء للديمقراطية وفقا لأسس مغايرة ,( حيث انه فيلسوف الفرديه الارستقراطيه الذي نشأ في جو ارستقراطي مريح) (غازي الصوراني , محاضرات أولية )

" ” ان التغير عند افلاطون معناه الاضمحلال ، بينما الكمال معناه انعدام التطور ” لقد اراد مجتمعاً ثابتا (اسبرطيا لا يتحرك بالديمقراطيه كما في اثينا ) يتولى ادارته نخبه مختارة من الارستقراط الذين يمتلكون القدره على التفكير و التأمل للاشراف على ضبط “المجتمع الثابت ” الذي يجب ان تقتلع منه تلك القوى التى تعمل من اجل التغيير ، هذه الافكار طبقتها الارستقراطيه الاوروبية فيما بعد طوال اكثر من الف عام تحت راية الكنيسة او النخبة اللاهوتيه ( غازي الصوراني ) .

تعرض أفلاطون لتعريف السياسي في كتابه" السياسي" فيقول عنه بأنه صاحب اللمعرفة الحقيقي ثم يقارن بينه و بين رب الأسرة منتهياً الى وجود تشابه بين مهمتيهما , فكل منهما يعمل لصالح الجماعة وكل ما هنالك أن رب الأسرة يعمل لصالح أسرته بينما يعمل السياسي لصالح المجتمع , و يبين أقلاطون في كتابه " الجمهورية " أنواع أنظمة الحكم و جعل أفضلها دولته المثالية ثم تليها التيمقراطية و هي الدولة المثالية عند فسادها ثم تتحول الى الأوليجاركيه أو حكومة الأغنياء وتمثل التيموقراطية حين تنحط ثم تتحول الأوليجاركية الى ديمقراطية ثم الى حكم الطاغية و هو أسوأ أنواع الحكم. ( دولة أفلاطون وأرسطو, م. د. محمد ظرف) .

وفي جمهوريته وضع افلاطون تصوره للطبقات الاساسيه في المجتمع :-
• طبقة الحكام و لديها قالب فكري ذهبي..عملها الحكم .
• طبقة الجنود و لديها قالب من الفضة و هي للحرب و اعمال البوليس في الدولة
• طبقة الحرفيين و العمال و لديها قالب الحديد ، ومهمتها القيام بكافة الاعمال للانتاج اضافة الى رضوخها الدائم استناداً الى قاعدة حددها افلاطون بقوله “إنصرف الى شؤونك و قم بواجبك في مركزك الذي حددته لك الالهة ، وإذا تحدثت عن الديمقراطية ستسود الفوضى و سيصبح المجتمع قطيع واحد دون راعى في ظل الديمقراطيه ، “

فالعداله عند أفلاطون هي مصلحه الاقوى ، والقوة هي الحق ، اعجب به “نيتشه ” الذي سخر كثيراً من الضعفاء الذين يفكرون انفسهم صالحين ، “ثم “شتيرنر” الذي كتب قائلاً ” إن الحق ليس سوى مسألة بين دول متساوية في القوة ” .( غازي الصوراني) .

4- أرطو طاليس ( 384- 322 ق.م ) :

يوجد رسم مشهور للفنان روفائيل”حيث يقف افلاطون مشيراً بيده الى السماء ، بينما يقف ارسطو مشيراً بيده الى الادنى ، الى الارض ، إنه الاتجاه الارسطي الذي يبقى على صله بالواقع و التجارب العمليه و التفاصيل في مقابل الاتجاه الافلاطوني في التفكير الذي يبتعد عن العيني الملموس ويركز على المثل ” ( غازي الصوراني )

بالرغم مما تقدم فالتلميذ ارسطو لايختلف جوهرياً عن استاذه افلاطون ،فإذا كان افلاطون فيلسوف الفردية الارستقراطية فإن ارسطو هو الفيلسوف الرسمي لامبراطورية اوتوقراطية ، انه القائل ” منذ المولد هناك اناس مُعَدُّون للعبودية واناس معدون للإماره ”

كان ارسطو يقدس العقل وهو القائل ” كل من كان بمقدوره ان يتنبأ بعقله هو بطبيعته معد ليصبح سيداً “.

أفضل أشكال الحكم عنده النظام الأرستقراطي الذي يعتمد حكم القلة من النخبة المختارة ، وأطلق عليه أسم الحكومة الدستورية ( وهذا النوع من الحكم لايعدو كونه الشكل العملي المتوسط الناشيء نتيجةً لتجنب التطرف في الديمقراطية أو في الأوليجارية .

فقد كان أرسطو رافضا للديمقراطية لأنها كما يقول تقوم على افتراض كاذب بالمساواة ، من آرائه ، ان الانسان ينتمي الى مجموعة واحدة من الحيوانات الولود ذات الثدي ، والمرأة ناقصة عقل وهي مرتبه دنيا عن الرجل و الانسان الفاضل عنده هو الذي يختار الوسط بين الافراط والتقتير .

5- الفكر الأغريقي ما بعد أرسطو :

تطور الفكر السياسي الأغريقي بعد أفلاطون و أرسطو حيث أوضحوا ان أساس دولة المدينة هو الاكتفاء الذاتي و ان اصلاح عيوب الدولة أو الحكومة هو مسألة داخلية بحته وان الحكام قادرون على اصلاح هذه العيوب ( أهملوا أهمية العلاقات الخارجية في حياة الدول) و استحالة تحقيق أكتفاء ذاتي في أقتصاد هذه الدولة وهذا كانواضحا حتى في أواخر ايام ارسطو الذي صمم دولته على العيش بمعزل عن العالم الخارجي مما أدى الى الركود و الجمود في الثقافة و الحضارة و الأقتصاد مما ادى الى ضعفها بالأضافة الى تضارب المصالح بين طبقات المجتمع الواحد و النزاع الداخلي الناشيء عن هذا التضارب .

مما ادى الى ضعف الحس الوطني و انفصال الفرد عن الدولة مما ادى الى ضعفها وزوالها بعد استيلاء الرومان عليها .

ج) القلسفة الرومانية ( فلسفة القوه و حلم الدولة العالمية ) :

1- فلسفة العصر الهيلنستي ( ما بعد الاسكندر - توفى 323ق.م )في هذا العصر الذي امتد حتى القرن الثالث الميلادي بدأت ملامح أنحلال مجتمع الرق و ساهمت الفلسفة في تعزيز الطابع التأملي للحياة في هذا العصر عبر تيارات مختلفة فبعد ان ضم الرومان الدولة الأغريقية الى امبراطوريتهم حاولوا الحفاظ على تفوق هذه الاخيرة من خلال تطوير الافكار الاغريقية الخاصة بدولة المدينة فقضوا اولا على النزاع و الصدام الداخلي كما قضوا على التفرقه بين الافراد والشعوب ثم وضعوا مبدأ مساواة جميع الأفراد امام القانون و تعاونوا مع الشعوب الأخرى.

2- فلسفة المذهب الرواقي :

من اهم المذاهب الرومانية ومن أشهر فلاسفته زينون الفينيقي , حيث دعوا الى الأستسلام والسكون ورفضوا مباديء أبيقور الألحادية , وقالوا بأن الانسان الحكيم هو الذي يؤثر مصلحة الدولة على مصلحته الخاصة او الذاتية، اعتبروا أن الناس كلهم مواطنوا العالم (kosmopiles) وهذه خطوة تقدمية من حيث المبدأ، لكنها في الحقيقة جاءت انسجاما مع حلم تشييد الدولة الرومانية “العالمية” وهي في كل الاحوال ضد افكار افلاطون وارسطوا القائلة بافضلية الاغريق على الشعوب الاخرى بل وحقهم في استرقاقها.

د‌) المذاهب الأسلامية :

1- مارس المفكرون الإسلاميون نوعاً شجاعاً من الاجتهاد على نطاق واسع خلال القرون الأولى للحضارة العربية الإسلامية، وكان من نتيجة هذا الاجتهاد بروز المذاهب التي يتوزع المسلمون بينها إلى يومنا هذا، ومن المعروف أن الاجتهاد قد توقف منذ القرن الثاني عشر الميلادي تقريباً، أو ما يمكن أن نطلق عليه حالة الانقطاع الفكري، حيث تجمد الفكر كما يقول د. سمير أمين في مدارس المذاهب المذكورة وضاق هامش التفسير الحر للشريعة، فلم يعد من الممكن الخروج عن حدود المذاهب المعترف بها ،

ذلك كما يقول يقول د.الجابري في كتابه الهام ” تكوين العقل العربي ” إلى “أن الفلسفة اليونانية التي أخذها العرب عن الإغريق كانت فلسفة تؤكد على مجتمع السادة والعبيد ، ولاتؤمن بالتجربة لأنها من أعمال العبيد ( وكذلك جميع الحرف ) ، أما السادة فهم من نوع ” أعلى “ومهامهم تنحصر في التفكير والنظر وانتاج الخطاب ” وكانت المحصلة أن “إنجازات العرب في اللغة والفقه والتشريع شكلت قيوداً للعقل الذي أصبح سجين هذا البناء من الركود والتخلف”. ( غازي الصوراني ) .

2- فكر و عقيدة الدولة الأموية ( 661 م. _ 750 م. ) :

أشاع الأمويون في الحياه الفكرية آنذاك عقيدتي ” الجبر والأرجاء ” تبرر بالأولى مظالمها وما أحدثته من تحول بالسلطة السياسية ، خاصة استبدال الخلافة الشورية بالملك الوراثي، وتحاول أن تفلت بالثانية _ الإرجاء _ من إدانة المعارضة وحكمها على إيمان هذه الدولة وعقيدة حكامها بعد أن ارتكبت تلك المظالم . ( غازي الصوراني ) .

3- المعتزلة:
جذورهم تعود إلى تيار أهل العدل والتوحيد الذي كان من أبرز قادته الحسن البصري المعروف بعدائه للنظام الأموي ، تصدى هذا التيار لعقيدة ” الجبر/ التي أظهرها الأمويون ” وعارضها بإظهار موقف الإسلام المنحاز إلى حرية الإنسان واختياره وقدرته ، ومن ثم مسئوليته عن أفعاله ، ثم جاء ” واصل بن عطاء ” الذي حدد الأصول الفكرية الخمسة للمعتزلة وهي:

العدل _ التوحيد_ الوعد والوعيد_ المنزلة بين المنزلتين_ الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر.

اختلف المعتزلة عن السنة في عرضهم للأدلة، فهي عند أهل السنة ثلاثة: الكتاب _ السنة _ الإجماع ؛ بينما هي أربعة عند المعتزلة يضيفون العقل إلى هذه الأدلة الثلاثة ويقدمونه عليها جميعاً ، بل يرون أن العقل هو الأصل فيها جميعاً ، وكان طبيعياً أن يقدموا العقل في أمور الدنيا كما قدموه في أمور الدين وجعلوه حاكماً تعرض عليه المأثورات كي يفصل في صحتها رواية ودلالة .

و أزدهر المعتزلة في الفترة من عصر المأمون 813م الى أن أنقلب المتوكل عليهم في عام 850 م حيث نفاهم و قلعهم من مناصبهم وتأثيرهم الفكري .

لقد كانت المعتزلة من أصدق الفرق في الإسلام الذين جمعوا بين النص والممارسة في موضوع الأمر بالمعروف والنهي عن المنكر وأعتبروها فروض كفاية وهي أهم في مذهبهم من الفروض العين .

ويقول الدكتور محمد عمارة في كتابه ” المذاهب والتيارات الإسلامية ”: كان المعتزلة كوكبة من أهل الفكر والنظر والدين والثورة اتخذوا من الفلسفة والرقي في المعرفة بديلاً عن الأحساب والأنساب.

ويضيف الدكتور حسين مروه إلى كل ما تقدم _ دون أن يتناقض معه _ بعداً فلسفياً للمعتزلة أورده في كتابه الموسوعي القيمِّ ” النزعات المادية في الإسلام ” بقوله : ” أن المعتزلة استشرفوا إدراك وجود قوانين موضوعية في الطبيعة تجري وفقها الظاهرات الطبيعية كلها ، وأن (القدر ) عندهم بخيره وشره من الإنسان ، وأن الإنسان متفرد بين مختلف الكائنات تميزه الحرية في الاختيار لأفعاله ، وأن امتلاكه خاصة العقل هو المصدر والأصل في تفرده بتلك الميزة .

ويضيف د. مروه ” أن مفهوم العدل الدنيوي ، الأرضي عند المعتزلة لا ينفصل أيضاً عن حرية الإنسان ، أنهم يرفضون الحتمية القدرية التي تسلب الإنسان اختياره فيما يفعل ”

4) الديمقراطية في العمارة :

أ- الديمقراطية في الفكر المعماري الكلاسيكي :

ينظر العديد من المفكرين الى الديمقراطية في العمارة الكلاسيكية بطريقة مختلفة , فالنظر الى مباني تلك المدرسة التي تمثل سلطات الحكم سواءً برلمانات أوغيرها يرى ما يمثل اليوم عمارة القوة بضخامة حجمها , و الأعمدة الضخمة والزخارف المبهرة و التماثيل المنحوته و الجدران السميكة المرتفعة , رغم أن بعضها يحمل وظائف ديمقراطية مثل مبنى الكابيتول بواشنطن, رغم التناقض بين القوة و الديكتاتورية من ناحية و الديمقراطية من ناحية أخرى ,

و مثال على ذلك البارثينون, فالبارثينون يمثل قمة المباني المعمارية الكلاسيكية اليونانية في فترة كانت الحضارة اليونانية بها تمثل ثقافة الاستعمار و أستعباد الأخرين فيما يبسمى ديمقراطية العبيد , ولطالما أعتبر ممثلاص لهذه الثقافة , ألا ان العديد من المفكرين اليوم يرون أن البارثينون يمثل العمارة الديمقراطية لا بعناصره المعمارية ولكن بالعملية التي اتبعت في تصميمه و بناءه ,

فالناظر الى البارثينون بعظمته ودقة زخارفه يظن انه قد صمم بكل تفاصيله قبل الشروع في بناءه من قبل مصممه (بركليز ) وخاصة الأفريز الذي يحتوي أجمل الزخارف ويمثل أهم عناصر المبنى.

ألا أن المبنى وخاصة الأفريز خضع لعمليات تعديل وتبديل في التصميم على طول مرحلة بناءه الى أن أكتمل وذلك يرجع الى عملية التشاور و التفاوض بين عناصر الديمقراطية في أثينا وتلبية لمتطلبات ورغبات المجتمع, ولهذا يرى هؤلاء البارثينون ةمثالا للعمارة الديمقراطية من خلال العملية و الأسلوب المتبع في تصميمه و أنشاءه و القائم على التشاور و التفاوض وتلبية حاجة ورغبة الجمهور لا بالعناصر المعمارية النهائية الناتجة عن هذه العملية ( وهذا يشبه الى حد كبير مفهوم المشاركة

الحديث.( Participation

ب- المدرسة المعمارية الحديثه :

على عكس المدرسة الكلاسيكية يرى مفكري المدرسة الحديثة أن هناك عناصر معمارية واضحة ومحدده يجب توافرها في البناء لكي تحدد ماهية البناء كبناء ديمقراطي , وليس عملية التصميم و الانشاء فقط , ومن هذه العناصر :

1) الساحة العامة الجامعة

Gathering Space

( صورة للساحة الجامعة لمبنى الكابيتول , في واشنطن).

و الساحة الجامعة من أقدم العناصر التي تميز العمارة الحضرية للديمقراطيات في التاريخ بدأ بالبازيليكا اليونانية و الفورم الروماني , و ؟أستمرت تمثل عنصرا أساسيا للعمارة الديمقراطية الحديثة وهي تمثل ساحة عامة يجتمع فيها الناس دون فوارق طبقية أو تمييز بين غني وفقير أو متعلم وأمي ألخ.... , للتشاور و التواصل .

2) بساطة التشكيل المعماري وتنوعه وبعده عن الاشكال الهندسية الأولية الصريحة , ( هرم , مكعب , كره , قبة ) :

التي تعطي مظهرا غامضا و تشكل عائق بصري , و اللجوء ألى أشكال تبدو كأنها منبعثة من الطبيعة ( البرلمان الأسكتلندي الجديد ) , أو أستخدام تشكيلات معمارية تكسر الحدة البصرية للأشكال الهندسية الأولية ( مثل برلمان بون الفدرالي الجديد الذي يظهر تشكيله المعماري الاولي على شكل صندوق مستطيللكن تم أستخدام تشكيلات معمارية أعتمدت نوعا من الخداع البصري و الشفافية في الواجهات لتشتيت الأنتباه عنه ) .

3) الشفافية و الوضوح من خلال :

أ – أستخدام الزجاج لأنتاج واجهات شفافة تسمح برؤية الداخل و الخارج .

ب- أستخدام المخطط المفتوح و عد استخدام القسامات الصلبة و اللجوء الى قواطع نصفية أو شفافة في حالات الضرورة .

ج- وضع محاور الحركة العمودية ( مصاعد و أدراج ) في اماكن واضحة و أن تكون جدرانها من مواد شفافة ( مصاعد بانوراما زجاجية ) .

4) أستخدام المقياس الأنساني : تناسب مقاييس البناء مع الأنسان و الابتعاد عن المباني العالية و الفتحات و المداخل و التشكيلات المعمارية الضخمة .

5) أستخدام التكنولوجيا في الأنشاء و تكييف الجو البيئي :

حيث يرى المفكرين أن التكنولوجيا كانت المحفز للثورة الصناعية التي أطلقت شرارة الديمقراطية وقضت على عصور الظلام و يعتبرونها الحامي للديمقراطية , ولذلك يلجؤن لأستخدامها في الأنشاء من خلال أستخدام احدث المواد مثل الأنشاء بالهياكل المعدنية( قوي وصغير غير ظاهر مما يسمح بالشفافية ) , والسطوح الزجاجية التي تعطي الشفافية و تسمح مع التكنولوجيا الحديثة بتوجيه الاضاءة و الحصول على طاقة للتدفئة و التكييف الطبيعي ( كما في الألواح الزجاجية لقبة مبنى الرايخ ستاج ببرلين ) .

6) أستخدام الطبيعة و العناصؤ الخضراء :

لأضفاء نوع من الجو الطبيعي الذي يكسر الحدة البصرية للمنشآت الهندسية و يضفي نوعا من الالفة و الجو الهاديء للمتجول في المبنى من خلال أدخال العناصر الخضراء الى داخل المبنى فلا يشعر المتنقل بحدة النقلة من الخارج للداخل و بالعكس , كما ان العناصر الخضراء تزيد عامل المقياس الأنتساني .

7)التدرج في المستويات و أستخدام التراسات و الجسور في الربط بين الكتل :

وذلك للدلالة على التدرج الوظيفي الذي يكفله القانون ولأستغلال الارض بالشكل المناسب , أما التراسات فتسمح للناس بالتجول فيها ومراقبة المستويات الاخرى , و الجسور تسمح بحرية و شفافية الحركة من جزء الى آخرمن المبنى .

8) التنوع في التشكيل وفي الالوان وذلك للدلالة على التعددية و الأبتعاد عن استخدام رتم محدد و الالوان الحادة التي تسبب النفور .

9) حرية الحركة وتعدد المداخل و المخارج ووضوحها وبعدها عن الحدة .

وقد حدد القائمون على المعرض العالمي للعمارة الديمقراطية الحديثة سبعة مشاريع معمارية تحظى بالاعتراف العالمي كمثال على عمارة القرن العشرين الديمقراطية زكحالات دراسية لها وهي :

1) Chandigarh, Parliament Building )Indea) designed by Le Corbusier (1954)

2) Brazilian National Assembly, designed by Oscar Niemeyer (1962)

3) Dacca, Bangladesh designed by Louis Kahn (1962- 83)

4) New Second Chamber, The Hague, designed by P B de Brujin (1978-85)

5) Capital Hill, Canberra, designed by Mitchell Giurgola and Thorp (completed 1988

6) Federal Parliament, Bonn, designed by Behnisch and Partner (completed 1991)

7) Rebuilding of the Reichstag, by

Foster and Partners (1994-99)

بالأضافة الى مبنى البرلمان الأسكتلندي الجديد الذي يعتبر مثالا على العمارة الديمقراطية للقرن الحادي و العشرين .

the new Scottish Parliament by Enric Miralles/RMJM.

المراجع:

1- محاضرات أولية في الفلسفة وتطورها التاريخي 2

د.غازي الصوراني 2 يوليو 2005 .

دروب (موقع ألكتروني)

http://70.103.16.174/~doroobco/index.php?p=394

2- مقال بعنوان دولة ((أفلاطون و أرسطو والرومان ودولة فلسطين ) المحامي الدكتور محمد ظرف جريدة القدس ص21 16/10/20006

: Book Architecture and Democracy-

Author: Claude Fayette Bragdon

Release Date: June 15, 2004 [eBook #12625

Clemente Marconi 4-

THE PARTHENON

AND THE CORE CURRICULUM

2004 Columbia University

http://www.dkv.columbia.edu/vmc/learning/clemente_marconi.pdf.

ARCHITECTURE OF DEMOCRACY The Architecture of 5-Democracy exhibition

http://www.opw.ie/whatsnew/pr2000/12_5_00.htm

حتمية الديمقراطية كنظام للحكم مقال

الأفوكاتو

Jul 15 2006, 12:56 PM

http://www.egyptiantalks.org/invb/index.php?showtopic=21988

موقع محاورات المصريين

تناقضات التأسيس الأرسطي لمفهوم الاستبداد الآسيوي7-

حسين الهنداوي باحث وأكاديمي في مجال الفلسفة يقيم في لندن

http://www.nizwa.com/volume32/p32_39.html

ARCHITECTURE REVIEW; Gehry's Vision Of Renovating Democracy

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEED6103AF93BA25756C0A9679C8B63

Democracy Revisited:

The Ancients and the Moderns

Alain de Benoist

http://theoccidentalquarterly.com/vol3no2/adb-democracya.html

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

2009-07-23T17:42:00.000+02:00

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

Activism during the War on Gaza 27/ 12/2008 -17-1-2009

Prepared By: Eng. Shafiq Bara

Introduced To : D. Nurhan Abu Gdai

2nd Semester 2008/2009

V.U.B. Brussels

Introduction :

In every conflict there is two sides and two stories or even more , and the second side in the case of Gaza conflict is the state of Israel with all its official and noun official institutions , During the Gaza cast lead operation (war) , all the Israeli institutions worked together as a hidden network and in deferent levels and categories to keep the image of Israel as a democratic state defending its land against a foreign attacks , against the Palestinian and international institutions that tried to draw another image for the Gaza war.

As there is to many Israeli institutions that worked during the Gaza un equal war to draw the Israeli image and story it will be hard to highlight them all but we will try to divide them in main categories and to speak about main examples in each category ,

The first category : of Israeli institutions that worked during the Gaza war is the official level

one of the main players in this level was the Israeli Army so called by the Israeli as ( The Israeli defense force – IDF ) or what's known by the Palestinians as the Occupation force , Back in 1948 right after the so called the declaration of independence of state of Israel , and with the establishment of the official Israeli army , a special unit was created to deal with the image of this army in the eyes of the world , this unit was called (The IDF Spokesperson's Unit ) , this unit has an official statement about its mission that says :

" The purpose of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit is to report on the accomplishments and activities of the IDF to the Israeli and international public, to nurture public confidence in the IDF, and to serve as the IDF's primary professional authority on matters of public relations and distribution of information to the public ".[1]

( the unit logo )

Background:

The so called IDF Spokesperson Brigade represents the Israeli army in the communication arena, widening its scope constantly. Publishing communication announcements, quick and reliable updates, guided press tours and commander training are only a portion of the operations the troops and commanders implement daily. The brigade operates daily with 500 media outlets and 2500 journalists and civilian agents addressing over 2000 inquiries a month.

Professional Functions:
The so called IDF Spokesperson's Unit performs a variety of functions. This includes: serving as the spokesperson for the Israeli army both in side Israel and the occupied territories and abroad, developing and implementing the army public relations policies, disseminating military related information to the public, instructing the army personnel in matters pertaining to Public relations, and developing relationships with media outlets and accompanying them to military events.

During the war on Gaza or Cast Lead – limited military operation ( the name invented by the unit ) the unit played a major role in shaping the story and the image of the war from the official Israeli point of view , through daily conferences and meetings around the clock with the media representatives and through spokesmen who speak deferent languages like Hebrew , Arabic , English , French and many others languages this unit managed to address the public inside Israel and the hole world even the Arab world and the Palestinian community through deferent ways , like TV stations , Radio , Satellite news paper and internet .

Their purpose was to show that the military operation they were launching on Gaza strip which was seen by the world as a closed ghetto filed with civilians ,is an ethical operation and that the tool of death and destruction caused by the heavy military equipments ( Tanks , artillery , Airplanes , Helicopters and advanced technological Arms ) used against Hammas ( a Palestinian fraction seen by the Israelis as a terrorist organization ) as they insisted and not the Palestinian civilians , and that all the destruction of Palestinian infra structure and the high numbers of causalities in the Palestinian side are part of the battle collateral damage and that it's not intended .

This brigade is a will organized and funded brigade , and all the officers inside passed high quality trainings to understand the background of the people they address and the way to address each community , the unit also was looking at the latest technologies to communicate the public realm , and she noticed early that a major part of the battle on the ground during the last war was taking place on the internet through many web sites ,

And even she had its own web site (http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/Terms.htm) which address the people in 2 languages ( Hebrew and English ) and speaks about the deferent activates & operations done by the army in almost a real time , but that was not enough , because of the deferent social web sites like face book and YouTube that attracts so many people to them , because of their deferent capabilities of hosting videos and sound and flash animations , and to reach a wide base of humans around the globe .

IDF spokesperson web site

One of their banners

So the brigade saw that he must launch new channels and groups about his activities at those 2 famous web sites before tow months of the war on Gaza , the most famous site that this brigade launched was a Chanel on you tube called idfnadesk (http://www.youtube.com/user/idfnadesk) , this Chanel contains videos and films about the major operations carried inside Gaza , films that records air strikes at targets inside Gaza & films about conferences and meetings with the press held by the brigade spoke men .

One famous incident related to this Chanel was a film released through it to the press shows two men launching mortars from inside a school , in response to the united nations accusations to Israel of shilling one of her UNERWA schools in Gaza during the war (6/1/2009) killing at least 45 Palestinians and Injuring dozens of them , which was discovered to be an old video tape that goes 3 years back on time , and then the IDF was forced to announce an apology to the united nations about this shilling claiming it’s a part of the collateral damage of the battle that takes the civilians houses as its ground , to avoid future trails for their army officers in International courts with war crimes .

The YouTube Chanel launched by the brigade .

Of course there is many other official institutions that tried to address deferent media agencies like The Government Press Office (GPO) - (http://www.pmo.gov.il) , which is an agency within the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) assigned with the responsibility of coordinating channels of communication between the Israeli government and the press corps. We issue press accreditation and are responsible for facilitating press coverage of key state functions and visits of foreign dignitaries , and was dealing through the Gaza war on the political level , addressing the people about the policies of the Israeli government in Gaza .

The web site of The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO)

The second category: the semi private institutions

like the deferent news Papers in Israel , one of the biggest and most famous news papers in Israel is Haaretz Newspaper (http://www.haaretz.com) ,

Haaretz describes herself as an independent daily newspaper with a broadly liberal outlook both on domestic issues and on international affairs. It has a journalistic staff of some 330 reporters, writers and editors. The paper is perhaps best known for its Op-ed page, where its senior columnists - among them some of Israel's leading commentators and analysts - reflect on current events. and Haaretz claims that she plays an important role in the shaping of public opinion and is read with care in government and decision-making circles.
Haaretz was founded in Jerusalem in 1919 by a group of Zionist immigrants, mainly from Russia, In 1922, the paper moved to Tel Aviv, its home to the present day.
The paper appears daily (except Saturdays), in four broadsheet sections:
News and sports (16-20 pages); business and finance (16-20 pages); opinion and features (8 pages); and arts and leisure (8-10 pages). In addition, it carries a real estate supplement on Sundays, a multimedia supplement ("Captain Internet") on Tuesdays, a book review supplement on Wednesdays, a 120-page weekend magazine on Fridays and a monthly health magazine. Haaretz sells 75,000 copies on weekdays and 95,000 on Fridays. Most of its readers are regular subscribers; news-stand sales account for a relatively small proportion .[2]

In addition to that Harretz Launched a web site that contains big part from the articles in the printed edition in addition to a sources of information's about the urgent news events that happen all around the world specially in Israel and occupied Palestine , in almost a real time feed , this site has tow editions a Hebrew language one and an English one , but the Hebrew copy is bigger and covers more issues than the English one , but the great thing about it that it forms a big archive for all the articles and the news analysis done by the news paper since the site was established .

Haaretz web site

The good thing about haaretz that it forms something like a pool that contains the articles of deferent famous Israeli writers from the deferent sides of the Israeli political rainbow , from the extreme left to the extreme right, like Amos Harel ( Military reporter concerned about the Palestinian conflict ) , Akiva Eldar and many other reporters , and because of the deferent topics inside it gives a good understanding to the way of thinking in Israel almost in everything , from politics to economy to sport, etc..

During the war on Gaza , Harretz made a special Coverage for the action in the ground , and her web site was updating the news almost around the clock ,the coverage was a pro- Israeli coverage that support the war on Gaza Mainly as almost the majority of the Israeli citizens , in order to bring Peace to the southern part of Israel as many correspondent like to say , but to be fair in its coverage the news paper was showing a big part of the Palestinian suffering and the rise in the death toll among them , but almost blaming Hamas of the responsibility about the situation ,

And in addition to its coverage to the military operation and the situation inside Gaza using reports from the both sides of the conflict , the news paper played a major role in showing the Israeli citizens suffering in the south , and she covered it in an extinctive way from the Palestinian rocket attacks to the life inside shelters to the fears of children , stereotyping a propaganda that claims there were a welfare war going in the ground , and in some times claiming that the agony in the Israeli side is even bigger .

The third category : the Pro – Israeli institutions working inside Israel and around the worl , one of the most important of them is the AIPAC (America's Pro-Israel Lobby ).

History & Background :

For more than half a century, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has worked to help make Israel more secure by ensuring that American support remains strong. From a small pro-Israel public affairs boutique in the 1950s, AIPAC has grown into a 100,000-member national grassroots movement described by The New York Times as "the most important organization affecting America's relationship with Israel." [3]

AIPAC Achievements :

AIPAC is very proud for the support that she provide for Israel ,and the powerful relations with the main tow American parties , in their web site they count part of their recent achievements by saying :" AIPAC works with both Democratic and Republican political leaders to enact public policy that strengthens the vital U.S.-Israel relationship. With the support of its members nationwide, AIPAC has worked with Congress and the Executive Branch on numerous critical initiatives -- from securing vital foreign aid for Israel to stopping Iran's illicit nuclear program." [4]

A photo from the AIPAC web Site shows the relationship with the Top united states leaders ,

AIPAC and the War On GAZA :

During the war on Gaza AIPAC was organizing several activities all over the united states to support Israel , holding meetings with the American politicians , organizing workshops and pro Israel rallies& raising funds to support the war on Gaza and to make its image on the American realm as a legitimate War.

The AIPAC policy in covering the daily war events is totally a pure extreme right wing coverage , that totally focus on the Israeli civilians agony , and showing the Palestinians in Gaza as terrorists attacking Israel with all the power & brutality they have .

A brief about this kind of coverage can be seen in the articles head lines after a simple search on Gaza inside their web site ( http://www.aipac.org/) and below is an example about their publications about Gaza war which even make you see the long term preparation for the war before it starts in the ground :

AIPAC - Publications Catalog

... Editorial: On Gaza's Edge. 9/16/2007. ... Terrorists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other
groups are firing the rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. ...
www.aipac.org/Publications/index_4821.asp

[PDF] Alarming Threat: Hamas Amassing Weapons in Gaza

... October 12, 2007 Alarming Threat: Hamas Amassing Weapons in Gaza ... 0 5 mi. TERRORIST
BUILDUP IN THE GAZA STRIP Since Israel’s Full Withdrawal in 2005 ...
www.aipac.org/Publications/Issue_Brief_-_Alarming_Threat_-_Terrorists_Amassing_Weapons_in_Gaza.pdf
[ More results from www.aipac.org/Publications ]

[PDF] Alarming Threat: Terrorists Amassing Weapons in Gaza

... Alarming Threat: Terrorists Amassing Weapons in Gaza ... An Israeli man sits in his living
room after it was hit by a rocket fired by terrorists in Gaza. ...
www.aipac.org/.../Issue_Brief_-_Alarming_Threat_-_Terrorists_Amassing_Weapons_in_Gaza.pdf

[PDF] Hamas Creates Terror ‘State’ in Gaza

the UJC ( United Jewish Communities for north America ),

Another similar institution that works in the United States and Canada is the UJC ( United Jewish Communities for north America ),

History & Background :

the UJC Claims it represent and serve 157 Jewish federations and 400 independent Jewish communities across North America. & that It reflects the values of social justice and human rights that define the Jewish people. The values of caring that transform lives and perform miracles.

They also claim to represents and serves one of the world's largest and most effective networks of social service providers and programs. Men, women and children – both professionals and volunteers – dedicated to safeguarding and enhancing Jewish life. And to meeting the needs of all people, Jews and non-Jews, wherever they live.

United Jewish Communities – the merger of the Council of Jewish Federations, United Israel Appeal, and United Jewish Appeal – was realized to represent and serve the North American federation system. To put forth a new model of community and philanthropy. To build the framework for new opportunities and new partnerships that will challenge the Jewish people to continue the traditions of education, leadership, advocacy and responsibility that have inspired the world.

the UJC federation system advocates for Israel and its claimed desire for peace, but she also claims that it remains a non-partisan organization un-aligned with any particular political party in the United States or abroad.[5]

UJC and the War On GAZA :

UJC on its web site represents part of its activities to support Israel position on the un even war and she organized many activities similar to AIPAC like organizing workshops and pro Israel rallies& raising funds to support the civilian Jewish communities in crises areas as they claim sending equipment food and money to the Israeli towns or settlements near the border with Gaza strip , and even organizing supporting trips for Jewish and American Christians and politicians to visit the Israeli towns in the conflict area to increase their support .

And to increase their support UJC was broadcasting a real time reports about the conditions of Israeli civilians in the war time through deferent media institutions in north America , and also in her web site : (http://www.ujc.org ) .

UJC web site

Below there is an example about the deferent ways of activism the UJC did during the war time as they represented in their web site :

 Rallies Across North America: A week of solidarity with Israel
the Rallies Across North America: A week of solidarity with Israel of communities hosting rallies to support Israel and for new tools to help make your rallies a success, including:

 A video message from Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor;

 A video message from Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni;

 Rally banners and signage;

 Talking Points for speakers and media interviews;

 Coverage from local rallies;

 IAI Sample Letter to Senator or Representative Regarding the Gaza Situation;

 Statements of Support from U.S. Congressional Leaders;

 Resources from the Israeli Embassy in Washington;

 High-res images from the Gaza perimeter;

 A moving letter from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak;

 Email Your Support for Congressional Resolution Supporting Israel's Right to Self Defense.
UJC Solidarity Mission

The UJC Leadership Solidarity Mission to Israel had at that time 27 participants, with more expected to register in the next days.
The mission, , will allow participants to hear from top Israeli government officials, meet with residents and city officials in Southern Israel, visit wounded civilians and soldiers, attend "insiders" briefings with military officials and visit JAFI/JDC programs that are already meeting needs, but require even more support as these needs grow. Please contact UJC's Susan Solow-Dubin for details.

UJC America's Voices Media Mission
UJC took American journalists to Israel from Jan. 11 through 14 on an America's Voices Media Mission. The mission included a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres, briefings from IDF spokespeople and visits to JAFI/JDC programs that are helping Israelis in Southern Israel, to wounded Israelis and Palestineans at Barzilai Medical Center and to locations hit by Hamas missiles.
UJC Israel Solidarity Drive
UJC has launched an Israel Solidarity Drive to help bring relief to the nearly 1 million Israelis living under threat of missile attacks from Gaza. The UJC/Federation system has committed $10 million to meet growing humanitarian and social needs in Southern Israel. Please encourage your community to donate now.
UJC Israel's Comprehensive Situation Update:
the UJC Israel Office is focused on the situation in Gaza and has provided this latest comprehensive situation update (from the Israeli point of View ) , which includes information on the military, politics and the status of social needs via our main partners in Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency for Israel.
UJC's Gaza Situation Web page:
the UJC's Gaza Situation Web page at www.ujc.org/gaza it represents background resources, stories from the Israeli side of the front, multimedia material, news coverage and more. This page is being updated daily. [6]
and its clear that this coverage is focusing totally on the Israeli story forming a humanitarian issue to make more and more people take the Israeli story as a complete package , and you can see it never take in consideration the Palestinian side of story , and even if you made a review to this site continent you can feel that Palestinian civilians never exist and all those in Gaza are Hamas members .

The 4^th category : international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli

international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli policy in covering the war and in the reports about the situation they relies in their web sites ,One of those Institutions is the Human Rights tribune (http://www.humanrights-geneva.info).

History and background :

The Human Rights Tribune is a website was set up by the press agency InfoSud in Geneva in March 2006, in English and French, specializing in human rights issues. Every year it puts on line some 2500 articles covering news and analysis of key human rights issues. The site publishes articles written by journalists and accepts contributions from diplomats, victims, experts, NGOs and humanitarian organizations.

Human Rights Tribune is funded by donations from the public and private sector. It claims to be editorially independent in its coverage of political, economic and religious issues. The they also claim to abides to ethical Charters in its relations with sponsors as well as in its editorial line, based on the declaration of the rights and responsibilities drawn up by the Swiss Journalist Federation “impressum”.

For the first while you will see a web site well designed and funded and have a high rating through Google Gadget (4/10 ) which means he relatively receive a high number of visitors monthly almost the same as the Palestinian Maan News agency web site ,

The web site is not mainly concerned about the middle east conflict as it covers almost all the conflicts around the world , and speaks about the human rights conditions during each struggle ( like the reports about the Tamels of Serilanka ),

And to be honest for the first while you will see a good balanced coverage for the conflicts even in Gaza , as you can find in the web site dozens of reports about the humanitarian conditions in Gaza strip , and the developments inside the Gaza strip using mostly the human rights reports in its coverage to the events in the ground .

The problem in this site that the majority of the reports comes from Israeli institutions like the Israeli human rights organizations , and few of them are from international institutions like the United Nations and the UNERWA , but you can't find any report from a Palestinian source , and even worse it uses sometimes official Israeli government and army announcements as their source reports like the report in the link below which is an official Israeli army announcement about the situation in Gaza without butting any other report that speaks about the Palestinian point of view for the actions going in the ground .

The article name is :"Conclusion of Investigations into Central Claims and Issues in Operation Cast Lead"- Annoucement from Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), http://www.humanrights-geneva.info/spip.php?page=print_article&id_article=4368

The 5^th category : the nongovernmental institutions like the human rights groups .

The Human rights groups in Israel is a wide expression that covers at least 3 deferent kinds of groups that define itself as Israeli :

· 1^st type : Offices and subdivisions for international human rights groups like Amnesty International - Israel Section

, http://www.amnesty.org.il/, & Physicians for Human Rights - Israel , http://www.phr.org.il/phr/ .

Amnesty Israel Logo

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel logo

· 2^nd type : Arab Palestinian groups in the 1948 territories like Adalah - The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel , (http://www.adalah.org/ ).

Adalah Logo

History & Back Ground :

Adalah is an independent human rights organization, registered in Israel. It is a non-profit, non-governmental, and non-partisan legal center. Established in November 1996, it serves Arab citizens of Israel, numbering over one million people or close to 20% of the population. Adalah ("Justice" in Arabic) works to protect human rights in general, and the rights of the Arab minority in particular.

Adalah's main goals are to achieve equal individual and collective rights for the Arab minority in Israel in different fields including land rights; civil and political rights; cultural, social, and economic rights; religious rights; women's rights; and prisoners' rights.

In order to achieve these goals, Adalah:

· Brings cases before Israeli courts and various state authorities regarding the rights of the Arab minority.

· Advocates for legislation that will ensure equal individual and collective rights for the Arab minority.

· Provides legal consultation to individuals, non-governmental organizations, and Arab institutions.

· Appeals to international institutions and forums in order to promote the rights of the Arab minority in particular, and human rights in general.

· Organizes study days, seminars, and workshops, and publishes reports on legal issues concerning the rights of the Arab minority in particular, and human rights in general.

· Trains stagiaires (legal apprentices), law students, and new Arab lawyers in the field of human rights.[7]

The problem that Adalah web site in English is not so affective and it seems it was not modified for a long time , but its web site in Arabic and Hebrew are better organized and being updated every while , adalah web site address is : (http://www.adalah.org)

Adalah Web site (http://www.adalah.org)

Adalah and the War On GAZA :

Even long before the last war on Gaza the group have a lot of activities to expose the Israeli racism in all the historical Palestine , because Arabs inside Israel see them self's as a major part of the Palestinian people and they are proud to announce that they are ,

During the year before the war Adala went to the Israeli courts with many cases concerned about the conditions in Gaza strip concerned about the siege the racism , the reduction of basic supplies , the freedom of movement & the conditions on the checkpoints .

Like in 7 February 2008 , Adala published a report about the Israeli intension to reduce the amount of power entering the closed Gaza strip & after she went to the supreme Israeli court which dismissed its cause and approved the government action , the report headlines was like that :

· Starting Tomorrow: Escalation in Collective Punishment of Gaza – With Supreme Court Approval

· Human Rights Groups: "Israel is Violating the Rights of Civilians in Gaza and Depriving them of Basic Needs – in Violation of International Law."

· Human Rights Organizations Petition Supreme Court Demanding an Injunction against Israeli Government to Prevent Disruption to Supply of Electricity and Fuel to Gaza

Adala spoke about the Israeli decision and how it will affect the daily life of civilians , and that and action like that is forbidden by law in the national and the international level , in a way to expose the Israeli policies to the world, During the war on Gaza & after it Adala continued her work and dozens of times she went to the Israeli courts in a try to stop the Israeli killing machine with the limited available ways that she could do .

Also Adala Established a hot line during the war time to collect information's and stories about what is going in the ground , and the Israeli war crimes & in a rare development Adala worked with deferent Israeli groups trying to unify their efforts to expose the humanitarian conditions inside Gaza , and to do so they established a collective blog on the net to but their reports and the latest developments , which we are going to speak about it later in this Research.

· 3^nd type : Israeli human rights groups:

concerned in deferent levels of human rights and every groups is concerned in one or more particular issue , like the rights of individuals , or the freedom of movement , anti racism or the health condition , some of them work in general inside Israel and the occupied territories and some of them is concerned in the Palestinian issue under occupation , and most of those groups are politically left winged financed by left Israeli parties or even the European union . And we are going to left some of them below :

1) Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights,( http://eng.bimkom.org/),

Bimkom Logo

Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights is an Israeli non-profit organization formed in 1999 by a group of planners and architects, in order to strengthen democracy and human rights in the field of planning.

Spatial planning plays a crucial role in determining the quality of life environment, as well as the prospects for socio-economic development and well-being of individuals and communities alike. The planning process in Israel is highly centralized and largely removed from the sphere of public debate and scrutiny. As a result, the rights and needs of local communities are often not taken into account. Flawed or discriminatory planning, and the unequal distribution of land and other public resources reinforce the inequalities between different sectors of society and impact negatively on our most basic values and rights.

Drawing on values such as human rights, social justice, good governance and community participation, the group seek to affect system-wide change by encouraging the development of new planning policies and procedures that are more equitable and responsive to the needs of the various communities.

And part of the group concerns is the conditions of urban planning in the Palestinian territories and the effect of the expansion of Israeli settlements and during the war the group was concerned in the effect of the destruction on the spatiality of the Palestinian urban context and the long term effects caused by the destruction of the infra structure and the physical structure on the quality of life .[8]

2) Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, www.Gisha.org

The Group Logo

For sorry we couldn’t find much about Gisha as her web site is corrupted and not functioning , but Gisha concern is limited to the freedom of movement for individuals ,groups and Goods in Israel and the Palestinian territories , and she was watching in the last few years the conditions of movement , road blocks , check points and the siege on Gaza strip , and her efforts some time went beyond the reports to visual actions like a small film submitted at the net speaks about the Siege in Gaza , and how the deferent regional and international sides take a part in making it affective and how is that affecting the ordinary human life in Gaza and making it unbearable, but we must not forget that this is an Israeli group that in the same time blames Palestinians by launching missiles in Israel . and here is a link to this short film called Closed Zone in YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIwASYuDGYM

Photos from the Film scene

And this is another link for a short film (Closed Zone – Behind the scene ) that speaks about the idea about this film and why this group is concerned : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPhrsY6KRIA

3) Hamoked - Center for the Defense of the Individual , http://www.hamoked.org/

HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, is a human rights organization which was established in order to assist Palestinians subjected to the Israeli occupation which causes severe and ongoing violation of their rights. HaMoked works for the enforcement of the standards and values of international human rights and humanitarian law.

HaMoked was established in 1988, against the backdrop of the first intifada. At the time, the organization was designed to help Palestinians injured by the “broken bones” policy, and was called “The Hotline for Victims of Violence”. As Palestinians from the Israeli Occupied Territories of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem turned to HaMoked with additional issues, the organization expanded its activities to handle human rights violations in other spheres as well. These include Detainee Rights; Residency Rights and Family Unification; Freedom of Movement; Violence by security forces and settlers toward Palestinians; House Demolition and more.

Processing of complaints includes contacting the relevant authorities, and when necessary filing legal claims and submitting petitions to the High Court of Justice. Concurrently, HaMoked endeavors to introduce policy changes and implement legislative amendments that would improve the status of human rights in the Occupied Territories.

HaMoked’s team comprises 35 Jewish and Palestinian workers.

Since its inception, HaMoked has handled more than 65,000 complaints on various subjects.

4) B'Tselem - the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, http://www.btselem.org

B'TSELEM web Site Header

B'TSELEM - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was established in 1989 by a group of prominent academics, attorneys, journalists, and Knesset members. It endeavors to document and educate the Israeli public and policymakers about human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, combat the phenomenon of denial prevalent among the Israeli public, and help create a human rights culture in Israel.

B'Tselem in Hebrew literally means "in the image of," and is also used as a synonym for human dignity. The word is taken from Genesis 1:27 "And God created humans in his image. In the image of God did He create him." It is in this spirit that the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that "All human beings are born equal in dignity and rights."

As an Israeli human rights organization, B'Tselem claims that it acts primarily to change Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories and ensure that its government, which rules the Occupied Territories, protects the human rights of residents there and complies with its obligations under international law.

B'Tselem claims to independent and is funded by contributions from foundations in Europe and North America that support human rights activity worldwide, and by private individuals in Israel and abroad.

B'Tselem has attained a prominent place among human rights organizations. In December, 1989 it received the Carter-Menil Award for Human Rights. Its reports have gained B'Tselem a reputation for accuracy, and the Israeli authorities relate to them seriously. B'Tselem claims that it ensures the reliability of information it publishes by conducting its own fieldwork and research, the results of which are thoroughly cross-checked with relevant documents, official government sources, and information from other sources, among them Israeli, Palestinian, and other human rights organizations.

Activities :

The focus on documentation reflects B'Tselem's objective of providing as much information as possible to the Israeli public, since information is indispensable to taking action and making choices. Readers of B'Tselem publications may decide to do nothing, but they cannot say, "We didn't know."

Reports

B'Tselem has published scores of reports, some comprehensive in scope, covering most kinds of human rights violations that have occurred in the Occupied Territories. The reports have dealt, for example, with torture, fatal shootings by security forces, restriction on movement, expropriation of land and discrimination in planning and building in East Jerusalem, administrative detention, and settler violence.

Press conferences are often held when a new report is published. In addition, reports often lead to B'Tselem accompanying and assisting journalists reporting on human rights violations, and to other activities intended to affect public opinion in Israel.

Activity in the Knesset

B'Tselem regularly provides Knesset members with information on human rights violations in the Occupied Territories, and injustices caused by Israeli authorities. Several Knesset members, from various factions, assist B'Tselem in placing human rights matters on the public agenda and in safeguarding human rights.

Public action

B'Tselem has hundreds of supporters and volunteers who work to improve the human rights situation in the Occupied Territories. These activities include, in part, setting up information stands, distributing printed material, addressing problems and requests to decision-makers, and participating in protests in the Occupied Territories. [9]

The Israeli Human rights Groups & the War in Gaza :

During the war on Gaza all the listed above Israeli group and many other smaller groups like Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (http://www.stoptorture.org.il/en ) , Rabbis for Human Rights (http://rhr.israel.net/) , Yesh Din - Volunteers for Human Rights (http://www.yesh-din.org ) & The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (http://www.acri.org.il/ ) worked together in order to inform the Israeli public of the impact on civilians as they claim ,

Those groups established a blog on the net ( http://gazaeng.blogspot.com/) in 2 languages ( English & Hebrew ) which they feed with particularly regarding events that were not reported by the media. Each group posted the information at its disposal, which has been verified to its best ability under the circumstances. They also described the data in the Blog as necessarily limited and should not be taken as a comprehensive picture of the human rights violations currently taking place.

The blog header , http://gazaeng.blogspot.com/

The blog had a high percentage of viewers in few months that made Google gadget gives him relatively good ranking between the international web sites ( 6/10) even the site is a free blog and even that Upon the declaration of the cease-fire, all the groups h stopped the daily updates for the site , and even They declared that organizations will continue to use the Blog to provide information on the war and its consequences but nothing new were add to the site since that day and each group is continuing its own work within its policy alone .

The site contains information's about the death toll &Causalities in Gaza and the Israeli, it also contains testimonies from Palestinian civilians under the fire , and to be honest it helped forming the full story about what happened inside Gaza behind the cameras of the press , the site also contains Images and short Videos about the destruction in the ground inside Gaza , it also contains Testimonies from civilians and eyewitnesses in side gaza documented by those groups with headlines like :

- Soldiers kill and wound dozens from a single family

- Family flees from threat of bombing

- Vegetable merchant and young son killed in Israeli bombing of police building, Deir al-Balah

It also speak about suspicious events that they see could contains human rights violation like:

· Suspicion: Soldiers shot and killed man and his son in their home

· Suspicion: Soldiers shot Palestinian farmer to death without warning

It also contains information about the appeals those groups made during the War time which they insist in calling it ( Hostility actions ) which seems to be a legal description lighter than the WAR term ( which we think should be investigated because it seems to be in the Israeli army favor of avoiding legal discrimination in the front of international courts ) , and here a few examples for those appeals to the authorities :

- Stop use of GSS investigations to deter solidarity demonstrations

- All parties must stop targeting civilians ( this appeal make equal the two sides as violating the international laws and attacking civilians ).

- End U.S "lopsided response" to Gaza crisis

- Attacking civilian government institutions violates international humanitarian law

- Bombing civilian neighborhoods and killing and injuring civilians in Gaza constitute war crimes

Conclusion :

There is too many institutions and groups in Israel that was practicing deferent kind of activism , both pro War activism & anti war activism , only few of them was highlighted through this research because of the huge amount of information available about them , were apple to highlight deferent categories and types of those institutions and groups that cover the actions in Gaza war in deferent methods and for deferent purposes .

Those deferent institutions are functioning with a very good budget and have always a highly trained and educated teams that investigate every and each word before publishing it , they are also well connected with the world wide press and affective in reaching the communities they target .Emotional interaction is controlled and not used except when they need it to reach their goals and that gives them a privilege over the Palestinian institutions that most of them work in a very low budget with un trained teams emotionally driven ,

And even part of those4 groups seems to be a pro Palestinian groups act to help Palestinian civilians in the ground , but they are still part of the Israeli propaganda which tries to draw a Democratic image for this state which is considered by the Palestinians and a big section of the world public realm as a racist criminal country .

Other groups acts to show the humanitarian side in the Israeli front , neglecting the Palestinians side and eliminating the presence of Palestinians and hiding their agony and stereotyping the image of Palestinians as terrorists and criminals , the other kind of those groups are the official groups which insist that this war on Gaza strip is part of a self defense act against the Palestinian attacks and try to prove that all the civilian causalities are part of the collateral damage .

Its seems to be clear that all those deferent institutions and groups are will organized well connected and complete the work of each other in order to keep a balanced image of the state of Israel , and for sorry the work of the Palestinian groups are scattered , in complete , and un professional most of the time , and almost an individual work that cant affect the global public realm in a good way and even takes a great part of its information's from the Israeli human rights groups without auditing it .

The end

[1] IDF spokesperson web site , 4/2009 ,http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/units/branches/amatz/Spokesperson/default.htm

[2]Unknown author , About haaretz , Haaretz web site , http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=51345&contrassID=2&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0

[3] AIPAC web site , http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC

[4]AIPAC web site , http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/default.asp

[5] UJC web site , about us , http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=78440

[6] UJC web site , http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=191273

[7] Adalah web Site , About Adalah, http://www.adalah.org/eng/about.php

[8] Bimkom website , about us , http://eng.bimkom.org/

[9] B'Tselem web site , about us , http://www.btselem.org

Technorati Tags: Activism,Gaza,War,Castlead,Institutions,israel,palestine

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

2009-06-24T15:21:00.001+02:00

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

Activism during the War on Gaza 27/ 12/2008 -17-1-2009

Prepared By: Eng. Shafiq Bara

Introduced To : D. Nurhan Abu Gdai

2nd Semester 2008/2009

V.U.B. Brussels

Introduction :

The first category : of Israeli institutions that worked during the Gaza war is the official level

( the unit logo )

Background:

IDF spokesperson web site

One of their banners

The YouTube Chanel launched by the brigade .

The web site of The Israeli Government Press Office (GPO)

The second category: the semi private institutions

like the deferent news Papers in Israel , one of the biggest and most famous news papers in Israel is Haaretz Newspaper (http://www.haaretz.com) ,

Haaretz web site

The third category : the Pro – Israeli institutions working inside Israel and around the worl , one of the most important of them is the AIPAC (America's Pro-Israel Lobby ).

History & Background :

AIPAC Achievements :

A photo from the AIPAC web Site shows the relationship with the Top united states leaders ,

AIPAC and the War On GAZA :

AIPAC - Publications Catalog

[PDF] Alarming Threat: Hamas Amassing Weapons in Gaza

[PDF] Alarming Threat: Terrorists Amassing Weapons in Gaza

[PDF] Hamas Creates Terror ‘State’ in Gaza

the UJC ( United Jewish Communities for north America ),

Another similar institution that works in the United States and Canada is the UJC ( United Jewish Communities for north America ),

History & Background :

UJC and the War On GAZA :

UJC web site

Below there is an example about the deferent ways of activism the UJC did during the war time as they represented in their web site :

 A video message from Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor;

 A video message from Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni;

 Rally banners and signage;

 Talking Points for speakers and media interviews;

 Coverage from local rallies;

 IAI Sample Letter to Senator or Representative Regarding the Gaza Situation;

 Statements of Support from U.S. Congressional Leaders;

 Resources from the Israeli Embassy in Washington;

 High-res images from the Gaza perimeter;

 A moving letter from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak;

The 4^th category : international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli

History and background :

The 5^th category : the nongovernmental institutions like the human rights groups .

The Human rights groups in Israel is a wide expression that covers at least 3 deferent kinds of groups that define itself as Israeli :

· 1^st type : Offices and subdivisions for international human rights groups like Amnesty International - Israel Section

, http://www.amnesty.org.il/, & Physicians for Human Rights - Israel , http://www.phr.org.il/phr/ .

Amnesty Israel Logo

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel logo

· 2^nd type : Arab Palestinian groups in the 1948 territories like Adalah - The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel , (http://www.adalah.org/ ).

Adalah Logo

History & Back Ground :

In order to achieve these goals, Adalah:

· Brings cases before Israeli courts and various state authorities regarding the rights of the Arab minority.

· Advocates for legislation that will ensure equal individual and collective rights for the Arab minority.

· Provides legal consultation to individuals, non-governmental organizations, and Arab institutions.

· Appeals to international institutions and forums in order to promote the rights of the Arab minority in particular, and human rights in general.

· Organizes study days, seminars, and workshops, and publishes reports on legal issues concerning the rights of the Arab minority in particular, and human rights in general.

· Trains stagiaires (legal apprentices), law students, and new Arab lawyers in the field of human rights.[7]

Adalah Web site (http://www.adalah.org)

Adalah and the War On GAZA :

· Starting Tomorrow: Escalation in Collective Punishment of Gaza – With Supreme Court Approval

· Human Rights Groups: "Israel is Violating the Rights of Civilians in Gaza and Depriving them of Basic Needs – in Violation of International Law."

· Human Rights Organizations Petition Supreme Court Demanding an Injunction against Israeli Government to Prevent Disruption to Supply of Electricity and Fuel to Gaza

· 3^nd type : Israeli human rights groups:

1) Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights,( http://eng.bimkom.org/),

Bimkom Logo

2) Gisha - Legal Center for Freedom of Movement, www.Gisha.org

The Group Logo

Photos from the Film scene

And this is another link for a short film (Closed Zone – Behind the scene ) that speaks about the idea about this film and why this group is concerned : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPhrsY6KRIA

3) Hamoked - Center for the Defense of the Individual , http://www.hamoked.org/

HaMoked’s team comprises 35 Jewish and Palestinian workers.

Since its inception, HaMoked has handled more than 65,000 complaints on various subjects.

4) B'Tselem - the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, http://www.btselem.org

B'TSELEM web Site Header

Activities :

Reports

Activity in the Knesset

Public action

The Israeli Human rights Groups & the War in Gaza :

The blog header , http://gazaeng.blogspot.com/

- Soldiers kill and wound dozens from a single family

- Family flees from threat of bombing

- Vegetable merchant and young son killed in Israeli bombing of police building, Deir al-Balah

It also speak about suspicious events that they see could contains human rights violation like:

· Suspicion: Soldiers shot and killed man and his son in their home

· Suspicion: Soldiers shot Palestinian farmer to death without warning

- Stop use of GSS investigations to deter solidarity demonstrations

- All parties must stop targeting civilians ( this appeal make equal the two sides as violating the international laws and attacking civilians ).

- End U.S "lopsided response" to Gaza crisis

- Attacking civilian government institutions violates international humanitarian law

- Bombing civilian neighborhoods and killing and injuring civilians in Gaza constitute war crimes

Conclusion :

The end

[1] IDF spokesperson web site , 4/2009 ,http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/units/branches/amatz/Spokesperson/default.htm

[2]Unknown author , About haaretz , Haaretz web site , http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=51345&contrassID=2&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0

[3] AIPAC web site , http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC

[4]AIPAC web site , http://www.aipac.org/about_AIPAC/default.asp

[5] UJC web site , about us , http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=78440

[6] UJC web site , http://www.ujc.org/page.aspx?id=191273

[7] Adalah web Site , About Adalah, http://www.adalah.org/eng/about.php

[8] Bimkom website , about us , http://eng.bimkom.org/

[9] B'Tselem web site , about us , http://www.btselem.org

A Historical Review of the Urban Theories in the past 100 Years

2009-06-15T19:28:00.002+02:00

A Historical Review of the Urban Theories in the past 100 Years

Prepared by : Shafiq A. Bara

Introduction:

Throw the man history Cites were Designed for the need of the people at the moment , it Supplied them with their need for shelter and other Essentials , most of the Time the shape and the size of the city were defined by security aspects ( the citadel) , religious aspects ( Mosque or Church and the need of the governor to show his power and richness (Palace) in addition to the Geographic aspects , and the grow of the city was govern by the slow growth of the people need.

After the renaissance and with the beginning of the industrial revolution and with the increasing flow for workers from the country side to the cities, with the rose of the big factory buildings in the hart of the cities ( which turned the European cities into big un healthy Polluted over loaded Cities very similar to what we know today as Slums) and the invention of the rail ways and later the car which made the roads of those cities un convenient to supply the blooming industry needs .

By the end of the 19 century the need for a modern designed Cities became a top priority , many primitive thoughts aroused to public by many individuals and even some Housing committees especially in England , until 1898 when Sir Ebenezer Howard came out with his Garden City Theory which turned into a movement later by establishing a company that tried to turn the theory into a reality.

1- The Garden City Movement :

Shape (1) : Sir Ebenezer Howard, Source : http://www.rickmansworthherts.freeserve.co.uk/howard1.htm#sna

the invention of rail way brought up the possibility to enlarge the scale of the city by decreasing the time needed for the workers to travel from their homes to their work , and as the workers conditions were miserable , Sir Ebenezer Howard get out with his theory which is Based on the community needs at that time ,

in His book "To-morrow: A peaceful path to Real Reform," he put an approach to urban planning , Inspired by the Utopian theorists , Garden cities were to be planned, self-contained communities surrounded by greenbelts, and containing carefully balanced areas of residences, industry, and agriculture.

he laid out his ideas concerning the creation of new towns. Howard believed that these towns should be limited in size and density, and surround with a belt of undeveloped land.

"Air and space, wood and water, schools and churches, shrubberies and gardens, around pretty self contained cottages in a group neither too large to deprive it of country character, nor too small to diminish the probabilities of social intercourse." (Edinburgh Magazine. Dec. 1848.)

"... by so laying. out a Garden City that, as it grows, the free gifts of Nature- fresh air, sunlight, breathing room and playing room- shall be still retained in all needed abundance" (Garden Cities of To-morrow. 1902 edition. page 113)

In this city the boulevards were to be "....planted on each side of the pathways with trees, and in many places with shrubs and evergreens." The important variation between Howard's ideas and all previous utopian thought was the realistic way in which he had gone into explaining how the design could be carried out, His illustrations are only diagrams, dependent on the site and this gave a new dimension to the town plan.

Shape(2) Diagrams from "Garden Cities of To-morrow" 1902, source: http://www.rickmansworthherts.freeserve.co.uk/howard1.htm#sn2

His idea gained enough attention and financial backing to lead to the creation of Letchworth, in Hertfordshire, England, the first such "Garden City." After the First World War the second town built following Howard's ideas, Welwyn Garden City, also in Hertfordshire, was constructed, and many American cites were influenced later by his ideas.

Shape (3) : plan of Letchworth Garden City. Source: Professor Simon Atkinson's Urban Design Theory Seminar Web Page, University of Texas

2- Modern movement - CIAM 1928-58:

C.I.A.M. (Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne), Founded by Le Corbusier and a group of Architects , C.I.A.M. sought to divert architecture from academic preoccupations. The organization was the major instrument for propagating avant-garde ideas in architecture and town planning, The early congresses stressed rigid functional zoning and a single type of urban housing , at subsequent meetings members reacted against inflexible and mechanical concepts of orderly planning ,

in 1933 they discussed concentrated on principles of "The Functional City," which broadened CIAM's scope from architecture into urban planning, Based on an analysis of thirty-three cities, CIAM proposed that the social problems faced by cities could be resolved by strict functional segregation, and the distribution of the population into tall apartment blocks at widely spaced intervalsThese proceedings went unpublished until 1942, when Le Corbusier, published them in heavily edited form as the "Athens Charter."[1]

Le Corbusier envisaged a City Where each activity was Separated and connected with High ways in order to create a clean , hygienic & legible Cities , were the traditional divisions between private & public , Front & Back of the Building does not exist any more , the units of habitation ( buildings ) become objects positioned on columns &located in an open field , wide Highways Connect these objects with each other .[2]

Internal conflict led to the group's collapse after the Dubrovnik congress 1956, [3] even earlier they tried to fix the rip by a reform movement Called Team 10, and two different movements emerged from it, the New Brutalism & the Structuralism (architecture).

3- Frank Lioyd Wright – Broadacre City -1935:

Broadacre City was an urban or suburban development concept proposed by Wright , He presented the idea in his article The Disappearing City in 1932. A few years later he unveiled a very detailed model( with his students help) representing an hypothetical four square mile (10 km²) community, Many of the building models in the concept were completely new designs by Wright, while others were refinements of old ones, some of which had been rarely seen.

Broadacre City was the antithesis of a city and the apotheosis of the newly born suburbia, shaped through Wright's particular vision, It was both a planning statement and a socio-political scheme by which each family would be given a one acre (4,000 m²) plot of land, he conceived community would be built anew. Where There is a train station and a few office and apartment buildings in Broadacre City, but the apartment dwellers are expected to be a small minority. All important transport is done by automobile and the pedestrian can exist safely only within the confines of the one acre plots, where most of the population dwells.

Shape ( 4) : Wright - Broadacre City, Source : www.fba.fh-darmstadt.de

4- Post Modernism - Robert Venturi ( 1925 ) :

As a reaction on CIAM functionalism " Less is More " , Venturi in his book "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture " 1966 invented his famous say “less is a bore”.[4]

Along with the rest of the Postmodernists, he sought to bring back ornament because of its necessity. He explains this and his criticism of Modernism in his book by saying that: (Architects can bemoan or try to ignore them (referring to the ornamental and decorative elements in buildings) or even try to abolish them, but they will not go away. Or they will not go away for a long time, because architects do not have the power to replace them (nor do they know what to replace them with). [5]

The aims of post modern is to communicate ideas with the public, by quoting extensively from past architectural styles, often many at once. In breaking away from modernism, it also strives to produce buildings that are sensitive to the context within which they are built.

Shape (5) : Mississauga City Hall, Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mississauga.jpg\\

5- Neo Post modern – Rem Koolhas:

Shape (6) :Reem Koolhas, Source : http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18370

"New world order", in the era of globalization the Danish Architect Reem kolhass " calls most modern architecture 'junk space' and believes that we have lost touch with the utopian" [6],

He uses the term "junk space" to describe most modern architecture: mediocre gubbins with fake identities, whose rationality has dissolved into a trashy urban purgatory which, he insists, marks the end of the Age of Enlightenment.

He says:" One of our professional qualities is to understand what the issues are in a very short time. But we also need to be really open to the experience of incompetence. Sometimes, when we're feeling at our weakest, we may be at our most compelling."

Shape (6) :Reem Koolhas, Seattle Public Library, Source : http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18370

He celebrates the "chance like " nature of city life " the city is an addictive machine from which there is no escape"., in his books he analysis what others regard as non cities , sprawling conglomerates like Lagos in Nigeria is a highly functional city in his view even with the big lack of infrastructure, koolhas takes a stance against globalization as he see it demolishing cultural identity, he note in his book : in the end there will be little else for us to do but shop".[7]

6- Neo traditionalism, Leon Krier :

As he saw himself apart of the (Neo Urbanism) Krier explains his vision toward the design of cities , Neo Urbanism he says: " is not utopian & does not impose Social master Plans , instead it allows the Infinite variety of human Talent to build Harmonious and pleasing Environments, It channels competitive forces to flourish as good neighbors while pursuing their own self interests, The very great challenge of the future , however will be the urbanization of suburbia , the redevelopment of Sprawl."[8]

Shape(7) : Leon Krier, New Town of Poundbury ,England , Source:

Salingaros , Nikos , Interview with Leon Krier, Planetizen, op-ed 5/11/2001

He says :" Modernism Fundamental Error , is to propose it self as an universal phenomenon , Legitimately replacing & Excluding traditional Solutions ", and he Ergs for a massive return to common –sense Solutions worldwide .

Ideas must be turned around and to become places of beauty & human thriving , even some times using very modest means , he thinks that urban structure must obey Scientific rules that are Independent of region , and A secondary dependent on local tradition , climate resources & material which has been erased with the modernist approach.

7- The Theorist Kevin lynch ( 1918- 1948):

As the cities grows to be more complex and huge , the need aroused for new methods to understand and analyze them in a scientific way , Mr. lynch in his book "The Image of the City " 1960, but the bases of a method based in along study for people way in perceive and organize spatial information as they navigate through cities .

His method in understanding the city is based in five points :

· paths, the streets, sidewalks, trails, and other channels in which people travel;

· edges, perceived boundaries such as walls, buildings, and shorelines;

· districts, relatively large sections of the city distinguished by some identity or character;

· nodes, focal points, intersections

· landmarks, readily identifiable objects which serve as reference point>

Later he also but his own theory about the models of a city which he divide in three types : city of faith, city as a machine, city as an orgasm , he also had his three normative theories which he says structured city since time immemorial , the cosmic , the mechanical &the organic.

Shape(8) : lynch sketch for mental maps' of an urban area, source : Lloyd-Jones, Tony, An Urban Design Canon, urban design quarterly , issue 59,7/1996, www.arch.mcgill.ca/.../winter2001/ud5923.gif

8- Theorist Jane Jacobs :

Shape (9): book cover about Jane Jacops, source: http://books.google.co.uk/books

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urban writer and activist who championed new, community-based approaches to planning for over 40 years. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, is one of the most influential books about the inner workings and failings of cities, inspiring generations of urban planners (Even she had no training in the field ) Her efforts to stop downtown expressways and protect local neighborhoods invigorated community-based urban activism .[9]

Jane criticized the modern cities plans core principles , which is passed on the separation of functions( work, live , leisure) and she but the basses of a new way of thinking about big cities , she saw diversity as the main key for a vibrant city , which is generated by what she calls ( the 4 generators of diversity) : needs mixed primary uses , small building blocks , an intermingling of old and new buildings & sufficiently dense concentration of diversity.

9- Theorists Manuel Castells:

Shape (10): Manuel Castells, source: Morehead , John, Manuel Castells, Identity and the Network Society, Morehead's Musings blog , 6/3/2007, johnwmorehead.blogspot.com/2007/03/manuel-cas...

During the 1970s, Castells played a key role in the development of a Marxist urban sociology. He emphasised the role of social movements in the conflictive transformation of the urban landscape. He introduced the concept of "collective consumption" (public transport, public housing, et cetera) to frame a wide range of social struggles, displaced from the economic to the political field by state intervention. Abandoning the strictures of Marxism in the early 1980s, he began to focus on the role of new technologies in economic restructuring. In 1989, he introduced the concept of the "space of flows", by which he meant the material and immaterial components of the global information networks through which more and more of the economy was coordinated, in real time across distances. In the 1990s, he combined both strands of his research into a massive study, Information Age.[10]

He visions " the City of future as a mega urban landscape consisting of nodes & the power centers of space of flows ,in those mega cities the peripheral zone will dominate instead of the traditional core centers ,which implies a geographical revolution of the future.

10 – New Urbanism - Peter Calthorpe/ Duany & Plater Zyberk

Shape (11) :New York 2007 Meeting Logo , Source : http://massengale.typepad.com/venustas/images/2007/04/23/newyorklogo.jpg

New Urbanism is an urban design movement that arose in the United States in the early 1980s. Its goal is to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban planning, from urban retrofits to suburban infill. New urbanist neighborhoods are designed to contain a diverse range of housing and jobs, and to be walkable.

In 1991, the Local Government Commission in California, invited a group of architects to develop a set of community principles for land use planning. Named the Ahwahnee Principles,( you can find the principles in the link : (http://www.lgc.org/ahwahnee/h2o_principles.html)

New urbanists support regional planning for open space, context-appropriate architecture and planning, and the balanced development of jobs and housing. They believe their strategies can reduce traffic congestion, increase the supply of affordable housing, and rein in urban sprawl. The Charter of the New Urbanism also covers issues such as historic preservation, safe streets, green building, and the redevelopment of brownfield land, New Urbanism can include (neo)traditional neighborhood design and transit-oriented development.

Conclusion:

Throw history man looked for perfection , which is a utopian dream that no buddy can reach , every thought seems to be perfect for her creator and may be for most of the people for a moment , until it goes in the real life , problems arose , sometimes small that can be fixed with others or even self criticize ( Like what team 10 tried to do for CIAM ideas ) , or even Cant be fixed in the eyes of some theorists who take the other side ( Like post modern verses modern ) and try to find another theory that they saw suitable .

Sometimes theorists have the same feeling and the same basic ideas about their stand about a problem or a theory but have different ways and theories , ( like post modern theorists Robert Venturi & Reem Koolhass in there stand against modern movement but to deferent ways of solution), sometimes the same theorist change his mind and turn into a new direction which we can see in the deference between the early and the late works of le Corbusier.

The increasing Complexity of the human settlements and life increases the need for new ways to understand the context to figure out what is right and what is wrong and that what theorists like kevien Lynch try to do , and some time theorists try to look for the far future and but a theory about its shape ,( like the visions of the new urbanism ) some people could look at them with irony , but Jules Verne's novel: A trip around the Moon made Humanity Learn that there is nothing Impossible in the face of the human ambition.

The End

[1] Author not available, Congrès International d'Architecture Modern, Wikipedia , 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congr%C3%A8s_International_d%27Architecture_Moderne

[2] Dr Nurhan abu Gdai , A historic Overview of western thoughts on designing the city , Urban Design Course reading Back Material , 2008

[3] Author not available, C.I.A.M.., The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008 http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-CIAM.html

[4] Author not available, Postmodern architecture, Wikipedia , 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_architecture

[5] Author not available, Postmodern architecture, Wikipedia , 2008, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_architecture

[6] Jay Merrick, Rem Koolhaas: New world order, the independent, 18/2/2004, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/rem-koolhaas-new-world-order-757071.html

[7] Dr Nurhan abu Gdai , A historic Overview of western

thoughts on designing the city , Urban Design Course reading Back Material , 2008

[8] Salingaros , Nikos , Interview with Leon Krier, Planetizen, op-ed 5/11/2001

[9] Author unknown , Jane Jacobs Biography , pps project for public space ,2008, http://www.pps.org/info/placemakingtools/placemakers/jjacobs

[10] Author unknown , Manuel Castells, Wikipedia,2008 , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Castells

Technorati Tags: architecture,urban planing,history

The Housing Module in Palestine - Nablus Cause study

2009-06-15T19:12:00.002+02:00

Final Research

For Sociology of Urbanism

The Housing Module in Palestine - Nablus Cause study

Under Supervision of: Dr. Maarten Loopmans

By : Shafeeq A. Bara

2^nd semester -the year 2008-2009

Introduction :

To speak about a unified housing module in Palestine is not a realistic matter , as Palestine went through the last century in a very hard and rapid changing political situations , this short research will try to focus on the housing module in the city of Nablus during the last century in the deferent political periods that the city passed through , as Nablus is one of the main Palestinian cities in the west bank and was considered until the last intifada as the main economical base for the Palestinians , and it also had a very incent history with great legacy and building traditions that insisted to build in stone since ever .

Nablus back in History :

The housing module in Palestine & especially Nablus have changed a lot since the beginning of the 20 century , for thousands of years before the module of building in Nablus which was one of the major cities in historical Palestine continued to be a tradional middle eastern urban context , and at the late Turkish Othman empire period you can see the image of very tradional Arab Islamic city with its narrow Alleys , overlapping buildings , Mosques , churches and a big roofed bazaar .

Nablus buildings were build in tradional way from white stone and the houses formed like small complexes for each extended family , where a group of houses and sometimes rooms each of them for a small family ( father , mother & their children ) where build around a small courtyard or a private allay called Hoosh , rich family had a better houses with bigger courtyards s sometimes a courtyard for each family

A photo from the Sky for the city Back in 1918 , after the British occupation , Source : http://www.nablus.gov.ps

The first political period – the British mandate 1918-1948 :

by the beginning of the British occupation for Palestine so called mandate , the tradional way of building suddenly came to an end , as the British army saw that this kind of building system and cities form a real danger at their soldiers , a demonized space impossible to control especially after the revolution in the cities of Jafa & Jenin , and in the name of modernity and security the British authorities issued a series of laws that concern the building policies in Historical Palestine under the British Mandate like the laws of the years 1920 , 1936, 1947 . [1]

This formed the first stage of change in the hosing module , when the city start to expand rapidly in the out skirts of the old district , the new hoses was mostly build by the rich families to form a separate houses & villas , surrounded by a relatively big walled gardens , and that was available even to the high middle class as there was plenty of sheep vacant land around the city ,

A photo from the Sky for the city Back in 1948 , few days before the end of the British occupation , Source : http://www.nablus.gov.ps

The Jordanian control period 1948 -1967 :

The previous housing module continued during the Jordanian control period in the city ( 1948- 1967) , but it was not only the rich people who started to built out the old district , as many families from the law middle class started to build in the southern out skirts of the city , forming a high dense neighborhood called Rass Al Ain , and as the city lies in the narrow valley between tow mountains the city started to take a linear formation heading in the western and eastern direction , during this period all the building process stayed almost in the tradional way which depend in the manual work even new building materials like reinforced concrete was used .

A photo from the Sky for the city Back in 1967 , Source : http://www.nablus.gov.ps

The Israeli occupation period :

By the year 1967 the year were Nablus become under the Israeli occupation , the size of the city have grown to 5 or 6 time bigger than it was back in 1918 with a network of car roads that connect each side of the city with the other , a new policy was set by the occupation governors to limit the growth of Nablus , by applying a master plan for the city that but invisible borders to the city in addition to establishing settlements and industrial zones in the expected directions of the future expansion for the city with a network of military check points & posts to control it ,

This lead eventually to a speed increases in the land prices , smaller piece of land became available to each house ( in the beginning of the 1960 the average piece of land for each house was between 1000 – 2000 m2 those days the average size of each piece of land is around 500 m2 ) , and even the existing gardens surrounding the houses began to decreases by the additions and expansions on the buildings , new rooms floors and apartments were added to form a new extended family house , where the father and his sons live in one piece of land .

Side of Nablus back in the year 1950 , were you can see the small separated houses surrounded by gardens and walls , Source: http://www.nablus.gov.ps

The individual houses and the extended family houses and buildings , from white stone surrounded by the minimum size of walled gardens ( the garden size became exactly in the size of the space that the building laws force the people to let between two nearby buildings ) continued to be the dominant housing style in Nablus as the Nabulses believed that the best investment in their life time is to build your own house , the House in Palestine is a sacred and very important thing in the social life , and to own your house with its own garden planted with olives grapes and roses is what every man dream ,

So the private investment was the only engine to the housing market in Palestine , especially in Nablus where it was very hard and rear to find someone how accept to sell his house or even to rent it to others , the house in Nablus were built to last not only for the life time of his owner but also for his children and even his grand children , and only in few causes you can find someone how is willing to build more than one house in his life time as he invest all what he owns some times in his only house and tries to finish it in the best way .

But that was going to change in few years of time , by the change in the economical module in the city to a wider based economy , where new economical sectors and social activities was established like the biggest Palestinian university in the late 1970s and big services companies , the thing that attracted many Palestinians from other cities and villages come and settle in the city , by the beginning of the 1980s new & small residential towers were established for the first time by individual investors , in the beginning all those how come to live in those apartments saw this condition as temporary and so no buddy think in buying those apartments , and everyone was renting in those towers of 7-8 stories , (10 to 16 apartments per each building ) .

A photo for the central part of Nablus looking toward the east taken from AIR , in the year 1994 , Source : http://www.nakbaonline.org/images/LandBtwn/Nablus-1994.jpg

The Palestinian Authority period 1193 -2009 :

The previous module of housing continued tell the year 1993 , by the establishing of the Palestinian authority after Oslo agreement with the occupation government , even this agreement made a very big economical expansion in the city were many national big companies , factories & institutes chose the city as their main center ,and the number of citizens in the city and governorate increased by a big percentage , but the city size was almost fixed and the expansion was limited .

even between the years 1994 & 2001 there was a huge investment in building sector for commercial and housing purposes , that was due to the agreement that divided the Palestinian territories in the west bank to deferent areas with deferent authorities (A,B, C) where the Palestinian authorities cant issue a building permit except In area A & B which is mainly the built urban context of the Palestinian cities and villages , without any land for further expansion ,

And that lead to a very quick raze in land prices inside the city of Nablus , and a new housing module started where private investors , deferent associations ( engineers , doctors , teachers , etc.) ,or even groups of friends started a wave of investment in residential towers , with apartments to live in , those apartments became as the only affordable way to have a house for your own for the majority of the middle class people & that also was due to the great increase in the building cost , and the fixed wages for the employees especially the government employees who form a big sector in the middle class .

Those Residential towers almost spread everywhere in Nablus , every tower usually 8 to 16 floors ,with two to five apartments in the floor , one stair case with an elevator , with a favored size of 120 – 160 m2 for a 3 bed rooms , and most of the time have no play grounds or gardens around it .[2]

Side of the city back in 2008 , Source: http://www.westbanktours.com/sitebuilder/images/nablus-517x341.jpg

By the destruction that happened to the urban context with this mushroom towers growing everywhere which even affect the privacy of the nearby buildings and the massive problems in the building laws , a wave of investment in new small neighborhoods ( within the few available areas left in A&B of Oslo agreement ) where the project founder put special laws to the project like those how by the land plots can't build a tower and they only can build a 2 floors villa , which was seen a good opportunity for the high middle class & the rich one to have the house of life .

Fears & problems of house owners and investors :

Maybe the biggest fear all around historical Palestine is the collective punishment used by the Israeli occupation against Arab Palestinians , like lately they issued a military order in Jerusalem to destroy a complete Arab residential district of around 80 buildings even it had the right building permission to change the area into a national park as they claim ,

this policy is used even in Nablus where the occupation army policy in demolishing the house of the family of any Palestinian how join a military action against them , and also the destruction and demolishing of houses during the raids and invasions to the city to arrest the resistance members.

The demolishing of 8 stories residential tower of Nablus back in 2003 , source : http://www.pchrgaza.org/images/2003/weekly34.jpg

During the last 9 years hundreds of houses were partially or totally destroyed , among them at least four residential towers with 10 – 20 families in each were totally demolished .[3]

The second problems is the Land ownership system and the Bureaucracy in it , were moving the owner ship of the land or an apartment takes Avery long time and costs also a lot , so most of the contracts between the previous owners and the new owners are contracts with authorization to the new owner to resell or build in the land and to deal in the matters of the real estate department instead of the first one , and sometimes you can see a series of contracts for one piece of land , which make it hard sometimes to know the owner of the land whose name is still registered in the real estate department .

Another fear is the investor capability to finance the project and to finish it in the right time , as most of the time individual investors start the project with inefficient financial means , hoping to sell a big part of the project and taking advanced payments from the costumers to complete the work , and if they failed to sell enough apartments or part of the customers fail to pay their cheeks in the right time , the project will stop , and sometimes stuck for a long time.

This happens also in the housing associations mostly formed of employees , and due to the high percentage from their wages that they are forced to bay each month , and after a few months many of them couldn’t continue in paying and a gain the project will stuck and some time it takes years and years to finalize it , ( like in the cause of Iskan Alzhra Housing association for teachers in Nablus where the project started back in the year 1993 and it still not finished yet as the work is very slow .

The big companies intervention in the real estate sector in Nablus is very limited as it's also hard to have a bank financing to the project due to the high mortgage and the big problems and gaps in the real estate laws ,

And also the high prices of real estates , were an average finished and ready to use square meter is around 400 Euros which is over the average monthly salary for an employee in the government sector , and if we calculate the price of those apartments with the average of 120m2 , it will be like a full employee salary for 12 years , and that is very hard to afford without the help of the extended family , as most of the owners insist in cash payments and if they accept to sell the apartments in installments they will ask for a minimum 35% cash money , and the rest must be paid in maximum 5 years of time by heavy monthly installments , [4]

so many people by the apartments without any kind of finishing where the price for the square meter drop to around 180 -220 euro's and only after the finish the payments the start to finalize the apartment 9( most the time they don’t think to by one except after a long term saving process with the help of the parents and extended family ) .

Another fear from the investors and owners is to rent the apartment for others for two reasons , the first that the rents in Palestine are not connected with the inflation percentage , and after a few years the rent they receive will be too little so they mainly ask for high rents , the second problem is the Bureaucracy in Judicial system that it will take some times 4-5 years to have a judgment against a renter how could easily not pay the rent all this time , and sometimes the owners try to Compromise with the renter gust to leave without paying anything from the last two or three years rent .

Conclusion :

The change in the housing module in Nablus was a quick rapid change , and due to many political & economical reasons , the quality of life inside those housing module is also decreasing , and the housing owner ship is not affordable to more and more social and economical sectors , as the prices keep going up ant the income is going down .

New laws and legislation must be issued to insure a better private sectors investments in the housing sector , and the mortgage rates must be lowered , banks and financial groups must help financing the real estate sector.

And the government must intervene directly in the social housing sector as only few projects were made by the government in this direction and they are not even for the poor families but for the low middle class , Also the building laws must be modified to insure a better housing quality , and to reduce the concentration of high density residential areas.

The end

[1] D. Moslim Abu Helo , The challenges of development in the province of Jerusalem- In

the absence of national housing policies and strategies, Research , Al-Quds university,

14/1/2008

[2] Palestine housing council , year 2007 data analyses , http://www.phc-pal.org/index.html

[3] Un known author ,Nablus city, http://www.nakbaonline.org/ , 2008

[4] From a meeting with abu alroh kalbounh , one of the main investors in Nablus housing sector .5/2008

Eliminating the Palestinian Presence تصفية الوجود الفلسطيني

2009-05-30T10:37:00.002+02:00

A road Sign Near Nablus west bank

اشارة طريق بالقرب من نابلس – الضفة الغربية

eliminating every thing that can be considered as a sign for the Palestinian presence at their land , even those signs were but their by the occupation but it seems the settlers don't like the broken Arabic words in the sign , may be its good its not even the real Arabic names as they use their own names all over the place , but they will never change it in side us .

تصفية كل اشارات وجود الفلسطينيين على ارضهم ,على الرغم من ان هذه الأشارات موضوعة من قبل سلطات الاحتلال , الا انها على ما يبدو لاتعجب المستوطنين لأحتوائها على اللغة العربية ,على الرغم من ان التسميات مكتوبة بلغة عربيه ركيكة ولا تحمل التسمية العربيه الحقيقية في الغالب حيث تحمل تسمياتهم الخاصة المحرفة في الغالب , فمثلا في هذا الموقع المعروف بمفرق تفوح , يسميه الاحتلال مفرق تبواح في اشارة الى المستوطنة المزروعة بقربه, الا التسميات الاصليه باقية في قلوب و عقول كل الفلسطينيين .

Technorati Tags: palestine,israel,identity,elimination,presence,settlers,فلسطين,اسرائيل,هوية,تصفيه

فلسطين في قلبي اينما كنت Palestine in my heart where Ever i Go

2009-05-28T11:41:00.002+02:00

Yesterday the Israeli parliament made anew legislation that going to consider any one how say that historical Palestine (Israel) is not a state for Jewish only a criminal and to sentence him up to 3 years , they are also considering another legislation that forbid Palestinian citizens inside Israel for remembering their historical catastrophe the 15/5 Nakba day ( or Israel independence day ),

this is One of my graphic designs that i made during the Gaza war in the beginning of this year and i am submitting it today to say that Palestine will always be there even if they execute every Palestinian on this planet earth.

بالأمس اقر الكنيست الأسرائيلي مشروع قانون يقضي بسجن اي شخص ينكر ان فلسطين التاريخية ( اسرائيل ) هي دولة لليهود فقط لمدة تصل الى ثلاث سنوات و اعتباره مجرم , ويناقش الكنيست مشروع قانون اخر يمنع الفلسطينيين الثابتين على ارضهم داخل الكيان الصهيوني من احياء ذكرى الكارثة الفلسطينية ( النكبة ) او ما يعتبره الاسرائيليين يوم استقلالهم , 15\5.

هذا التصميم الجرافيكي من انتاجي خلال الحرب على غزة في بداية هذا العام , و انا انشره اليوم على الشبكة العنكبوتيه لاقول بان فلسطين ستبقى دائما و ابدا هناك ولو اعدمو كل فلسطيني على سطح كوكب الارض .

Technorati Tags: Palestine,israel,design,legislation,nakba,independance day,jewish فلسطين,اسرائيل,النكبة,عنصرية,قوانين

خطبة الجمعة وانفلونزا الخنازير – بقلم : المهندس سامي الصدر

2009-05-27T10:49:00.001+02:00

14 مايو 2009

في معرض خطبته العصماء في يوم الجمعة، تحدث فضيلة خطيب الجمعة من منطلق تعمقاته العلمية، وأبحاثه الخطيرة في مجال لحوم الخنازير وطرح الفتوى التالية:

” أهل الخليل هم أكثر المجتمعات محافظة في فلسطين، لأنهم يأكلون لحم الجمال، والغرب يعيشون في دياثة كبيرة نتيجة لتناولهم لحوم الخنازير”

مبروك فضيلتكم هذا الكشف العلمي الجديد والخطير وحبذا لو تطلعنا على باقي تفاصيل بحثكم بالخصوص فلعل فلسطين ترشح فضيلتكم لنيل جائزة نوبل للأبحاث في مجالات العلوم الحيواإنسانية

هذا ان دل يا اخوان فهو يدل على مستوى الخطباء الذين يعتلون المنابر ويقدمون الوعظ والارشاد للناس لتربيتهم وتنقيتهم وتحفيزهم على العمل والعبادة والاخلاص الى الله

وبناءً على معلومات فضيلته اسمحو لي أن أستنتج بعض الاستنتاجات العلمية المفيدة في نفس الموضوع: فمثلاً يمكنك أن تحفز أولادك على تناول لحم الديك لكي يستيقظو باكراً، ولحم الحمير لكي يزداد صبرهم على مشاق الحياة، ومن نفس المنطلق وبما أننا نتناول في نابلس لحم العجل فمن الطبيعي أن يتناطح الناس في الشوارع كالعجول…وتناول لحم الدجاج قد يكون مبرراً لنوم الناس مبكراً أيضاً…

يبدو أن فضيلته وبما أنه ربط السلوك الانساني بأنماط الغذاء السائدة، قد نسي أن الاسلام هو أساس تهذيب السلوك الفردي والباعث على سمو النفس البشرية، والتزامها بأوامر الله وابتعادها عن نواهيه، الغرب يبيح الزنا اجتماعياً لأنه قد ابتعد كثيراً عن دينه ، والثقافة هناك تشكك بعقل المرأة العذراء اذا ما تجاوزت سنين شبابها…بل ان مبدأ الزواج هناك يقوم على تجربة الشراكة وانجاب الأطفال ثم تثبيت الزواج كرابط اجتماعي أبدي…ولذلك نرى اليوم أن أمريكا على سبيل المثال تحوي أعداداً أكبر من الأمهات العازبات مقارنة بالأمهات المتزوجات “معلومات مبنية على أبحاث علمية منشورة”.

في الختام لا بد أن يصحح فضيلة الشيخ معلوماته ويبتعد عن هذه التفاهات التي لا سند صحيح لها، وأن نبني معلوماتنا انطلاقاً من القرآن الكريم والسنة النبوية بعد أن نحمده سبحانه وتعالى على أن أحلّ لنا الطيبات وحرم علينا الخبائث.

لزيارة مدونة المهندس سامي الصدر بوسعكم اتباع الرابط التالي :

Technorati Tags: خطبة الجمعة,سامي الصدر,انفلونزا,الخنازير,الغرب,اكتشافات علمية

http://www.samisadder.info/

وداعا.....حكيم - بقلم : محمد نعمان "اسعد القدومي "

2009-05-26T23:15:00.001+02:00

وداعا.....حكيم

منذ زمان جفت أقلامي...، وتعلمت من ماضيَّ أن مداد الحبر أزكى من دم الشهداء وتصنعه الأحداث الكبرى ،......و لذا فاني لا أسكب رحيق مدادي إلا في مواضعه الشرعية الموثوقه فقط ،...... في الماضي حفرت بمدادي ضمير قليل من الأحياء ووهبت منه حياة لبعض الأموات ....... ودفنت احد مقالاتي وأقمته من بين الأموات بعد ثلاث ليالي ،....... لا ازعمه يسوع ابن ناصرة بلادي ،..... وما ازعم نفسي رب الأكوان،..... ولكن يزعم قلمي انه لولا عشيرته ما عرف البشر الله ، ولا عبد الآلهة رجل فاني ،.....ويبالغ أحيانا بالزعم بان الرب لا يغير أقواما الا بمشيئتهم ، ويفتخر بأنه في بعض الاحيان تعدى الرب وغيير بعض الأقوام .... و على عكس مشيئة أرباب الطغيان ،..... مجنون هو قلمي ومشحون بالشجن ،... و به عيب... أن الأحداث الكبرى تصنعه ،... وينام مابين الأحداث أزمانا أخرى ،... وبما انه منذ شهور اصبح قلما منفيا بملء إرادته عن وطن متخم بالأحداث فقد تماوت قلمي وجفت أوردة الأحبار العشق من أضلعه .

وما جفت أحداث بلادي ،..... وطني يا ذاك المتخم بالصدمات وبالأحداث .... ما أغربك،..... أصابع خصيان القصر تلعب فيك ... وصحوت وقلمي بالأمس فإذا بالجزارِ ملقىً خارج عكا وعلى الأسوار تلمع بيارق مغبرة من زمنٍ ماضي ، وصاح الديك فيّ ثلاثا.... أتى أبناء النسيان بالطوفان ،...ونفخوا في جثة فرعون و أحيَوها، و طوقها الكهان بطيلسان السلطان ،.....

وشهدنا بالأمس كذلك فرعون ... ينهض مزهوا بالنصر الفارغ ،..... وشهدنا ما يعلن فينا،.... فيقول الفرعون : أنا أزلي ابدي ..... سرمدي لا فاني ،..... قدر اركب ظهر حموريتكم،..... وجهل الإنسان بالإنسان ،.....أرعى مصالحكم ومطامعكم،.....وفتات موائدنا نصيب صرف لكل مخلص متفاني ،... والعن كل الكفار ،.... ومن يستنكر سرقة مداخيل الأوطان ، حاشنا و اُْلوهيتنا أن نفرط في سرقة كنوز الأوطان ،....فمن يسرق هذا الوطن المنكوب إذا لم تسرقه أيادي أصحاب معالينا ،.... لا تترك أوطان الأعراب نهبا للأغراب ،... هذا تدليس يتنافى وقيما وبنود الاستقلال الذاتي ....فولايتنا تعني أنّا نحن الأولى بدماء وأموال ضحايانا منهم ،...... وكذا ما تحويه بقايا الأوطان .

ولذا وانأ في المنفى صحوت وقلمي نرثي أزمان الجزار وعكا ،..... يالله كم كان الجزار يرتفع عظيما،........ ويحمي بمهابته باب القصر وعكا ، ولعكا ارثيه لذلك ،،،....... و في قلبي وانا ارثيه ارتفعت كل الأسوار مهيبة ،....... فدونت نصوصي بالمقلوب ، موسى مصلوب ،...... وعيسى يعمل ساقٍ لشعيب ،........ ومحمد يُبعثُ في الفرس وغداً يغزو بالكلمة بلد العُرب ، ويدعوهم للإيمان ....ليوحدهم

و اكتب نصي ليضيء ،.....فيصيح الخصيان وقد لبسوا ثوب الكهان ،.... انى لك هذا النص؟؟؟ وكيف كتبته ،.... انبي أنت بعثت من بعد زمان الأزمان ؟؟؟ ،....، وتهدد امر مصائرنا بموسى وعصاه وما يُغرقُ فرعون ،.....وتُذيب النص السامي ،... و تجعل مسيرة مولانا أوهاما ،............ وكل الأحداث بهذا القلم تصير مريعة ،....فما أحيا هذا القلم القاني ؟؟؟

حكيم جاء إلى المنفى صبحا فأيقظ قلمي ،..... بهجرته...... ، هجر المملكة وترك العرش وحكمته و قصر الأحزان ، ما هذا ذنبي..... بالأمس فقط صحا قلمي ، انتابته تلك الموجات الموجعة الكبرى ،... وصحوة عابرة من صحوات الموت ،....فانا منذ قريب أسدلت على ماضيّ وماضيكم ستارا شفافا ، واعتدت مراقبة الأحداث بصمتي ،.... وان اشهد عبر الأستار مهازلكم ،.,.. ،واستدرك على نفسي بنذور قاسية لزمن اهتك فيه الاسترة جميعا ،..... وتعلو ضربات البأس ، هناك سيلتفت الكهان الى ساحات القصر ، .... تعبرها بالطهر محبتنا ،.... وأيدٍ بالحق مُشهـرّة تعلو فوق رموز الطغيان ،... موسى مُلتبسا في دور المهدي ...... و يحمل رايات تلفح نور الشمس وتعلو أسوار القصر .

في ذاك الزمن القادم أعد الكهان ، ..... سنقتل فرعون بأيدينا ثانية ....ونصلب هامان،..... وتقطع أيادي الثوار خصيات ذكورتكم،..... وتخلصنا من خنوثة أمثلكم ، وتقمصكم عدوانا ادوار رجال .

يا هذي الخصيات السامية أقيلينا....... فقد ملئت أوساخك كل الأركان علانية ..... وما أنجبت الأرحام منك يوما شيئا مكتملا ، ..... عاقر أنت ،.......... وهذه ارض لا تحمل الا من رجل مكتمل الخلق ،....... ولذا صحا قلمي ،..... ليس لصخب الخصيات السامية ،...... حاشا للقلم ، ولكن لنشيج الأرض وعكا والقصر ،....... ، تدفق على ورقي مداد الحبر...... نذرا الثورة ،..... وملأ الاقنية السوداء ... فتدفق حمما ثائرة في نفسي ،..... لحظات حكيم الصبح أشعلت الأحداث لهيبا ، وبزغ القلم المثكول ليحطم أخرى جدران الصمت ،...... ويصيح بقلبي قف يا هذا ،... وفق برتوكولات التأبين المعمول بها ،.... ينطلق حكيم عن مقعده ، ..... وتؤول مقاعد حكمته أسفا للهكسوس ، وأنت تعاقر صمتك في أركان الكون بعيد ا عن عكا ،....... قف يا هذا صمتا إذا غادر على مذبح أيام الصبر مؤتمن للفكر ......

ما للأيام أعيتك،... وداوت فيك ضمير الثورة،... بالوهم وبالصمت،........أيخلي "حكيم للثورة " مقعد حكمته ، ... ولا تنتصب القامات نشيجا ،.... ولا تحني رأسا يانعة للأنباء المفزعة ، سقطت أبواب الحكمة ،.... وعكا صارت مفتوحة لازمان الجهل ..فما يبقيك جلوسا ؟؟؟؟

ما أعجبك وأعجب امتنا !!!... ألفت ان تهتز حناياها لسقوط معالي الخصيان ،.....وتزأر بالفاجعة الكبرى لكل فقيد فيها ، ولا تطرف عينا إذا هز الأركان سقوط الحكماء ،...... مال لامتنا الفت أن تعبد شهبا عابرة،..... ممن لا تلقي للأرض محبتها ،...... وتغطي عيناها إذا سطعت من مشرقها أبهى شمس ، فانزل رايتك وارفعها سوداء ، .... من بعدك سقطت كل الألواح الطاهرة....... وعبد بني إخوانك من بعدك تمثال العجل .

يا بحارة كل الأزمان ، لتطلق صفّارات مراكبكم أحزانا ،.... حكيم الأشعار ترجل ، وضلت بوصلة القصر ،...

ويا هذا الرابض في برجك،.... في عليائك،.... تجشم عبء السفر إلى ارض الأحزان ،..... أوفي النذر لعكا ولقصر الحكم ،......... واعد بتعسفك وغضب الأيام ذراع سفينتا ،........ وافهم خصيان التاريخ مكانتهم ،...... يا ابن الأمراء،.... وأعد تلك البوصلة الذهبية لمركبنا،...... واطرد كل الكهان وأعلن فينا هذي المرة إلحادا جديا بمبادئهم ،....فقد سقطت منذ زمان فينا آلهة الكهان ، ومللنا أديان الارض جميعا ......

وتفرست التاريخ وعيناك انكفأت لحظات لتعاقر خط الأفق ،........ وحكيم يخطو خطوات واثقة نحو الأفلاك العلوية،...... ويهجر قصر الحكم بعكا ،..... ويهديك من علياء العلياء مقامات سامية ،.... ترانيم للالحاد وللثورة ،.. يكتبها عيسى موسى متى ومحمد،..... وتردد شفتاك وداع عظيم رفع حذاء في وجه الطغيان،........ وتسبح السنة الثوار جميعا ترانيم الصبح القادم ،.... ويصيح حكيم فيك وفيهم بايات وداع ،.......

" سبحانك كل الاشياء رضيت ، سوى الذل ، وان يوضع قلبي في قفص في بيت السلطان ، وقنعت من الدنيا بنصيب الطير ، ولكن سبحانك حتى الطير لها أوطان وتعود لها ... وانا لازلت اطير فهذا الوطن الممتد من البحر الى البحر سجونا متلاصقة ،.... سجان يمسك سجان "

"وداعــــأً حكيم ...... والى اللقاء في ثورة قادمة"

محمد نعمان "اسعد القدومي "

Tumor in a City - Colonization in the old city of Hebron

2009-05-25T22:50:00.002+02:00

Final Research

For the Urbicide Course

Under the Title :

Tumor in a City

Colonization in the old city of Hebron

Introduced to : D. Nurhan Abu Jidi

Prepared by: Shafiq Bara

First semester 2008/2009

Introduction :

Throw history the conflicts between nations took many shapes , wars , killing , destruction and annihilating people and cities , The City of Hebron form a Unique case of city annihilation that touch the Urban physical fabric , and social relations and cultural aspects ,

The struggle at the city identity that started wright after the occupation of the city in June 1967, between the Palestinian residents and the Israeli settlers ,turned the city into a ghost one , the Israeli occupation used a matrix of control system that strangled the life inside it , and those actions can be listed under the emerging Term Urbicide ,

This research will try to highlight part of the measures and rules implemented by the Israeli army and settlers , to highlight the way Urbicide process acts in the ground in this special case .

Urbicide AS a Term :

Urbicide is relatively a new theory that started after the ethnic war in Bosnia 1992 -1995 , this term is used to describe the violence against the city or " the killing and slaughter of which is subsumed under term urban" Martin Coward argued [1], the term meaning is expanding and taking new dimensions by the new researches around the world that consider new case studies around the world , from Bosnia to Kosovo to Nablus and Jenin In Palestine and Fallujah in Iraq ,

many researchers like Martin Coward , Andrew Herscher , Stephen Graham & Nurhan Abu Jidi tried to but enhanced definitions for the term Urbicide that describes certain cases like the three definitions listed by Nurhan Abu Jidi in her Paper :

*Urbicide as anti-urban, anti city violence:

in which the city is a target for what it present as a space of cosmopolitan life and tolerance. And the Urbicide can be seen as the destruction of homogeneous- plural, culture-ethnic or economic centers that can be done by bureaucratic or urban policies.

*Urbicide as politics of exclusion:

as Martin Coward describes Urbicide as a politics of exclusion of “anti heterogeneity”, the destruction of buildings, pubic spaces that establish common and shared spaces in which the diversity can live and communicate together.

* Urbicide as a war of (or against) terror:

as Stephen Graham and Gregory refer in their works, Urbicide is the element of armed conflict, war and anti terror campaigns. As the contemporary Israeli military campaign in occupied Palestine has been justified as “war on terrorism”.[2]

Most of those definitions discuss Urbicide as a violence by Military force or by Urban Planning that affect the Urbanity in its physical dimension , and discussing the effects of the physical destruction on the social life and cultural diminution , D. Nurhan in her study for Nablus Case tried to highlight how the Urbicide process acted in another level of hidden physical destructing ( as most of the damage were hidden inside the houses and can hardly be noticed from outside ) , but the main important point in her argument was highlighting the effect on how the residents of Nablus changed their perception to the city and the Urban space be erasing the limit between what is private and what is public ,

Nicholas Adams argues that : “ the Survival of architecture and urban life are important to the survival of people” ,[3] it is true that the physical aspect plays a major rule in the city life , and it is destruction is leading to the city annihilation , but there is other aspects that play a major rule in this process without even the destruction of a single wall ,

If we look at Mumford definition for the city : " The City " Is above all Things a theater" we will see the Urban experience as an integral component in development of human culture & human personality , as he say : " the physical design of cities and their economic functions are secondary to their relationship to the natural environment &to the Spiritual values of human community "[4].

Any huge interruption to those relations could lead t o a case of urban destruction that could be Listed Under the Term Urbicide , and that what we could understand from Richard Ingersoll argument , that "the survival of urban life depends not so much on maintaining any particular form of a city, as it does on the ability to create relationships of responsibility for the use of resources in an urban territory".[5]

Urbicide In Hebron :

The old city of Hebron is a very strong example for an annihilation process , that depends on strangling the city and turning it in to " a Ghost City " as Prof. Leiven De Cauter argue [6], the Urbicide inside the old city of Hebron is not very clear in the physical side ( the physical destruction is limited ) but it is very clear as an effect on the city social , cultural and economic life ,and that is a kind of Urbicide if we considered Stephen graham argument that " Urbicide is constructed from organized strategies that destroy specific social & physical aspects of urbanity ".[7]

The Urbicide in the old city of Hebron is part of a bigger process that is connected to the Palestinian Israeli conflict that go back to the 19 century , Stephen Graham tries to explain the dimensions of the conflict in his argument : " The Israel–Palestine war is not simply a struggle over territory between two national entities. It is driven by Israel’s systematic denial of modern urban life to the Palestinians. One of the lessons of the battle of Jenin is that the bulldozer that demolishes houses is also a weapon in the wider strategy to prevent the Palestinians from creating a modern, normal, urban society" , [8]

But in the case of Hebron there is another aspect that we can't see in the destruction of Jenin refugee camp ( as a symbol for resistance culture ) or Jaffa old city( as a Palestinian cultural symbol inside the economical modern capital of Israel ) , the Urbicide process inside the old city of Hebron is a historical cultural struggle between the Israelis who claim there owner ship of the city cultural heritage , and the Palestinian society that own and form that cultural heritage and form its physical aspect throw a continuous social process throw more than 1000 years .

Hebron or Al- khaleel in Arabic is one of the oldest living cities on earth , with a history that go back to more than 3000 years , but what gives her this historical importance is a cave inside it, called the Cave of the Patriarchs (Arabic & Hebrew name : "ma'arat al-Machpela"), is traditionally considered the place where Abraham the "Father/Leader of many" trips and a profit for the three religions Jewish , Islam and Christianity is Buried with his sons , where an important Islamic Mosque was built Or a Jewish Synagogue for the Jews.

This research here is not about the historical facts and claims about how owns the city Arabs or Jews , it’s about the measurements on the ground that was imposed by the Israeli occupation force and settlers inside the old city of Hebron that turned the old part of the city into a s ghost city , this part of the city that played an essential part in the social and economical life of the hall city of Hebron until few years ago .

The Urbicide inside the old city of Hebron which is marked by colonial settlements inside the urban fabric , that created a system of control that made the life of the society inside it unbearable , by making the daily experience of the local residents and visitors to the heart of the city a painful one filled with delays , security checks , and butting them into a vulnerable security conditions , cutting the connectivity with the main resource and means of daily life , shifting the economic center and life to new locations outside the infected part .

Along term process that seem to be slow but continuous ( as it started in 1968 ) and determined to change the city image and identity from an Arab city to a Jewish one, creating a condition very similar to the way that Tumor acts inside the infected parts of the city .

Prof. Leiven De Cauter describes Urbicide inside Hebron as "a very unique example, that took place in two different levels: the first level was the transformation of the old city itself to a ghost city where the Urbicide is less visible; the second level was the violence that was less occurred but stronger than any other shape beside the division of the district itself by the Israeli paths into small zones".[9]

Before we go further in discussing Urbicide inside the old city we must notice that it is a part of bigger process of Urbicide that affects the hole district of Hebron and west bank , Aby Jidi argues that this matrix is "applied by the matrix of control of the Israeli occupation , wich involves scientific planning and in effect , engineering of space to ensure total Israeli control of the Palestinian territories ", described by Eyal Wizman as the " politics of verticality "[10].

The politics of verticality is " the process of splitting a single territory into a series of territories , beginning as a set of ideas , policies , projects and regulations proposed by israel state technocrats , generals, archaeologists , planners and road engineers since the beginning of the occupation ". [11]

Sari Hanafi uses the Term : "Spacio-cide" to describe two levels of destruction, the micro level of the urban and the macro level of the territory in link to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. On the micro level he claims that Spacio-cide not only target cities but the whole landscape and built environment is under assault. From the rubble of devastated buildings, leveled hill sides to the flattened vegetation ,[12]

This issue can be seen in the ground by pass roads that surrounds the cities and forbid it is expansion , blocking the main roads in the face f Palestinians , the separation wall , the settlements that dominates & surrounds the cities and villages and control most of the Palestinian land in the west bank , a network of military posts , check points that controls the Palestinian movement on the ground , Industrial Parks , dump areas ,natural reserves areas , military orders and British colonial laws that help the Israelis to gain dominancy inside the Palestinian territories , in addition to the violence against humans and the physical components of the urban fabric like the destruction of houses , cutting down trees ( especially olive trees that play an important role on the Palestinian economy ) , Confiscation of lands for military and public uses are all parts of this matrix , that seems to be part of Allon Plan Proposed in 1968 which cuts most of the west bank land and pressing the Palestinian cities into tow enclaves and it is enhancement Allon Plus Plan that divide the tow enclaves into several smaller enclaves connected to each other by bass roads controlled by check points , and that what we can see realized after Oslo agreement 1 & 2.

Shape (1) : Allon Plus map , Source : Arij research center http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/marsam11.gif

Shape (2) : Oslo 2 redeployment agreement 1997 , source : Arij research center, www.poica.org

Doaa Abouelmagd tried in her research to high light the deferent levels of Urbicide on the district level of Hebron , using the previous points , she also tried to high light the main points of the colonization project inside the old city , but she didn’t reach to total understanding to hoe does these points form a total process strangling the old city of Hebron.

Shape(3): Hebron District Condition map , Source : http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/Hebron_wall_0607.jpg

The Process of Urbicide by strangulation in the level of the old district of Hebron :

First Step : Making A Big dominant Node Near by the City (Qiryat Arba settlement ) .

The story of Urbicide in the old city of Hebron started right after the occupation back in 1967 , by a group of extreme Zionist that entered Park Hotel in the center of the city and refused to get out of it , demanding from the Israeli government to let them Live inside the city , after months of delay they were moved out from the hotel to the Military compound (that was built during the British mandate ) to live in under the military protection ,

After months of trying to convince the Mayor of the city to give them a permission to build a Jewish quarter near the city ,( as it is against the Law and international legislation & a National betrayal Sheikh Ali Ja’abari argued).

This soon marked the first step in the colonization process inside Hebron and the destruction of its fabric , as in response to the extreme Zionist right calls marked by the Announcement of Menachem Liebman in a letter to “Ma’ariv” news paper : “The residents of Judea and Samaria (west Bank ) need to know who in fact rules in Judea and Samaria - the Government of Israel or Sheikh Ali Ja’abari - in order to know to know to whom to apply for a license to build a Kirya....”.[13]

In 1970 the Israeli government issued a permission to build Qiryat Arba settlement , in a strategic hill near the old city that dominate and controls the daily life .

In addition to dominancy this settlement formed a new urban fabric inside the city that is not controlled by the city municipality as it has its own municipal council and laws , in addition it marks the Israeli policies of seize the private Palestinian lands for military use ( Using British mandate Laws & Israeli Military Orders ) , then handling the lands to the settlers after that .

During the years Palestinians figured out that qiryat arba and all the settlements built after it are not regular residential districts , as they were surrounded by defensive walls that controls a bigger area of land , and were Palestinians are forbidden to enter except with special permissions from occupation army , and also they play a main military control role as they were surrounded by military posts , and an army + settlers Base to lunch attacks on the city .

Shape (4): Qiryat Arba settlement above the old town of Hebron , Source : http://lexicorient.com/e.o/ill/hebron01_large.jpg

2^nd Step : Invading th e old City Fabric And Creating Strong Holds :

After settling in Qriyat arba , the next step was to cease control of Nodes inside the old City Fabric that could form Strong holds , April 26, 1979 – A group of 40 settlers from Kiryat Arba seize an UNRWA-financed elementary school and clinic situated in the old city of Hebron. With the assistance of the Israeli army and the Israeli Government, the settlers establish the colony of Beit Hadassah in the building (Daboya Building ), the Belding was built in the ottoman era(1870) .

The settlers side of the story claims that this building is abandoned since 1929 and was used before as a Jew Arab hospital ,their story of how the illegally dominate the building is told by The Jewish Community of Hebron: " A week and a half after Pesach a group of 10 women and 40 children left Kiryat Arba in the middle of the night, driven in a truck through the deserted streets of Hebron. They made their way to the abandoned Beit Hadassah building, originally built in the 1870s as a medical clinic for Jews and Arabs in Hebron, abandoned since the 1929 riots, The women and children, assisted by men, climb into Beit Hadassah through a back window, bringing with them only minimal supplies. They swept some of the decades-old dust from the floor, spread out some mattresses, and went to sleep" [14].

Shape (5) : Daboya Building (bet hadasa ) & Beit HaShisha settlement next to it , Source: http://hebron.web.aplus.net/english/data/images/Image/sites/beithadassah/beitha55.jpg

In the begging the Israeli government claimed that she oppose this action of the settlers , but she provided them with a security network that started before the settle inside , as there were An army Post in the Roof of the building which we can see in The Jewish Community of Hebron story : " When they awoke in the morning the children began singing: v'shavu banim l'gvulam - the children have returned home. Soldiers guarding on the roof of the building, coming down to investigate, were astounded at the sight of the women and children. Quickly they reported to their superiors, and soon the "Beit Hadassah women" were a national issue"[15].

But soon after a local resistance military operation that targeted the settlers near the Building killing 6 of them , the government officially recognized the settlement and decided to expand it , for security reasons as they claimed , they seized 13 Palestinian private homes next the building and demolished them , and after that they build another apartment settlement building called Beit HaShisha .

This process were repeated many time since that , were settlers start and the government give them a legal situation after a while , many buildings were colonized inside the old city most of the public use buildings owned by the municipality or State-owned ,

PASSIA ( Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs) , tried to put out a table for , HEBRON COLONIES DATELINE (last update 2002) :

June 5, 1967 - Israel occupies the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, thereby becoming an occupying power subject to the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel is obliged to protect, rather than violate, the basic rights of the Palestinian civilian population.

April 4, 1968 - 88 radical Jews led by Rabbi Moshe Levinger [4] and posing as Swiss tourists, check into the Park Hotel in Hebron. The next day they announce their intention to establish a Jewish-only Israeli colony in the heart of Hebron. Rather than remove the settlers, then Prime Minister Eshkol approves the construction of what is now the Kiryat Arba colony and decides to temporarily house the settlers in a nearby army compound pending the colony's completion.

1971 - The colony of Kiryat Arba is established. Currently, 5,500 settlers occupy this colony.

April 26, 1979 - A group of 40 settlers from Kiryat Arba seize an UNRWA-financed elementary school situated in the old city of Hebron. With the assistance of the Israeli army and the Israeli Government, the settlers establish the colony of Beit Hadassah in the building.

October 26, 1981 - With the assistance of the Israeli army, settlers from Kiryat Arba seize the homes of three Palestinian families and establish the colony of Beit Schneersohn.

October 28, 1982 - With the assistance of the Israeli army, settlers demolish the homes of 12 Palestinian families in the old city of Hebron in order to establish a colony near Hebron's vegetable market. The colony of Beit Romano is established on the grounds of a Palestinian boys' school.

Shape (6):Beit Romano settlement over a Palestinian Girl school , Source: Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, Lecture about the Rehabilitation of the old town, Najah Uni . 2006

1983 - Israel approves the construction of the Givat Harsina colony situated less than 3 kilometers from Kiryat Arba, on land belonging to the city of Hebron. Only a few meters separate the houses of the colony from the Palestinian homes.

1983 - Israel establishes the illegal colony of Avraham Avinu behind the Palestinian vegetable market in the old city of Hebron, thus permanently closing down the market.

Shape (7) : Avraham Avinu Settlement , Source : : Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, Lecture about the Rehabilitation of the old town, Najah Uni . 2006

July 15, 1984 - Israel establishes the colony of Beit Haggai situated a few meters away from Palestinian homes in the south of Hebron.

August 9, 1984 - Israel approves the establishment of the colony of Ramat Yishai/Tel Rumeida built on a Muslim cemetery in the heart of the old city.

Shape (8) : Tel Rumeida settlement , Another dominant Point inside the City , Source : Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, Lecture about the Rehabilitation of the old town, Najah Uni . 2006

February 3, 1985 - with the assistance of the Israeli army, settlers destroy 23 almond trees to expand the Tel Rumeida colony.

In 1993, after the start of the Oslo peace process, Israel allocates approximately US$200,000 for the construction of additional floors in the illegal colonies of Beit Romano and Beit Schneersohn, in violation of the Oslo Agreements.

February 25, 1994 - U.S. born settler, Baruch Goldstein, opens fire on Muslim worshippers in the Haram al-Ibrahimi Mosque/Tomb of the Patriarchs killing 29 Palestinians and injuring over a hundred others. In the following days, the Israeli army kills an additional 36 Palestinians.

September 1998 - Israel allocates approximately US$3,000,000 for the construction of permanent structures in the colony of Tel Rumeida to accommodate 75 illegal settlers.

October 2000 - Israel imposes a military curfew on the 20,000 Palestinians living in the old city of Hebron. To the current day, Palestinians have lived under 24-hour military curfew, denied the ability to leave their homes, attend schools and work.

May 2002 - Israel approves the expansion of the Tel Rumeida colony.

November 2002 - using the ambush of 9 soldiers of the Israeli army and 3 armed security agents as a pretext, Israel announces that it will destroy Palestinian homes in order to construct a "corridor" between the illegal colony of Kiryat Arba and the illegal colonies situated in the old city of Hebron. Three houses are immediately demolished. The order to build the corridor is temporarily halted by the Israeli High Court.

November 12, 2002 - Sharon announces that he will support the construction of another illegal colony in the old city which will contain 1,000 housing units.[16]

Shape (9): Map of settlements and Blocked roads inside the old City of Hebron, Source: Btselem , www.btselem.org/Shared/Images/Maps/200705_Hebron_Center_Map_Eng.jpg

The Israeli settlements concentrate in Five Locations inside the old City , But there security needs made those five Enclaves locks as a military Castles with all the shields ,gates, walls & military Towers around and above each one of them , which seems like an infected Human cell that compress and harass the ordinary cells around it and cut their life means .

Shape (10):Beit Romano settlement, you can see a partly view for the security managements inside and around it , Source : http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_534/Hebron-11311.jpg

Third step : Dividing the city into two Parts & The Matrix of Road Blocks, Gates and check Points :

Since the beginning the occupation force planted a number of check points & military posts inside the city , to make a matrix of control in addition to the military bases and compounds inside and around the city , and to provide the settlers with security , but the old city stayed as a one Urban Unit tell 17 January, 1997,

when " the Hebron Protocol was signed between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization for redeployment of Israeli forces in Hebron in accordance with Oslo II Interim Agreement of September 1995. The Protocol divided the city of Hebron into Hebron 1 and Hebron 2, better known as (H1 & H2). H2 Area covered some parts of Hebron Municipal area which included the Old city and Kiryat Arba's settlement" [17].

This Protocol that turned after a while into a trap for Palestinians , as it divide the old city into 2 parts , one under the Palestinian Authorities control And the other under the Israeli occupation control , and for security reasons as the Israeli claimed ( especially after the intifada in 9/2000) they divided the city physically into 2 parts , by a matrix of Road blocks , Check points , Gates and military Posts , estimated by ARIJ to be more than 113 blockade points inside and out skirts of area H2 cutting it totally from the rest of the city.

Shape(11) :the Palestinian Israeli protocol for Hebron, H1 and H2 areas , Source: Americans for Peace Now, Settlements in Focus, Hebron (Vol.1, Issue 13), http://www.peacenow.org/images/hebronmap.gif

Shape (12): road blocks and check points inside the old city , source : Judy Roberts, "The Late Shuhada Street, Hebron" , Challenge Magazine , Issue 102, March/April 2007 , www.challenge-mag.com/illustrations/0102/map_250_h.jpg

Most of the road blocks Gates and check points are Controlled With military posts above and inside Palestinian Houses ,in the name of security purposes making the life of Palestinians residents in those houses and those how pass near it very hard and filled of danger.

Shape (13): Qafesha family house , near the cave of Patriarchs Mosque , with a military post above it , Source : http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_534/Hebron-11302.jpg

Hanadi Badr a Palestinian Artist that lives in Canada , make a comment for a photo of a military Gate next to Daboya Building (bet hadasa ) Says : this photo sent me back 25 years , when I was basing the same place , there was now briars , now blocked gates that was installed to protect settlers that live inside the old City ,they are Like Cancer (Tumor) that there is no one who can stop it , these gates makes a gate for an enclave of the most Extremist and violent settlers , on our land expelling us out .[18]

ٍShape (14): Road Gate in the front of Daboya Building (bet hadasa ), Source :http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_534/Hebron-10632.jpg

Shape (15): An Israeli Soldier inspecting a Palestinian kid going to his school inside the old city , Source : Jerusalem News Paper , 21/11/2005

4^th step : Blocking and Closing The Roads in The Face of Palestinians :

Cutting the life routs , strangling the Palestinian life were policies of both settlers and occupation army , the settlements inside the cities became bases to harass Palestinians and cut the roads , one of the first policies was throwing Garbage , stones and even urine in the heads of Palestinians who basses the old market road , Palestinians in there seek to protect them self , Installed roof fence .

Curfew policy and market block military orders for a certain time was used against Palestinians in the Jewish festival and holydays and also for security reasons and as a total punishment tool after resistance events in or from the city .

al-Ibrahimi mosque(the Cave of Patriarchs) massacre in 25/2/ 1994, resulted in the killing of over 29 Palestinian worshipers ,by a settler from Qiryat Arba, formed the start of a new occupation policy in the city ,

Shape (16): Roof Fence Inside the old city market , Source : http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_534/Hebron-14670.jpg

Marked by the long term closers and security measures that we can see in al-Shuhada street in the heart of the old city which was closed since the massacre for " Palestinian " security reasons , this measures increased after the year 2000 intifada , were total parts of the city and markets , roads were closed in the face of Palestinians for long times.

Shape (17): al-Shuhada commercial street , Source : http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_534/Hebron-11309.jpg

D. Khalid Qawasma director of Hebron Rehabilitation Committee Describes the current condition inside the old city of Hebron , he says : " the occupation turned the old city into a Jewish quarter , were Apartheid separation policy is applied , Palestinians can't use their Buildings , open there shops , or even use the roads for their movement, he says that for example the old city was under Curfew for 585 years during the first 3 years of Al-Aqsa intifada (started in 9/2000) , and that was in addition to a closer submitted by the occupation army in most of the markets and shops inside the old city .[19]

Shape(18): Ashalalah street Road Block(17/1/2007) , Source: http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_534/Hebron-11320.jpg

Shape (19) : map for Part of the Road blocks inside the old city of Hebron, Source : http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/Hebron%20report%20photo%2

Arwa Sultan A Palestinian that lives near Bethlehem describes (by Photos and writing ) her journey to Al – Ibrahemee Mosque ( the Cave of Patriarchs) , she says:" after you reach the market area where you leave the car , you can notice the busy movement of consumers in the market , this movement and loud voices decreases as you head toward the Mosque , after you reach the first Israeli check point you can see most of the shops closed , you continue your way you can see the old city market totally closed , Garbage over the roof fence , tell you reach the first military gate outside the mosque , you bass the first one , then the second one few meters a head , then you finally reach the third one on the Palestinian entrance that was used after the massacre and in all these gates you must get physically inspected "[20].

Shape (20):

Leaving the Car in the Busy Market , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (21): Heading toward the old city and the movement decrease , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (22): Heading forward the movement decrease more , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (23): Reaching the first Israeli checkpoint in the front of Beit Romano settlement , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (24): after the checkpoint most of the shops are closed and a very light movement , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (25):the totally closed Main old market inside the heart the old city (by Military order) , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (26):Garbage thrown by settlers , hanging in the roof fence of Main old market Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (27):the first Military Gate outside the Mosque , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (28):Inside the first Military Gate outside the Mosque , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (29):Inside the Second Military Gate outside the Mosque , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

Shape (30):Inside the Tird Military Gate outside the Mosque , Source : http://www.travel4arab.com

5^th step :New Roads To Connect The Enclaves with Each other and turning the Palestinian districts into enclaves :

in order to complete the matrix of control inside the H2 old part of the city , wish was Named officially by the Israeli Government after 1997 agreement "the Jewish Quarter" , the occupation army started the plans of opening new roads (corridors ) that creates a better connectivity between the deferent enclaves inside the city , turning the Palestinian homes into enclaves , destroying the historical urban fabric , and cutting the last connections for the Palestinians with the heart of the old city As those roads are only for the Israeli use and Palestinians forbidden to enter it .

after a resistance action that targeted the settlers in the road leading to the Cave Mosque from Qiryat Arba settlement in 2002 , the Israelis for security reasons again but a plan to make a new road that connects the mosque with the settlements in , this road called the Prayers road , clamming that road will make the distance shorter between the settlement center and the mosque from around 3 km to 800 meters ; "Once this road is finished, the Ibrahimi mosque will be within a walk able reach from Kiriayt Arba'" the settlers claimed [21] .

the problem in the road was that it goes directly throw the ancient Jaber residential quarter destroying 11 600 years old Mamluk and Othman houses, the existing same section of the road is wider and only 100 meters longer , many alternatives that could avoid the destruction of the old houses could be issued and form even better Security conditions for the settlers , but the Israeli settlers <,but the Israeli government insisted to open it and the houses were destroyed . The road is completely devoted to Israeli settlers .

Shape (31): The New road through Jaber Quarter , source : ARIJ, Israeli " Prayers" Road" built on ruins of ancient Palestinian houses in the old city of Hebron, The Applied Reserach Institute, Jerusalem, 7/9/2004, www.poica.org

Shape (32): The New road old road and a proposed by the author road , source : ARIJ, , www.poica.org

Shape (33): Destroying one of the ancient Houses in Jaber residential quarter , Source : Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, Lecture about the Rehabilitation of the old town, Najah Uni . 2006

Another road plan was realized in the ground , as in 2005 the Israeli military made an order of land confiscation for the project , that connects the strategic dominant settlement of Tel Rumeida with Beit Romano settlement down the hill , this road goes directly throw the Muslim cemetery and destroys historical artificate sites up in the hill .

Shape (34) : the new road that connects the settlement of Tel Rumeida with Beit Romano settlement , Source: http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/Heb%20-%20Photo%203.jpg

D. Khalid Qawasma director of Hebron Rehabilitation Committee in an interview ARIJ field worker said , in reaction to the roads plans : "What is going on is another crime being committed by the Israeli occupation authorities against the history and architectural legacy of the Palestinian people in Hebron. I call upon concerned international organizations and bodies, practically UNESCO, to assume responsibilities and pressure Israel to halt its criminal acts against human culture and history in Hebron's old city".[22]

6^th step : Manipulating with laws , Cloning Fake papers and making Huge money proposals for the Palestinians family to leave :

From the beginning of the settlement process inside Hebron , many tactics were used to gain control on the lands and houses of Palestinians , like seizing the lands for Military or security reasons , then handling it to the settlers , entering state owned buildings and taking control over it un legally with the protection of army , seizing empty abandoned or under construction Palestinian buildings with fake papers and the Israeli police sends the case to the Israeli courts that take years and years of dealing with it to decide wither that is true or not , even after the Israeli courts take a decision , the Israeli police will refuse to execute it in the ground delaying it for years , and making the assault a reality in the ground , except in few cases that the Political elite intervene after a big presser from the united states or the European Union .

Another way is trying to convince the Palestinian house owners throw Mediator to sell or along term rent the house for the settlers for Huge prices , Idrees Zahdih (59) Years old how lives in a small house in al-Shuhada street says " that Anat Kohen one of the extremist settlers leader offered him a 3 Million dollars for his hose that worth no more than 26 thousand dollars ,and when he refused to sell the house she offered him half a million dollar gust to leave the street without selling it ". [23]

The last case in Hebron were Al Rajabi building , that lies in a strategic point that connects the qireat arba settlement with the setelments inside the old city ,in 19 /3/2007 a group of settlers moved in Al Rajabi building which was under construction , calming that they bought the house from its owner , providing cloned and faked papers , in 16/4/2008 the original owner of the house went to the Israeli court , after long debates , the Israeli supreme court take a decision to move them out from the house , by 16/11/2008 as a dead line ,

During this time this building became a Military base surrounded by fences and soldiers and settlers , the police refused to realize the court order , but after international intervention the Israeli government ordered the police to evacuate the settlers by force , how shoed a big resistance ,

The settlers were eventually evacuated from the building , but the building is still under the occupation army control for security reasons tell this day.

Shape (35): map for Al Rajabi building location , Source : http://www.poica.org/editor/case_studies/Al_Rajabi_House_12_08.JPG

7^thStep : Changing the residents experiences , and making Palestinian life's un bearable :

Before 1997 the old city of Hebron had about 40000 Palestinian residents in , in late 2004 Palestinians estimate that only 20000 Palestinians residents are still living there , later unofficial estimates talks about only 8-9000 Palestinian citizens are still living there and the settler numbers had increased from 800 – 1200 settlers with no less than 2000 soldiers providing them with security network in 2006.

Using all the mentioned above tactics and other tactics Israel was apple to make a major demographic change inside the city , even the Palestinians launched a continuous camping to rehabilitee the old city buildings of Hebron throw the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee , and giving the people there many financial and social privileges,

One of the most effective weapons inside Hebron is the assaults and harasses launched by the Extreme wing of settlers most of them are members by terrorist movements forbidden by the Israeli government like Kahana Hai ,

Those groups uses the Israeli laws that forbid the Israeli army from taking any measures against Israeli citizens even if he want , and giving him the full authority to arrest , assault or kill Palestinians , and give the authorities against the settlers to the Israeli civil police how did not show presence in the city for security reasons as they claimed.

So those settlers use the army shield to attack , destroy and burn Palestinian houses ,harass and assault the Palestinian citizens , the TIPPH observation force and even other Israeli citizens from the left political wing,

Shape(36):ABC news channel reporter Amer Al Jabari being attacked by the army and settlers in the same time and in the presence of Israeli police officer , Source: http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_5186/Hebron-33853.jpg

For example LRC (ARIJ) has documented the violations committed by Al Rajabi Building Settlers against Palestinians and their properties between the issuing of the eviction order and its implementation. The following table lists these violations in chronological order:

Date	Neighborhood in Hebron City	The Violation
Nov. 19^th, 2008	Wadi Al Nasara, Wadi Al Hussein, Al Ras, Al Jabari Neighborhood.	The colonists, mostly masked and armed with guns, clubs and iron pipes, attacked an unspecified number of Palestinian houses in the said locations. Attacked houses includes those belonging to Nafez Jabari, Bassam, Suleiman and Naser Fahed Al Jabari, Mohammad Nu’aman Jaber, Mohammad Ayyoub Al Jabari, Salman and Areef Awwad Jabari, Issa Jaber, Ghaleb Ragheb Jabari, Munther Dana, Hafez Jabari, Kayed Mansour Jabari, Awni Dana, Ayman Mohammad Rabee Jabari, etc.
Nov. 20^th, 2008	Wadi Al Hussein, Jaber Neighborhood, Al Salayma Neighborhood and the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque	Israeli occupation soldiers surrounded the area and took over building tops while colonists threw stones and brok the windows of Palestinian houses in the said locations.
Nov. 20^th, 2008	Wadi Al Nasara, the vicinity of Al Rajabi Building and Jabal Jalis	The uprooting of tens of olive trees in addition to the breaking of the windows of 20 cars and throwing stones at 50 Palestinian houses. The windows of Al Ras Mosque were broken while anti-Islam slurs were scrabbled on its doors and walls.
Nov. 22^nd, 2008	Wadi Al Hussein, Al Salayma Neighborhood, the vicinity of the Ibrahimi Mosque and Al Rajabi Building	The Israeli occupation forces occupied five houses in the vicinity of the Building. About 20,000 colonists ascended to the City of Hebron in support of the colonists of Al Rajabi Building. Incidents of stone throwing at Palestinians and their properties were reported.
Nov. 24^th, 2008	Wadi Al Hussein and the vicinity of Al Rajabi Building	The steps taken by the Israeli occupation forces and the attacks carried out by the colonist transformed the area into a state of undeclared curfew as none of the Palestinians went out of their homes and none headed to work.
Nov. 26^th, 2008	Wadi Al Hussein, Wadi Al Nasara, the vicinity of Al Rajabi House and some parts of the Old City of Hebron.	Stone throwing at Palestinians in the said locations in addition to slashing the tires of a number of cars.
Nov. 26^th, 2008	The Old City of Hebron and the vicinity of Al Rajabi House	Attacking a number of Palestinian houses including those belonging to Ghaleb Mansour Jabari, the brother Majdi, Mansour, Fayeq, Tariq and Najih Al Jabari, Bassam Al Jabari, Jamal, Jameel and Abdel Hai Abu Sueifan, etc. The series of attacks led to the injury of the 61-year old Munawwar Jabari and Mr. Joma’a Jabari. They were both transported to the Governmental Hospital in Hebron.
Nov. 27^th, 2008	The vanity of Al Rajabi Building	Attacking Palestinian houses with Molotov cocktails and stones.
Nov. 29^th, 2008	Wadi Al Hussein, Al Ras, Wadi Al Nasara	The injury of at least 15 Palestinians including 3 children due to attacks by hundreds of colonists rampaging throughout the said locations. The injured included Mr. Issa Amero, the representative of B’tselem Israeli human rights organization. Palestinian houses were also damaged as a result of a series of stone throwing incidents.
Nov.30^th, 2008	The vicinity of Al Rajabi Building and Wadi Al Hussein	The breaking of the windows of 23 Palestinian cars in addition to throwing stones at Palestinian houses in the said locations and desecrating the cemetery.
Nov. 30^th, 2008	The vicinity of Al Rajabi Building	The injury of 5 Palestinians including 2 children with varying injuries.
Dec. 1^st, 2008	Al Sahla Street near the Ibrahimi Mosque	The injury of 4 Palestinians due to dog bites when a colonist released his trained dog at a group of Palestinians in the said location. The injured were later transported to the hospital.
Dec.2^nd, 2008	Al Ghussein Neighborhood, located east of the City of Hebron	The injury of 5 Palestinians due to attacks carried out by colonists and their dogs in the late hours of the night at Palestinian houses in the Neighborhood.
Dec. 3^rd, 2008	Bab Al Zawiya, Al Jabari Neighborhood, Al Ras	The injury of the 2-year-old Sundus Al Jabari and her father, Mr. Nizam Al Jabari with multiple bodily injuries due to colonists’ attacks. Also, Israeli occupation forces carried out an incursion into the center of the City of Hebron. Teargas bombs were extensively used.
Dec.4^th, 2008	Wadi Al Hussein	Attempting to set Khaled Ibn Al Waleed Mosque ablaze while Israeli Special Forces began evicting Israeli colonists from Al Rajabi Building.
Dec.4^th, 2008	Wadi Al Hussein and the vicinity of Al Rajabi House.	The injury of 3 Palestinians including the aging Abdel Hai Matariya when a colonist opened fire at him at close range.
Dec. 4^th, 2008	Tel Rumeida neighborhood in central Hebron City.	Setting a mosque ablaze in Tel Rumeida as colonists threw a Molotov cocktail at it.
Dec.4^th, 2008	The Old City of Hebron	The burning of a number of houses in the Old City of Hebron.
Dec. 4^th, 2008	Bab Al Zawiya, the Old City and the vicinity of Al Rajabi Building	The serious injury of a Palestinian elder due to the colonists’ attacks. He was later transported to an Israeli hospital due to the seriousness of his injury. Hundreds of colonists tried to reach Bab Al Zawiya neighborhood despite the fact that it is located in the H1 area of the City of Hebron.
Dec. 4^th, 2008	The Old City of Hebron	Rampage carried out by colonists in the Old City of Hebron leading to the burning of a number of Palestinian houses in this section of the City.
Dec. 6^th, 2008	The Old City of Hebron	Colonists from the colony of Abraham Avino burn part of the house of Mr. Nidal Al Owaiwi after damaging most of its furniture. Mr. Al Owaiwi kept all of his 9 children in one room in fear of any further attack from the colonists.

Table Source : ARIJ, Al Rajabi Building in Hebron – The Israeli Colonial War, The Applied Reserach Institute, Jerusalem, 2/1/2009, www.poica.org

ARIJ argue :" Over a period of three weeks of continued attacks by the colonist, the attacks came to a peak during Al Adha Feast while Israeli occupation forces provided protection for the aggressive colonists. This protection has led to an increase in the number of such attacks. A number of Palestinian families were forced to leave their houses by the occupation forces under the pretext of protecting them !!!". [24]

Shape (37): A Palestinian teacher and student being attacked by the Israeli army in there way to there school inside the old city , Source: http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_5186/Hebron-24372.jpg

In their seek to have some kind of daily life Palestinian citizens uses alternative network of roads that goes throw private houses yards ,jumping from roof to roof , using leaders to climb some walls to reach their destinations instead of the blocked roads were they need special permits from the army and well be harassed by settlers and delayed for hours , the irony that the Israeli force has intervened in issuing a military order for a Palestinian house owner to let people go throw his house instead of opening al shuhda street for Palestinian passengers ,

One of the most Famous stories in Hebron is the story of Tayseer Abu Isha family house which became an enclave inside Tel Rumeida settlement , refusing to let out there houses or to sell it to the settlers , being attacked 24 hours a day, forbidden from regular movement in and out the house , and making the house as a big Gail surrounded by fences from every side to prevent settlers from destroying the house , Tayseer argue :" if you forget to lock the door for a while the settlers will enter the house and destroy it ".[25]

Shape (38):Settler curses Fida' Abu 'Ayesha in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron. Filmed by Fida' Abu 'Ayesha, 14, camera distribution project, 4 July 2006., Source: B'Tselem, http://www.btselem.org/Shared/Images/Photos/200607_Cursing_Settler_in_Hebron.jp

Shape(39):Abu 'Ayesha Fortified home in Hebron. Photo: Musa Abu Hashhash, B'Tselem, Source : http://www.btselem.org/Shared/Images/Photos/20050508_Settlers_Violence_in_Tel_Rumeida_al_Aisha_Family.jpg

Shape (40): Map of tel Rumaida Settlement , Source: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/130/370007686_7cdb9fe04c.jpg?v=0

Conclusion :

Urbicide in the old city of Hebron is A very unique case that have many layers and measures that formed a long term Urbicide process , started in 1967 this process have too many aspects that can't be discussed in one research,

This process is getting more and more complicated with time , the main goals of it is changing the city Identity from an Arab Islamic city into a Jewish one , it is a conflict about the ownership of history and roots more than how owns the space , even controlling and dominating the space is one of the main aspects of the process .

The process of Urbicide acts in many levels , the physical destruction of the city fabric used by the Israelis from time to time, but its size stays limited if we compare it with other Urbicide cases around the world , but the other aspects of Urbicide that can be clear as a result of the matrix of control that strangled the old city and turned it into a ghost city , destroying its social life and cultural heritage, and bushing it is residents out of it .

The process of Urbicide in Hebron is managed by the Occupation army and government with the settlers who share role in harassing and assaulting Palestinian residents , using the British mandate rules , Military orders ,a network of road blocks , check points , military posts , settlers special roads , strong holds that dominate the city and expansion plans .

The identity battle can be seen even by implementing new names for the places inside the city and outside it , and can be clear in the process of changing the mosque into a Synagogue in the first day of occupation.

Shape(41) : a draw for an artists from the settler . Used in Hebron Calendar Issued by The Jewish Community of Hebron , 2008, this drawing was marked by a label :(Our Estate In the Hands Of Others ) , Source :WWW.Hebron,com

The End

[1] Martin Coward “ community as heterogeneous ensemble: Mostar and Multiculturalism ”, ISA annualconvention , Feb 2001

[2] Dr. Nurhan Abujidi & Han Verschure , Military Occupation as Urbicide by " Construction & Destruction " : The Case of Nablus Palestine , 2006

[3]Doaa Abouelmagd, Hebron as a killed city, Urbicide course final paper , VUB ,2008, Page: 2

[4] Lewis Mumford , What is a City? , Architectural Record, 1937

[5]Richard Ingersoll, "THE DEATH OF THE CITY AND, THE SURVIVAL OF URBAN LIFE", page : 93, http://www.cccb.org/rcs_gene/richardingersoll.pdf

[6] Doaa Abouelmagd, Hebron as a killed city, Urbicide course final paper , VUB ,2008, Page:1

[7] Nurhan Abujidi & Han Verschure , Military Occupation as Urbicide by " Construction & Destruction " : The Case of Nablus Palestine , 2006 , page: 196 .

[8]Stephen Graham, ‘Clean territory’: Urbicide in the West Bank, open Democracy , 7 August, 2002, page: 1, http://www.opendemocracy.net/

[9] Abouelmagd, Hebron as a killed city, Urbicide course final paper , VUB ,2008, Page:1

[10] Nurhan Abujidi & Han Verschure , Military Occupation as Urbicide by " Construction & Destruction " : The Case of Nablus Palestine , 2006 , page: 214 .

[11] Nurhan Abujidi & Han Verschure , Military Occupation as Urbicide by " Construction & Destruction " : The Case of Nablus Palestine , 2006 , page: 214 .

[12]

[13] Chaim Simons, KIRYAT ARBA IS A FACT, 2003, http://www.geocities.com/ChaimSimons/hebronsettler17.html

[14] Unknown author , Beit Hadassah and Beit HaShisha, The Jewish Community of Hebron , 9/4/2006, http://www.hebron.com/english/article.php?id=227

[15] Unknown author , Beit Hadassah and Beit HaShisha, The Jewish Community of Hebron , 9/4/2006, http://www.hebron.com/english/article.php?id=227

[16] PASSIA team , HEBRON COLONIES DATELINE, PASSIA, 2002, http://www.nad-plo.org/view_area_page.php?view=facts_others_f13p&css=2#footer7

[17] ARIJ, A revised route of the Israeli Segregation wall to increase the area confiscated from Hebron Governorate, The Applied Reserach Institute, Jerusalem, 15/11/2007, www.poica.org

[18] Unknown Author , Hebron photos , 31/5/2007 , http://www.palestineremembered.com/GeoPoints/Hebron_534/ar/Picture_10632.html

[19] Alquds news paper auditor , Settlement and Judaization suffering of the old town of Hebron , Alquds news paper, 8/10/2008 , http://www.alquds.com/node/107934

[20] Arwa Sultan, an excursion inside Hebron Palestine ,Source : www.bafree.net/forums/showthread.php?p=532730

[21] ARIJ, Israeli " Prayers" Road" built on ruins of ancient Palestinian houses in the old city of Hebron, The Applied Reserach Institute, Jerusalem, 7/9/2004, www.poica.org

[22] ARIJ, Israeli " Prayers" Road" built on ruins of ancient Palestinian houses in the old city of Hebron, The Applied Reserach Institute, Jerusalem, 7/9/2004, www.poica.org

[23] Alquds news paper auditor , Settlement and Judaization suffering of the old town of Hebron , Alquds news paper, 8/10/2008 , http://www.alquds.com/node/107934

[24] ARIJ, Al Rajabi Building in Hebron – The Israeli Colonial War, The Applied Reserach Institute, Jerusalem, 2/1/2009, www.poica.org

[25] Shrouq assad , Palestine under scope , Hebron old city , Aljazeera tv network , 27/11/2003, http://aljazeera.net

welcome behind the wall

2009-05-25T21:32:00.003+02:00

a poster from my design was suggested to a Belgium tourist company that attend to send tourists to the Palestinian cities behind the wall to see the fact about what is going in land < for sorry the found it a great idea but they were afraid to adapt it because they think its shocking for the people and aggressive for others

اعادة اكتشاف والدي Re Discovering My father

2009-05-23T11:53:00.002+02:00

My father i a great man , he had to pear a lot of Responsibility early in his life after his father death when he was only 15 ,

as the oldest young man in the family and with the help of his uncle he had to take the responsibility of his family (a Mother, 2 brothers ,5 sisters the youngest of them was 2 years old only.

He had to work hard and study at the same time to complete his secondary school , it was a hard time for any human in his age but he proved how much he was responsible < he never had a chance to complete his studies in the university at that time < but he insisted in educating him self by reading in deferent direction , he was also a good merchant with a good reputation in the Palestinian market and he created more than one project to support his family .

at the age of 23 he was apple to get married and one year later he had me , i had another 2 brothers and 1 sister , and within all the responsibility he had he was apple to raze us and his brothers < even to send his sisters to universities in Amman and Romania to complete their studies.

(part of his work ) – a photo in Amman Jordan

He had also political interests and ambitions < even with all the responsibilities he had he never forget his responsibility toward Palestine and he Joined the Palestinian Democratic front ( a resistance group and part of PLO ) since the beginning of the first intifada < he later Joined the Democratic Palestinian union of FIDA witch emerged from the splitting of the democratic front in the 1990 ,

he believed in peace and he was a peace activist in my city < he was apple to be the general secretary of the party in Nablus for a while before he resigned and take a side a way from all the political work because of the corruption that he saw and couldn't fix witch spread widely in all the Palestinian parties < movements and fronts after the Oslo agreement .

but recently i discovered a new side of my father for the first time , i Know that he love photography since he was young , and he had more than3 cameras to take shoots for the family ,

But a simple Casio 10.1 mega pixel Digital Camera & Flicker Web site proved that he was born with an artist eye , even he had no idea how to use Photoshop <and he also had a poor computer skills ( Recently he started to use the Computer to communicate with me , until he discovered Flicker ) .

with simple techniques and without Digital aid he was apple to create very nice shoots from the Palestinian and Nablus daily life and nature < and within few weeks he was apple to attract dozens of visitors to his page on flicker .

here is a links to his page i hope you can enjoy it and pleas let me know your opinions .

Ameen Bara Flicker page

Rose in our family garden

ولادة اسرائيل The birth of Israel

2009-05-23T10:48:00.002+02:00

The Birth of Israel is a documentary film created by BBC in 2008 , in the 60 anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba (or the Creation of Israel ) , for the first time , the British TV network showed parts of the history of the conflict in a relatively balanced way , even it still takes the Israeli story in many parts of the film as facts disregarding the Palestinian story or even the British Mandate official documentary stories.

but it still giving a good idea about the conflict and the real conditions the Palestinian nation lived under the British mandate , the truth a bout the Jewish immigration to Palestine under the support of the Uk , and it even reveals part of the truth about the 1948 war of independence for the Jewish of Nakba war for the Palestinian people < and for the first time it speaks about the Palestinian refuges problem and the responsibility of the Under ground Israeli militant groups like Hagana into it .

the film is about 1 hour long and its in English < i hope that you all can take a look at it and you can all left your opinions in it as a response on the blog.

ولادة اسرائيل هو فلم وثائقي من انتاج شبكة ال بي بي سي البريطانية في العام 2008 ,بمناسبة مرور ستون عاما على النكبة الفلسطينية (قيام دولة اسرائيل ) ولأول مرة تظهر الشبكة التلفزيونية البريطانية تاريخ هذا الصراع بطريقة شبه متوازنة ,على الرغم من تبنيها الرواية الاسرائيلية في العديد من مقاطع الفلم كحقيقة مطلقة بغض النظر عن الرواية الفلسطينية المقابلة او حتى الرواية الرسمية البريطانية الموثقة في سجلات الانتداب .

على الرغم من ذلك لا يزال الفلم يعطي فكرة جيدة عن تاريخ الصراع و الاوضاع التي عاشها الفلسطينيين تحت الانتداب البريطاني و بعض الحقائق حول هجرة اليهود الى فلسطين بدعم من الحكومة البريطانية , كما تكشف جوانبا من حقيقة حرب النكبه عام 1948 – ما يعرف من قبل الأسرائيليين بحرب الاستقلال , ولاول مرة يتحدث عن مشكلة اللاجئين الفلسطينيين و الدور المباشر الذي لعبته العصابات الصهيونية السرية و الرسمية مثل الهاجاناه وشتير و الليحي في نشاتها .

مدة الفلم حوالي الساعة و هو باللغة الانجليزية, اتمنى ان يكون بوسعكم النظر اليه و ترك تعليقاتكم الموضوعيه على المدونه .

Public Space - Johannes de Dooper Voorplein & Parc Elisabeth/ Brussels – Belgium

2009-04-27T01:40:00.002+02:00

Public Space

Johannes de Dooper Voorplein & Parc Elisabeth

Under Supervision of:

Dr. Maarten Loopmans

Presented By:

Adham HABIB Hebat-Allah GAMAL

SHAFIQ BARA Sophie DEMEERE

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1. The Studying Method

2. Johannes de Dooper Voorplein

2.1. Square Description

2.2. Users & Activities

2.3. Problems

3. Parc Elisabeth

3.1 Park Description

3.2 Users & Activities

3.3 Problems

4. Comparison between the two public spaces

5. Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

What is Public Space?

It’s an area or place that is open and accessible to all citizens, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age or economic level. In the Public Space, you don’t pay fees or tickets for entry. The term 'Public Space' is also often misconstrued to mean other things such as 'gathering place'.

Where do we find Public Spaces?

They are streets, pavements, squares or parks. Government buildings, such as public libraries and many other similar buildings are also public space.

Some parks, libraries, government buildings, etc, are closed at night. As this does not exclude any specific group, it is generally not considered a restriction on public use. Entry to public parks can be restricted based upon a user's residence. (1)

Why do we study Public Spaces?

We study the public spaces to know different information such as:

1. Who are using these spaces?

2. Why are people using the spaces?

3. When are people using these spaces?

4. What are the usages of these spaces?

5. Do people like them or not?

And after we find the answers for those questions, we made some recommendations and suggestions for the authorities responsible for these spaces to enhance the unlikely things in those spaces. For future designs, urban planners should take into their consideration what people like and what they don’t like in Public spaces.

1. The studying Method

To study & analyze the two places we used the observation method, through different moments of the day (in the morning, the afternoon, during the regular day, and holidays) and different weather conditions (rainy, sunny, cloudy, cloudy and windy). In the first step we tried to observe, through photos and visual observation, the different users and activities, which take place on the space, . We tried to draw a plan that explains: the use pattern of the park, the different activities, the number of users in a certain time and the direction. After this, we tried to list the problems that affect the park. Through a series of Interviews with different users of the park from different backgrounds, who also suggested some solutions and changes in the park that could enhance their experience.

Observing all the activities which take place on the square seems not that easy. During the observations, we realized that it would be easier to take samples of activities, which were going on on different places on the square, to get a more accurate view on the different activities. Secondly, we remark it was not easy to register the paths over the square or in the park, because many people are simultaneous passing over the square or in the park. We discovered that taking different pictures in a well defined time span simplified the registration and augmented the accuracy. By taking pictures we don’t the analyze whole passing population, but takes out a sample. We structured this information on maps by using some icons and symbols. Those icons and symbols visualize the flows and are understandable for everyone.

Our observations take place during the winter months, what could have a seasonal influence on our outcome. The weather conditions for example snow, rain or very cold may influence the generalising of our observations. Because based on the interviews the Elisabeth square seems to be very lively in the summer (Pick-nicking people, organised activities, playing football,…). The interviewees of the Johannes De Dooper voorplein even so organise some activities in the summer times and neighbourhood children transforms the square into a big playground, with a lots of attractions. So both squares seem to be livelier in the summer as in the winter.

2. Johannes de Dooper Voorplein

Square Description

The Church

The “Johannes de Dooper Voorplein” is a neighborhood square in Old-Molenbeek. The square consists of a church (which is most of the times closed), markets for household/vegetables/fruit, couple cafés and a school. The square has been constructed as a big concrete square with parking spots, benches, rubbish bins, pin-pricks of light and a lot of trees. After the restructuring of the local public place in the nineteen the filling-in of the square evolve from a dirty square where illegal dumps of waste and double-parking were more the rules then the exception to an adapted square, to a local square where social interaction became more important and which was adapted to the needs of the local residents. The square revived by the multiple economic and social use of it by different groups for several activities, which could be hold simultaneous. This resulted in a higher economical and social interaction. Based on the fact that the place is not marked with some icons or identifying marks, nobody can claim the place.

Users & Activities

People passing through the square

Kids playing after school time

During our observations we saw that the place is used by different groups on different moments of the day independent of the weather conditions as passing through, to sport, to play, to meet each other or to hang around. Groups could play or stand on the square on a secure distance to guarantee their privacy and intimacy. That people held distance seems to be a cultural based territorial strategy. The position of people determines the influence to control, the attempt to affect and the control of the geographical area. An example of traffic lines intersections of the place, are some round hanging men standing parallel with the trees. People are turned with their face to the square and with their back to the trees and parking spots. Whyte (1980) interpreted this fact as with the backs exposed to the dangers of the street. This phenomenon repeats itself at the church and the steps before the church. The second item we observe in the same example, people take halt for a chat on the place where they meet each other on the square. When people stop to have a talk they usually do so in the middle of the traffic stream. The change of meeting other people depends on the paths they are following on the square. Because the square is a placed where many paths are bundled, the change will be greater of meeting other people. So, meetings take place and people make appointments on the square.

Thursday Market

Men chatting together

Secondly, we observed that most of the times the men were hanging around, playing or talking on the place. This could be explained by the not European origin and their culture. Bordieu describes this as the habits of the social-culturally determined disposition, which makes clear that women don’t use the place for hanging around but for shopping or as passing through. Although, some women take a chat with each other after the end of the primary school or during the Thursdays market.

On the square we find a lot of fresh vegetables markets and a nearby metro station, which enlarges the number of persons that pass the square and augmented the change of meeting each other. The place is a meeting point during the peak hours and makes that you bump into someone. The square is a public square with a familial sphere and creates a community feeling. The shops are frequently used by the habitants of the neighborhood, which delivers recognition. The economical function takes care of the social interaction.

On a crowded square you can follow the chats of others, which delivers the opportunity to observe the public, familial and private sphere. We find the same observations back in the research of Soenen (2006). The difference with the research of Soenen is that you have the change to stand far enough from each other to execute your activities, so that the interaction of other people can be limited. We observed also some typical public space activities such as, avoiding, aid, ephemeral social contact, impression and negative relation.

Analyzing the two cafés, gives us an insight in the fact that those places are semi-public places that are almost only used by not-European men. Not everyone can free enter the cafés, so we saw not one woman entering the cafés. This could be explained by the fact that cafés are culturally only accessible for men. So we remark that the cultural boarders for the accessibility play an important role.

The square image will be different based on the fact of identifying yourself with the place. The media gives a stigma to the community and describes it as dangerous territory with lots of (light version of) ghettos. This media image will by most people automatically be translated in a personal negative connotation of the habitants.

Some immigrants like, a women that has move from Sint-Gillis to Old-Molenbeek, distanced herself from the place based on the depressive feeling she got of the place. She’s not identifying herself with this place. Others identify them with the square, what delivers some habitats an identity and a feeling of solidarity. They are part of a group. The contradiction between both images causes an imaged community (they and we). As a consequence people who gets an image, without having ever been on the place or have had some contact with the insiders, will avoid the place or will be anxious about the place. The public instance tries to have a bigger impact on the activities on the public spaces. Since some years, they have been more often and visible presented.

We made two graphs according two our observations showing the number of the users and their activities in two different times.

Problems

During our observations we have frequently seen several cops and police cars. A young man told us that the police have become more rigorous to prevent some criminality. He ended our chat with saying that most of the Old-Molenbeek community has the feeling of being discriminated “We have the feeling that we are discriminated”. Most interviewees are satisfied with the square. Although someone proposed to renew the banks and dust bins on the square. A second possible improvement could be to place more green in the square.

3. Parc Elisabeth

Park Description

Park’s View

Park Elisabeth was designed around the basilica of the Sacred Heart church which was under construction 1905-1970, the park and the church play as a significant node inside Brussels, as it lies between several residential neighborhoods like Ganshoren, Sint–Agatha Berchem, Jette, Koekelberg, and in the walk distance from Molenbeek.

The park is surrounded with main roads and tunnels that connects the different parts of the city of Brussels and leads to the circular road, those roads surround the park from every side and creates a very powerful edges that separate the park from the surrounding neighborhoods, and even cuts the park into two parts (separate the church from the main park).

The main Park scale is quite big, and planted with a big number of different kinds of huge trees, it is divided into grass beds and pedestrian walk ways that goes from one end of the park to the other, the park is will connected to the public transportation network like nearby Simonies Metro and bus station and many tram stations in the front of the church and in the middle of the southern wing of the park which made the park a connection path for the passengers to change from line to line.

Park’s Layout

The garden is furnished with benches, trash bins that surrounds the main longitudinal axis, but its architectural quality is not significant as there are too many metal ventilation windows in the garden for the underneath tunnels and parking lot . The garden main axis is well illuminated with a series of light poles, the internal parts of the park is not well illuminated. We even remarked that due to an ongoing lightning project, the southern wing has a better illumination than the northern wing, and this influences the use of the square at night (different use pattern at night).

The garden contains a rarely used basket playground in the southern wing and an equipped Kids playground in the northern wing, which seems to be designed to be used and visible by the people of the houses on the other site of the street. The garden contains also an unused musician pavilion and an Abandoned Cafeteria.

The garden is surrounded with a number of restaurants and bars in the northern edge & small chocolate and tourist Souvenirs shops near the church, and a small grossary shop near to the metro station, a high school and most of the surrounding buildings are residential .

Users & Activities

Man walking his dog

Kids playing

The numbers of users is few if we compare it with the size of the park and with other public spaces like Johannes de Dooper Voorplein. It seems that the big green areas in the nearby neighborhoods& streets and the private back yards for the houses, and the wide roads around it limits down the users. Most of the users of the park are passengers who go through the park to change the transportation and use the main axis of the park only, there is also the people who go to the church in Sundays morning, some tourists who come to see the Basilica and take photos, some old men & women's who live in the nearby neighborhood and pass the park or walk through it alone or with their Dogs, some young men and women's how run through the park paths, kids and youngsters using their bicycles, few people and small groups hanging around, sitting on benches or halt for a talk, few lovers and sometimes drunk people standing in one of the corners.

The only 2 times we notice kids playing with their parents and teachers on the main middle axis of the park, running after each other and singing, but we have never noticed anybody using the playground, and there is also no public toilets around the park and if you need one you must go to one of the surrounding bars .

The scale and design of the garden makes it very cold in the windy days and limits the number of round hanging men in the garden, but with the same circumstances you can see the other square (Johannes de Dooper voorplein) full with life & people .

Problems

At night only a few people uses the well illuminated main axis on the square, The bushes, the darkness and the limited visibility in many parts of the garden, makes stories about gangs and drug dealers who steal from passengers lively. Young immigrants hanging around in big groups or with their big scary dogs and the miss understandings based on the cultural diversity around the garden ( Flemish , French , Moroccans, Africans and Polish men) limits the movements in the garden in number and time. Most of the interviewed people are satisfied with the current organization and furnisher on the square. Although some improvements could be made: to have from time to time a police control on the square, to place more trash bins on the square, to pickle special paths and to encourage the Community to clean the garden. ,

4. Comparison between the two public spaces

In this paragraph we want to make a comparison between the two public spaces out of our paper. Both public spaces were used differently by the users. The Johannes De Dooper Voorplein is a neighbourhood square, while the Elisabeth park is a more globalized. The park is used by all kind of people indifferently from place and origin. In the park, you can spot the following persons such as students, tourists, local residents, working people, the regular churchgoer, … At the Johannes De Dooper Voorplein you see generally people who live or work in the neighbourhood of the square. So people of the neighbourhood recognise each other. On the square the people of the neighbourhood will recognise each other, which leads to a familial atmosphere. The park can’t deliver the same familial atmosphere, but will be dominated by a public atmosphere.

The Elisabeth park is a big green lung in the capital, while we only remark a couple of trees on the small square in Molenbeek. We remarked the following three disadvantages for the park. Firstly, the disadvantage of the green in the park is that people can’t see what’s going on behind the bushes or trees. Secondly, the lighting in the park didn’t illuminate everything, which (can) give you a fearful feeling. Thirdly, the advantage of having lots of walking paths makes that you don’t automatically meet other people. On the one hand, this could be a real advantage in the summer time, by having more options to follow your path at the park. On the other hand, it could be disadvantage in winter or evening time. Contrary to the park, you will keep the overall view on the square. This makes that you can’t nearly unseen pass someone and that the fear factor of passing through at night is less. This based on the fact that there are less walking paths, that there is a better illumination and that the familial feeling on the neighbourhood. On the square you will easier and more frequent meet some people.

The economical activity is also different at both places. On the border of the park there is less activity than at the square, as you look at the size of the place and the number shops, cafés, …. A lot of people came to the square through the economical activity. So people will specially come to the square for the economical activities, while they don’t pass through the park for the economical activities. For the economical activities around the park, you can use the road and the footpath around the park. So, the chance of meeting people reduces.

On both public spaces you can see that the behaviour of people has been influences by their culture. Both places are used by multi cultural users, which makes that some cultural behaviours and broadens could be observed. The observations about the cultural influences have been similar on both places.

5. Conclusion

During our observations of the public squares we noticed that places could mend more for people that we ever thought. The two public places are different in the social functions of it. The Johannes de Dooper voorplein is a neighbourhood place with a familiar sphere, while the Elisabeth park is a public place with a public sphere. The daily paths that people are following determines if they want (not) reach each other and makes the boundaries of the public spaces visible. The moonlight (f.e. drugs traffic) and the formal economical function of the public space, are part of the economical integration which has an influence on the social functions of the public squares.

But next to the social function, the physical area of the public spaces has also an influence on the use of it. The green area in the park has on the one hand lots of opportunities like different walking paths, rest places on benches, jogging,… but on the other hand the poor lighting makes that people can’t see each other faces. This causes obscurity and lots of possibility to hide you in the bushes, what augmented the level of fear. So we discovered that the lighting, the benches, trees & bushes,… all have an influence on the public squares.

Although some places in the Elisabeth park could be nice to stay, the weather conditions makes it sometimes hard to do so. It’s a very open space, which is very windy and cold. There are nearly no places to look for some protections. The Johannes de Dooper voorplein is more closed, so there the weather conditions has not the same impact.

The items out of the observations that are important, will be summarized in this paragraph. We find that Enclosure comes in the first place; people prefer to go to small squares over large squares because they feel more enclosure in the small squares. Lighting system is also very important; we can see that obviously in Parc Elisabeth, people don’t like to come at night cause the existence of the gangs who appear at night in dark places. Shops and Cafés attract people. Hiding parts make people avoid them. The race of the users of the public space sometimes plays a rule in determine who will use this place; some people don’t like to be in the same place with people from other races. The security existence attracts people to use the place.

(1) http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=1941

لفلسطين للعروبة اكتبFor Palestain For Arabs I Write

نابلس ومذبحة المناطق الخضراء

كفى تدميرا للبنية الحضارية لمدينة نابلس : Stop Destroying the Urban Fabric of Nablus City

الشحادة beggar

الديمقراطية و العمارة Democracy & Architecture

المراجع:

1- محاضرات أولية في الفلسفة وتطورها التاريخي 2

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

Activism during the War on Gaza 27/ 12/2008 -17-1-2009

Introduction :

The first category : of Israeli institutions that worked during the Gaza war is the official level

The second category: the semi private institutions

The third category : the Pro – Israeli institutions working inside Israel and around the worl , one of the most important of them is the AIPAC (America's Pro-Israel Lobby ).

The 4th category : international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli

The 5th category : the nongovernmental institutions like the human rights groups .

· 1st type : Offices and subdivisions for international human rights groups like Amnesty International - Israel Section

· 2nd type : Arab Palestinian groups in the 1948 territories like Adalah - The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel , (http://www.adalah.org/ ).

· 3nd type : Israeli human rights groups:

Conclusion :

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

The Activism of Deferent Israeli Institutions & Groups

Activism during the War on Gaza 27/ 12/2008 -17-1-2009

Introduction :

The first category : of Israeli institutions that worked during the Gaza war is the official level

The second category: the semi private institutions

The third category : the Pro – Israeli institutions working inside Israel and around the worl , one of the most important of them is the AIPAC (America's Pro-Israel Lobby ).

The 4th category : international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli

The 5th category : the nongovernmental institutions like the human rights groups .

· 1st type : Offices and subdivisions for international human rights groups like Amnesty International - Israel Section

· 2nd type : Arab Palestinian groups in the 1948 territories like Adalah - The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel , (http://www.adalah.org/ ).

· 3nd type : Israeli human rights groups:

Conclusion :

A Historical Review of the Urban Theories in the past 100 Years

A Historical Review of the Urban Theories in the past 100 Years

The Housing Module in Palestine - Nablus Cause study

The Housing Module in Palestine - Nablus Cause study

Eliminating the Palestinian Presence تصفية الوجود الفلسطيني

فلسطين في قلبي اينما كنت Palestine in my heart where Ever i Go

خطبة الجمعة وانفلونزا الخنازير – بقلم : المهندس سامي الصدر

وداعا.....حكيم - بقلم : محمد نعمان "اسعد القدومي "

Tumor in a City - Colonization in the old city of Hebron

Tumor in a City

Colonization in the old city of Hebron

welcome behind the wall

اعادة اكتشاف والدي Re Discovering My father

ولادة اسرائيل The birth of Israel

Public Space - Johannes de Dooper Voorplein & Parc Elisabeth/ Brussels – Belgium

The 4^th category : international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli

The 5^th category : the nongovernmental institutions like the human rights groups .

· 1^st type : Offices and subdivisions for international human rights groups like Amnesty International - Israel Section

· 2^nd type : Arab Palestinian groups in the 1948 territories like Adalah - The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel , (http://www.adalah.org/ ).

· 3^nd type : Israeli human rights groups:

The 4^th category : international institutions that stereotype itself as Neutral monitors for the conflict but they actually have a pro Israeli

The 5^th category : the nongovernmental institutions like the human rights groups .

· 1^st type : Offices and subdivisions for international human rights groups like Amnesty International - Israel Section

· 2^nd type : Arab Palestinian groups in the 1948 territories like Adalah - The legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel , (http://www.adalah.org/ ).

· 3^nd type : Israeli human rights groups: