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    Weizman Hollow Land

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    Milind Goel Replex
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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Fist published by Verso 2007 Copyright © Eyal Weizman 2007 All cghts reserved “The moral rights of the author have heen asserted 13579108642 Verso LOK: 6 Meard Steet, London WIP OBG SAA 160 Vai Stree, New York, NY 10014-4606 swwwressobookscom Verso is the imprint of New Left Books ISBNS: 97t-1-84467-125.0 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is alae from the Bltsh Fibeary Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicaton Data 4 exalg recond for this book is available Grom the Libary aF Congsess ‘Typesee in Garamond by Hewer Text UK Lid, Edinburgh, Graphic design bythe author Printed and bound by Tien Wah Pres, Singapore Hollow Land Istael’s Architecture of Occupation 4 EYAL WEIZMAN VERSO Landon + Neve Yor Mie Bis Lala fr Pare Now, 2002 Introduction: Frontier Architecture Robinson believed hit i he looked at it hand enough OF the ety to revel to ithe molecule bass of his own sore events, and this way he hoped tase into the fae! Patrice Kaiten) ‘Toe duality of iveigeace and stupidity has een pat of the Zone projset fom the beginning” Mori Mage Nee ra ot? Yeshaln Caves (owe, move, out ~ the onde forthe beginning of the asale of the 1967 wr A frontier scenario In the years following the 1993 signing of intended © mace the begining of became increasingly difficult for Istali serdces to obt establish new setdements in the West Bank As a cea increasingly sophisticated methods of piracy to he first Oslo Accord, which was id of the conflict over Palestine, it in official permits 10 ip the govern unofficially was keen to see vettements eseblshed but cot nent = which, helping in ei foun n 1999 several setets complained « cellphones as they drove sound a bend on the main hiphaay, Road 60, leading fiom Jerwslem to the setlements in che nurthesn West Bank. In response, de on ~ bypass its ows laws and international commitments the military of bad reception on their cellphone provider, Orange, agreed co erect an antes in the aeea. The set FRONTIFR ARCHITECTURE pointed ro an elevated hilltop overlooking the bend as # potenti site for the ‘mast, The same hilltop ad been the site of previous ~ unsuccessful ~ settlement stempes:thice years ear seers camed thatthe surat was an atchacologieal biblical own of Migron was busied. Sample excavations Unearthed the remains of nothing ober than a small Byzantine village, bue the hilltop was named ‘Migrow’ regardless, Two young sete accupied the hill, ving in converted shipping containers, but, with no prospect of being able to develop the site, left afters short time, ‘The hilltop, is slopes culdivaced with figs end olives, was owned by Palesinian fatmers fom che villages of Hin Yabrad and Baka who were shepherds there. Acording o che emergeney powers inves the construction of a cellphone antenna could be considerd & security isauc, and coald therefore be onderaken on prvste lands without obtaining the owners’ coasent Following «request by Onunge, the Ite Blettie Corporation connected te hilltop to the elecuicity ged and the rational wnier grovider connected the hilltop tothe water system, purportedly to enable the constuetion woe Because of delys in the masts constuction, in May 2001 see fake antenna and recived mi ‘mound under which ein he Israel miliary, however, ry permision wo bite a B-hour on-site private security gard to watch over it, The guard moved int a wales at the foot of| the mast, and fenced off the sueounding hilt; soon aerwzds, is wife and Children moved in and connected thet home to the water and eleciity sorpliesskedy there. On 3 Masch 202, five una! falls joined them, and the outpost of Migron formally came into being The oupont grew sen Since famies were already living oosite, he lsselt Minsey for Construction and Housing built» nursery, while some donations fiom abroad paid for the constuction ofa synagogue Migeon is curently che biggest of the 103 outposts sennered theoughour the West Bak, By mid:2006 it compsed aroud 6D ters and consiners housing more cha 42 Fans approxima 180 people perened on the hiltopatound a cellular antenna The antenna became 2 focus of teriorial intensity in the surrounding landscape. The infrastructure built for ic allowed the oupost to emerge. The energy ficld oF the antenna was not only cleertomagnede, bue also politic, secving 26a centre forthe mobilizing, channelling, coaleseng and orgunizing of political forces and procestes of vasous kinds, Migron isnot the only outpost cxublished around @ edllphone antenna, The lo seems oddly compatible with that of ehe both expand ine territories iy of eelular communication ian occupation of the West Bani lishing merworks tha tiangulate base station located on high ground along .adiaion- or sitedines, Moreover, the cellulse serworts serve a military function. Using them fr its own “eld communications, ‘he military was able to replace its bulky msltaty radios with smaller devices Ow LAND sr of 8 ona alata for Prac wmiting field imagery snd GPS locations between soldiers and ‘Aa upsurge in the establishment oF outposts has slays been an indication o ‘what seers suspected to be ‘impending territorial compromises’. Such nett is intended to sabotage prospects of politcal progress, and secure as much land as possible forthe Isl stirs in the Occupied Yertitoies, in case pasa withdcawals ane co be cared out. fer erurning ftom negoriations with the Palestinian Authozty andthe Clinton administration a the Wye Phactation in Marynd in October 1998, Ariel Sharon, then Foreign Minister, eushed vetders to move, run and pel a many hops as they can. because everthing we tke now wil stay ours doatt grab will go to chem In recent yents, many outposts have been attempt to influence tae path of Iseal's Separation Wall that, at the time of wating in 2006 is exeving a circuitous route dough the West Bank the logic being tht by seeding the terain wih anchor points in stratepe places, state plannecs would reroute the Wall around them in order to include them ‘on the ‘seal’ side. Ourposts thus mark some of the most contested frontiers Everything constructed in FRONTIER ARCHITECTURE 3 Of the Isael-Palestine confit, Often, mately beyond thee teens the so-ealed “youth of the hil reject their parents’ subueban cule for a sense of dhe wild Feontier, one equally influenced by the myth of rough and ragged Western heroes as withthe Iaack myth of the pioneering Zionttsetdets of che eaely seentieth cencury. The armed ourpast sewers often clash with ecsl Palestinian farmers, violently drive them off thei lds and steal thei produce. In retaliation, seme Palestinian miltans often atick outposts. Other ouipests are then established ‘punitive messures’ near locations where sewers have been llled, ‘Oueposts have cus become the focus for polite ard diplomatic squabbles, Local and international peace organizations engage in ditect sctions against ‘outpost expansion, In 2004 several Tsteli peace activists managed to steal five tellers Fem Migeon, provocatively placing chem in font of the Ministsy of Defence building in Tel Avy, emonsating that evacuation could be eatried out if te ww do ir enists” Human rights lswyers petitioned the Ietac High Court of Justice with «sting oF legal challenges against dhe onsposts, de tost recent fof which, against Migron, is stl pending As international pressure mounts, Israeli governments announce (usually with great fanfate) their decision to enforce Isseli law and evacuate a number of outposts, Occasionally, clashes fccur berween government and setter forces: thousands of policemen battle with thousands of seers, who tavel for the televised fight froen across the frontier. Ofen, however, a compromise is teached: the tales are reattached! to trucks, and relocated to another Palestinian hiltop. ‘Against the geography of stable, static places, and the balance across liner and ied toveregn borders, frontiers are deep, shifting, fragmented and elastic territories ‘Temporary lines of engagement, marked by makeshift boandaties are no limited to the edges of poltical space bt exis throughout its dep. Distinctions berween the ‘inside’ und ‘oucsde” eansot be clemy marked. In fet, the strighter, moce geomettical and more abstract official colonial borders across the ‘New Wisi’ tended (0 be, che more the tetitories of effective contol were fragmented and dynamic and thus unchartable by any conventional mapping technique. The ‘Occupied Palestinian Teritories could be seen a8 such a frontier zone. However, ‘ telson o che dimensions of ancien empires ~ ‘optimal’, by several accounss, st focty days’ horse travel from one end to the other ~ within the 5,655 square falometes of the West Bank, the 2.5 milion Palestinisns and 500,000 Jewish settlers seem to inhabit the head of & pia Init as Sharon Rotbasd mentioned, ‘the most explosive ingredients of our ame, al modern utopias an all uocient beliefs [ere contained) simultaneously and instantaneously, bubbling side by side ‘with no precautions." These teesitores have become tre battlefield an which ‘vatious agents of state power and independent actors conGunteach ather, meetin, 4 HOLLOW LAND Jocal and international resstnee. Within them, the mundane elements of planning and architecture have become tate tools and the means of dispossession. Under Issue’ regime of ‘ertic cecupation’, Palestinian fe, property aed polisal eights fre constandy violated not only by the Frequent actions of the Isaei miley. but by 2 process ia which their enviconment is unpredicmbly and eontauousy refishioned, tightening around them like a noose. Accounts of colonialism tend eo concentste on the way systems of governance sed conwl ar ttnlated into che ongaizaon of space, cconting to undying inept of ronal oninizaton, classification, procedure and rule of adminstaion ‘What the above scenatio demonstrates, however, is thatin the Occupied Palestinian “Testtories, che organization of geographical space cannot simply be understood fs the preserve of the Israeli government execative power alone, but rather one lffased among a mutiplicey of —often non-state ~ actors, The spatial orgtniztion (of the Occupied Tettiocies is a reflection not only of an ondeted process af planning and implementation, bot, and incteasing’y 80, af ‘structured chaos’ i which the ~ often deliberate — selecsve absence of government intervention promotes an unregulated process of violent dispossession, The actors opecstion within this frontier ~ young semers, the Israeli military, the eclulae nerwor!s provider snd other capitalise corporations, human rights and political activists, ‘armed resistance, homanitarian and legal experts, government ministtes, foreigh governments, ‘supportive’ communities overseas, stare planners, the media, the Israeli High Cont af Justice — with the differences and conteadictis of ther alms, al phy dic par in the diffused and anacchic, albeit collective authorship Of its spaces, Because elstic geographies respond to a multiple and diffused rather chan a single soutce of power, their architecture cannot be undersinod as the material embodiment of a unified political wil or as the product of a single ideology Rather, the organization of dhe Occupied Tertcotes should be seem as 4 kind oF ‘politcal plastic’, or as 2 map of the selation berween al che foress that shaped i" ‘The architecture of the frontier could aot be scl to be simply ‘palitical” but rather ‘polis in mate’ ‘This book isan investigation of the transformation of tae Occupied Palestinian ‘Terstories since 1967, It looks atthe ways in which the diffecent farms of Israel rule inseibed themselves in spuce, analysing the geographical, tesitods, rhea and architectural conceptions and the interested practices that form and sustain them. In doing s, it provides an image of the very essence of Israeli aceupation, its origin, evolution and the vatious ways by which ie functions |r does so not by offering 2 comprehensive history of the four decades of Israeli domioation, nor by dewing a detsiles porwait ofits present spatial, but FRONTIER ARCHITECTURE 5 by probing the various structces of tecritori occupation. The following chaptees form an ‘archival probe’, investigating the history end swedu operandi of the vasious spatial mechanisms that have sustained ~ andl continue ta sustain ~ the ‘occupation’ cepime and practices of contol. Holly Land reveals how overt instruments OF conwol, as well as seemingly mundane strctures, axe pregnant with intense historical, political meaning, Ching and roofing dete, stone quarries, street and highay illumination schemes, the ambiguous architecture of housing, the form of setlements che construction of ferifictiors and mesns of enclosure, the spatial mechanisms of ciculation contol and flow management, mapping echniques and methods of observations, legal tactics for land sanexation, the physical organization of crisis and disaster zones, highly developed weapons technologies and complex theories of military manoeuvres ~ all ate invaiably ‘escibed as indexes for the polities ationalies,insintional conflicts and tange cf expertise chat formed them Architecture is employed in this book in two distinct ways, On the one hand, the book deals with the srchiteeoee of the stuctures chet sustain the ‘occupation and the compliciy of architects in designing them. It sceks to vead the pales of Liat arcinetare ie the way social, economic, national and scrategie forces solidify into the organization, form and omamentation of homes, Infasteacture and setdements. Oa the other hand, atchitecture is employed asa conceptual way of understanding political issues as constructed realities [As the eabtile of this book — Lert creer of Ospaton ~ implies, the ‘occupation is seen to have architectural properties, in that its territories are ‘understood a8 en architectural ‘constuction’, which culine the ways in which it is conceived, understood, organized and operated. The architects in his book are therefore military men, militants, polticans, political and other acivists. I shall return to this later mesning in the last section of this introduction. Elastic geography ‘As che foundational nactaive of Migron demonstrates, the frontiers of the Occupied Tersitories are not sgid and fixed at all rather, they are elastic, and in constant transformation. The linear border a eactographic imaginary inherited ‘from the military and political spatial of the nadon state has splintered into & ‘mulicade of temporary, transportable, deployable and removable border synonyms ~ ‘separation wall, barien, ‘blockade ‘clonure, “rad blocks’, ‘checkpoins, ‘stele aren, “speci security zones, ‘closed military seis! and ‘lg, zones’ — "hat shrink and expand che tersiory ac wil These baedes are dynamic, constanly 6 HOLLOW LAND shifting, ebbing and owing, they creep along, stealtily surrounding Palestinian villages and ronds, They may even errupt into Palestinian living rooms, busting Ln through the house walls.,The anarchic geography of the frontier isan evolving Jmage of transformation, which is remade and reacranged with every politcal development or decision. Oueposts and settlements snight be evacuated and removed, yet new ones are founded and expand, The locttion of military check- points is constantly changing, blocking and modolating Palestinian traffic in cverdffering ways, Mobile military bases create the bridgeheads chat maintain the logistics of ever-changing operations. The Israeli military makes ineursions fnco Palestinisn towns and refagee camps, occupies them and then withdewes ‘The Separation Wall, merely one of multiple barriers is constancy rerouted its path registering Like a seismograph the political and legal bases surrounding it. Where territories appear to be hermetically sealed in by Israeli walls and fences, Palestinian tunnels ate dug underneath them. Elastic terttores could thus not bbe understood as besiga envitonments: highly elastic political space is often ‘more dangerous and deadly chan a sta, rigid one, ‘The dynamic morphology of the frontier resembles an incessant sex dotted ‘with multiplying archipelagos of externally alienated and intercally homogenous cethno-national enclaves — under a blanket of aerial Istaeli survelance, In this ‘unique teritoral ecosystem, various other zones ~ those of polities! pisscy, of “humanitastan’ crisis, of barbatic violence, of full citizenship, ‘weal citizenship’, (of no citizenship at all ~ exist adjacent 19, witha ex ever each othe, ‘The clastic nature of the frontier does not imply that Tsract tiles, homes, roads oF indeed the concrete wall are in themselves soft or yielding but thac che continuous spatal reoganization of the politial borders they mack out responds to and reflects poliial and military conflicts, The vasious inhabicants of chis frontier do not operat within the fixed envelopes of space = space is not the background for their actions, en absteact gid om which events take place ~ but tather che medium that exch of their actions seeks to challenge, tcansform o appropriate. Moreover, in this context the relation af space to action could not ‘be understood as that of rigid container co ‘soft performance, Political action 4s fully absorbed in the orgenization, wansformation, erasure and subversion of space, Individual actions, geared by the effec: of the media, can sometimes be ‘more effective than Tse government action."® Although it often appears as if the frontiers clastic nature is shaped by one side only ~ following the course af colonialist expansion ~ the agency of the colonized makes itself maaifest in its suecess in holding steaifastly to is ground in the face of considerable odd, not only through political violence, but in the cecasional piece of shill diplomacy sed the mobilietion of inremntional opinion. Indeed, the space of the calonizer ‘may a5 well shrink as fonsiers are decolonized. FRONTIER ARCHITECTURE In the meant, the erratic and unpredictable nature oF the frontier is exploited by the goverament. Chaos has it peculiar structural advantages, Te supports one of Isaels foremost strategies of obfuscation: the promotion of complexity ~geogeapbical, legal or linguistic, Sometimes, following a tesminology pioneered by Henry Kissinger, this strategy i openly referred to as ‘constructive blurting’" This stategy seeks simultaneously to abfsscate and aatutlize the facts of domination. Actoss the frontiers of the Wese Bank i is undercaken by sirmlraneously unleashing processes thet would create conditions too complex nd og! to snake any terctoril solotion in the form of partion possible {many of the settements were indeed constructed wih che aim of cresting an “rcesolvable geography’), while pretending cat itis orly the Israeli government thar has the know-how to resolve che very complet it erented, One of the mast iemportiat sttepies of obfuscation is terminological, The ‘usique ichness of setdezent tervinology in Hebrew was employed after 1967 inorder to blr the horder between Ista] and the areas it occupied, and functioned 1s akind of sophisticated semantic laundering The controversial Hebrew term ‘ila ~ a erm wit bili coots describing the dwelling on national patsimony ~ is generally understood by the Isai public to refer to chose settlements of the natonal-messiani right, built in Gaza and the West Bank mountain range ‘car Palestinian cites. Ta the popular grammar of occupation, settlements created by de centre-left Labor governments ace referred to and seen maze empathically 1s spraian Yishun (a gener Hebrew teeta for Jowish srlements within Tae ‘of the ‘Kibbutz’ and ‘Moshav’ ype, a8 ‘tubube’, towns" or, if within the boundaries of expanded Jerusalem, as ‘ntighbouthcods’ (Shovaa). Semantic distinctions ace also made becween ‘egal eetlemeny and ‘llega’ outposts, alhough the latter are often the fst stage in the development of the formes in an enterprise chat i ilega in its entices. For the Israeli publi, each of the above tems caries a diffeeat moral code. Large suburban settlements such as Aue, Emanuel, Qiriat Arba nd Ma'sle Adumi wete officially declared ‘towns? (Ain) ic aa exceptional proces, long before theie population had reached! the emographical threshold of 20,000 requted within the recognized borders of seu ‘proper’ This was done in an atempe to natualize hese settlement in Iscaeli discourse, make their existence act, thet geographic Jocation uncles, and keep them avay from the negotiation table" Indeed, accordingly, most Iseaclis sul ee the Jewish neighbourhoods of eccupied Jerusalem and the large ‘owns of the West Bank, nots setlements, but a legitimate’ places of residence. \Withie this book ali residendal construction beyond the 1949 borders of the Green Line ave referred (0 as ‘etement’ ~ which in this context shoul be understood as colonies” Jn fact, despite the complexity of the legal, certo) and Bui reales that, ‘ HOLLOW LAND sustain the occupation, the conflict over Palestine has been a relatively straight forward process of colonization, ispossesson, revistance and suppression. The Iscuelientica writer Ilan Pappe expltins: ‘generations of Isaeli and. pro-Tsrael scholaes, very much lke their state's diplomats have hicden behind the cloak of ‘complexity in order to fend off aay csiticisn of thele quite obviously brutal teat ‘ment of dhe Pulestisans [repeating] the Israeli message; This isa complicated ‘issue that would be beter left to the Israelis to deal with . "The attempe wo place issues regueding conflict resolution ia the domain of experts, beyond the seach of the general public, has been one of Israels most iportant propaganda techniques. This book asks not only that we examine the complexity of the ‘occupation and the sophisticated bruraliy of its mechanisms of contol, but chat ‘we simultaneously tee through hem, Laboratory ‘Although this book is largely seamed beoween 1967 and the present, and peiay within the Occupied Tertoties of the West Benk and che Gaza Stip, it does aot seck to claim thatthe spatial injustices of the conflict startal only after the Six Day War of June 1967, and that the extent of the present injustices are confined (0 the 1967 oceupied teratories, Nor does it underestimate the century-old process Uf Zionist colonization, land-grab and dispossession that preceded it Ie suggests hough that any adequate adkless of the injustices and cuffering of the conflict ‘must begin by ending Isa rule ta the Occupied Terstories and the daily horeors| ‘conducted ints name. Focusing on the occupation ise urthetriore, allows Israels spatial sategies to be investigated in dheir most brutal and intense manifestation, 25 vithin a Taboratory of the extreme’. The technologies of control that enable Ista continued colorization of the Palestinians in che Wexe Bank and Gaza ate located at the end ofan evolutionary chain of techniques of colonization, oceupation and governance developed throughout the history of Zionist settlement. Focther ‘mor, every change in the geography of the oceupation has been undertaen wth the techniques and technologies ofthe time and in exchange with other developments ‘worldwide, The main surge of the colonization of the West Bank in the 1980s ‘coincided with the Reagancera fight of the Arverican middle classes and this fors= fation behind protective walls ~ both formations sewing themselves against the poverty and violence chey hive themselves produced. Perfecting the polities nf fear, seporadon, secision and visual contol, the setlements, checkpoints, walls sand other security measures are also the ast geste in the hardening of enclaves, ‘nd the physical and virtual extension of boedets in the contest of the moss recent elobal ‘wat on teror The atchitecare of Tseaeli occupation could thus be seen FRONTIER ARCHITECTURE ° 25 an accelentor and an aceeeratn of other global pola processes, « worst case soznatio of capitalist plobalzation and its spats fallout. The extended ‘Sgniicance of this “aboraory” les in the face tat the wchniques of domination, as well as the techniques of resistance (© them, have expanded and mulepled scr08s what critical geographer Desck Gregory caled the ‘colonial presen’ and beyond — into the metropolean ceaues of global cies Indeed, beyond thei physical eat, che szritories of Istael/Palestine have constituted a schematic description of + concepmual system whose properties have bera used to understand other geopolitical problems. The Intifada unfolding in [rag it par oF an imaginary geography that Malem Khouty-Machool called the ‘Pulescnianton of Ira]. Yet ifthe Iaql resistance is perceived to have ‘been "Palestinize, the American military has been ‘Lsaczed’, Furthermore, both the American and Iscieli militaries have adopted counter insurgency tactics chat increaingly resemble the guertla methods of their enemies. Whea the wall around the American Green Zone in Baghdad looks asif ic had been bull from lefe-over components of the West Bank Wal: wher “temporary closures’ are imposed on entre lagi rowns and villages and reinfored with earth dykes and barbed wire; when large regions ate carved up by tose Blocks ard checkpoints; when thehomes of suspected exrorits ate destroyed and targeted assassinations? ae iniodced into new global militarized geography it ie because the separate conflicts now generally collected under the heuling of the ‘war on tecror’ ate the backdrop the fozeason of complex inseasonal ecologies’ chat allow the ‘exchange of technologies, mechanisms, doctines, and spatal suategies bevween various militaries and the organizations that they confront, as well as beoween the civilian and the military domains The politics of separation Each of the spatial technologies and practices to which the Following chapters ace dedicated is both system of colonial control and « means of sepatation. Israeli domination in the West Bank and Gaza alwaye shifed between selective physical presence and ebsence, the former dealing with Istal’s territorial and the lte with ts demogeaphie strategy ~ aiming to gis land without the people living in it Te thu operated by imposing a complex cempastmentalized system fof spatid| exclusion thar at every seale is divided into two. The logic of ‘separation’ (or, t0 use the mote familie Afelkaans tes, apartheid’) between Isralis and Palestinians within the Occupied Tessitores has been extended, 00 the larger, national seule, co that of 'partiion’. At times, the polities of separition/ partition has been dressed up asa formula fora peuceul setlement, w HOLLOW LAND, The "sem" of the Ee Nh Sete et Stig Wat Bak, De 1978 3. Settlements: Battle for the Hilltops Atbougi he plied a central role in the setdement of the mountain region of the West Bank, and his visions were pattlly implemented, Shagoa cannot be said to be the masterplanner of the settlement project thee. The ‘nuthorship" of this project was iffused eather amonget « multiplicity of agents and orga vations and embodied more contradictions than a se of eoherent strates, Far from being 2 resul of an ordered povernment-led maste-planring process ~ the ‘of a single governance or defence rationality toa provess of tecitoril ‘otganizaion ~ the colonization ofthe mountain district of the West Banke has in face emerged out of series of Fundamental exten end confit that took sls herween various miniater and mining within a seine of Tateeli govesn cents and between these overamemns the serer organization of Gush Emini, other non government oxganizasons und the High Court of Justice from 1967 0 1981, These conflies, a feature of both the Labor gowesaments of the Fist eeade of ocevpation (1967-1 Menachem Begin (1977-81), were physically acted ont on the hilltops of the ‘West Bank, but also within che halls of che Ismael High Couet of Justice in « swumber of landmark legal eases During these years the High Covet formed into an arena in which government agents, military officer, setter, Pale tinian landowners and Israeli peace and sights groups bated over land sxpropsiation and che extablshment of setements. Inthe process of these legal brits, terms such as ‘defence’, security, temposasiness’ and ‘vine right’ wete argued and defined in 2 way that continues to inform the practices and stategies ff the cezupstion to dhis day ‘The organizational chaos and improvisation that characterized the selmi projecrin thee years could be contrasted with what Israeli architectural historian si Efe called #he ‘eraelt Project’ ~ che top ‘of che physical environment of the Isadi state in the fiat two decades of its existence prior to 1967 According to Hist, during the 1950s and 1960s ) as well as the fest Likud government of wa planning snd construction SE “TLEMENTS: BATTLE FOR THE HILLTORS a “Israeli Project’ was based on sare-centric master planning that he descibed as ‘one of the most comprehensive, controlled and efficient architectural experine nts in the modern ees echoing Stain’ Fe Year Pan for the Soviet Union the American New Deal infeastuuctweal projects and public works of the 1930s snd the post World War Il Beh schemes of New Towns’! This project was subjected to centralized potical contol, it was governec by eatonal principles of organization and standardization, a clea division of labor and the distbation fof the population accarding to a single plin and a bodk of insteuctons that vere prepared in 1949 by the Bauhaus school graduate, architect Arie Sharon, [Whereas in the 195) and eth 1960 state planning was undertaken by profesional achtets and planers, afer the 1967 war it was mainly undertaken by politicians, ‘generals and ideological activists, While the Arie Sharoa pln rearced the borders of the sate a Fixed, pore-1967 setdement effors, in whieh Ariel Sharoe played 1 major role, saw the testo of the Occupied Tersitoris as ‘last’ and ap for grabs. Shorty after the end of the 173 «group of young women, by Dei ‘Weiss who would er become ecreny gener of the tener fgenzaton Gish nai, me wih Pee Mier God Mei They came to a for governmest permission snd asxance in etbshing «smd setlement in the mountia region ofthe West Beak The laton, recommended by Anil Sharon, wh had rece military service to begin his pital career, nea disused Onoman- ral sin lated nae te Pesan vlge of Sebasca, norte af the town of Nabhis The ste was well tide the borders of the Allon pln, hich mop enone mail the Joan Vaya wens around Jers, td tin conrtion spina gos of only seting aes spsly pop ted by Plestnins. Meir ws pevonl nd supportive, but ple decined te seus Her refed eo eight consckineattemps inh allowing thee yea 1 tee the loetion without goverment permission ‘The ‘ascents’ as the settlement-establishing expeditions were called, were led by «group of woulbe sexes who compa the etlemene-ore’ of Bop More, logical oppor bythe nach Naiona-Religus Party. On veo they wer accompa by a lage entourage of rabbis unieriy peofeson, ‘eters and Kaeser members The acne wee often cononted by demons tors ofthe Zionist left and wee disbanded bythe lta Sharon hime had 2 rein onpanizing some of the ascent, and in evading mitaryatempt beak them up Leading & group of sete in July 1974, Sharon broke dough ciara eting slr on aw goose cate hough the utcunding hls one et nother rope ave om tfc arate deco, When she sede arte atthe lay station they cine themeeives together, 0 HOLLOW LAND ‘hae Arie Shales, the then military governor of the West Bank, hal ‘to bring a laxge hammer from the prison house ia Nablus to break apse’ the stel chains thar bed cogether a settlement constructed of living bodies" In February 1974 ‘the members. of she Ritir Moceh core and various ather aaons-teligious aroups joined together to form Gush Emin. Ia the winter of 1976, ding the holiday fof Hanuiskah, after another ascent, a compromise was reached between the seelers and the government in the main hall of the Sebastia railway station. In lone of his famous ‘creative solutions’, Shimon Peres — serving as Minister of Defence in the Labor government of Vitek Rabin, formed after Golda Meir forced resignation in April 1974 allowed the setders to remain within a specially allocated section of the eiltary base of Qacum, southwest of Nablus Over the reat ewo years, the setters’ enclave grew langer than the entice base, and was offical civiaized into the sedamentof Cedi? ‘This maduseprandi exemplified the power and capabilites of Gush Emi, ‘The group's function was ewofold: to aca an extes-paliamentacy activi pressure |sroup in the hals of power, and to serve as a setlement orgenization in the hills of the West Bank. By these means, it wied to fashion ites the tue hele to the pre-1948 Labor pionceting movemeat. In its “agceats to the hilltops of he ‘Wes Banke, Gush Emunim also atempeed to reealve che paradox inherent ia the teetitorial approach of Zionism: while seeking. & retuen to the ‘promised land, cally Zionitts seed in the consul plains and northern valleys that had good sgrculnen sil but elaively ide inthe way of leralte history, Tae ber asec? ‘were seen 4 the ‘regeneration ofthe sou!’ and the achievement of ‘personal and sasonal renewal infused with the mystical quality of the heights. Por these sealers, the 1967 occupation was aot undexstood 48 a mete progression along the horizontal axis of expansion. Te vas primarily an uphill assault from the Ioreli ‘coastal phins wo the mountains of the West Bank, the Sysitn Golan Heights and the Sinai mountsins. For them the mountsins were seen both as strategie ground ‘as well a the cradle of the nation. Yeas later Epi Bitam, the retired gener who further tadicized the Nasional Religious Paty, opposed any dismantling of the ‘motuntain setdements of the West Bank in these tems: ‘Whoever proposes chat we sewsen 0 the pins to our bases par, to the sands the secola, sed hat we ‘eave in foreign hands the sacred summits, proposes a senseless thing”* Accoediag to Gush Emtnim, the state's ‘weak goveenmesis’, those adminis: "satons responsible forthe catastrophe of the 1973 war, were © be suppressed bythe group's outpouring of religious energies and mystical power The settlements became a too! in the modern struggle hetween the people and the soversignsy of the sate of Hstal ‘That te Yoteeament Could BE presized into authorizing aad establishing ‘setdements hud become evident only theee months after the 1967 wat when, in SETTLEMENTS: BATTLE FOR THE HILLTORS » September of that yeas, Kat zion became the st setdement to be established jis the West Bak southvest of Jerusalem. It was established contrary 10 genect! sgovctnment guidelines in xesponse 2 insistent pressure by @ group of sete, Some of whom were relatives of the residents of che original community of Kae Btzion, one of sever Jewish communities that fli to Palestinian mss and the Jordan Legion st eke beginning of the 1948 wat, ‘Gush Emunim’s most effective tactic was wo sete sites without govecnment permission with the intention af forcing ir to ive respective leytimaey to ‘setdements who existence was sready established fn fact, The srateyy ws to bul many setdements in atas dat the government may have otherwise evacusted unde international pressure, thereby forcing ic to hold onto as much ofthe tee cory occupied in 1967 as passe. ‘The methods af Gush Emanim demonstste the difference between the top-down master-planning logic of governments and the bottom-up operational logic of independent political orgroizadons. While a mastesplan gencralysecks to mobilize zesoarcet and oxgonize the landscape and che bull envionment in 4 mance that embodies a polite seaepic vision, Gush Emunim soughe 10 Identify racks and fissutes within the orysnization of executive power, and ‘exploit conflicts between government members, poltieal opportunites and ad hoe allances* In 1977, shonly afer the handover of power feom Lakor e Likud, Keyptian President Aaa Sadat made a vst to Jerusalem and the peace process began. Although Menachem Begin government wns engaged in peace talks with Egrps, ik was not ye incned to acquiesce fully to the impaene demands of Gush Emm, although it cid authorize some setlements and continued building ‘mound Jenstlem. However, eke onjanization again found an ally ia Sharon, ea ead of the government’ Setdement Committe, seeing in him 2 champion In heir bale agunst the ‘defacsm’ of the other members of the goveramest, ‘wha seemed al tohaveillen under Sadat charm. Angry azhaving been excluded from the peace negottions by Begin, who feared his iulaive natute, Sharon timed the Inunch of new selements to coincide with impending diplomaie breakthroughs, or to elish with che trips to Egypt of his main politcal rival, Minister of Defence Baer Weizman, whose job he coveted ~ and four vents later got. ‘Togerher wih Gush members, Shaeoa eves insted some "Potemkin sete- rents! ~ empty decoys and ship containers that could be mistaken for setements in order co coavince the American, who were monitoring the ates from the ac thar new sendements weee being eonitreted under their noses in areas of the Sina that Irae ha already agree ro naa back ~ hereby easing the Egyptians tw suspend neyotacions Serdement constriction therefore provided Shaton with * HOLLOW LAND the means to smervene in, oF ntefere with sels foreign policy. hilkop seared with sever] mobile homes and manned by 2 group of young, zealots wis the kind cof miro-tactis, eplete with geopoltialimplicssons, that wn his patdcular force, Settlement chaos ‘One of the characterises of Sharon mltary commasd and eivilan minsey was his reactance co outline peecse operational plans. T settle where [can Se often ‘sid. Whst Sharon sald, what be di, what he proposed, ws based on genecal improvisations, which he decided! upon only at dhe moment he nesled to act, zed an opportunity to act or fle compelled to act. Hie advantage was that if fe conte the station ‘Regional defence’ was 2 military doctrine that soughe to integete civilian sete ments with military units a the proterion af the hordees of the state Roe Allon the organized layout of the Kibbutz ~4 cooperative setdement shang its means of production with separate areas demarcated for housing, public functions, fide and farms — was sopesor to all other forms of Zionist eetlements. Moreover, le Kibbure i no ess valuable han a altry uni, and may even sugpass it.”” Indeed, ashe himself cemaried, some Kibbutsin inthe Negev, Adan’ Kibbute Nitim being one played a role in holding back eegulay miitsey waits of the Arab armies during the 1948 war ‘Strategie and tactical considerations also informed the design of other setle- iment tes, and led to the formulauon in 1948 of a military document entitled ‘Secusity Principles in the Plnsing of Agricul Setdements and Workess” Vilages’, by the Settlement Depertnent of the IDF General Staff's Operation, Branch. The face that such « deparement existed at all texifies eo the strategic Importance tae the military acted orate setdements The Securiey Principles" provided some guidelines on the organization of Moshav —a nye of tetlement, which unlike the Kibbutz, combines paivace property with joint ownership of some means of production.” Ta prevent inflation of the retuen of Palestinians to their lands, the Securiy Pencipes' insured planners to devise » compact and dense layout, ia which homes were located ao more than 30 metres apart, SETTLEMENTS. BATTLE FOR THE HILLTOPS ro Maser Semen i Lahiri at 1953, Ima erty of nd lid out concentcliy that, eh under auack, eters could gradually withdrew t0 a more secure core. Following the principle of rltay perimeter Fotexions, the report also advited thatthe soads of ehe Moshay, along whieh homes and farms were organized, chou form ‘sar shape’ so that lankng fe could be maximised In his affidavit vo the HC, Ftsn, himeelf « Moshav member (Moshsy Tel ‘Adashim in de Jeue'l Val), eviscned his predecessors’ xeglec of the principle ‘of ‘regional defence’. tan caimed tha this neglect was one of the mal reasons for te iil setbacks suffered by the Istaeli Army dugg che 1973 was and he had steady taken it upon himself ro reverse this trend, "Today the setements of regional defence are armed, fortified and ted for their task, which isto defend their aren Thele location vas dictated after consideration of theie contribution eo he contol of the eegion, and in atsisting the IDF in is vaious task Bitan futher explained the primacy advantage of cillan settlements over riley postions fo mes of wa, the ery forces ei ei bates in onder undertake dynamic tnd offensive sh fetes lien serdemenss [wove popaltion] cena in it lee, are ese in concelag tema sutouncings by obsrvason and ‘oul res enemys amps 0 ake contol of them. Inthe eatiy sigs oF ‘Suits ieponant 9 keep the sas open, in oedee to exste fast arene Eitan was one of the officers whe, supporting Sharon, cshed with Bae Lev on the issue of forifing the Suex Caaal, and who supported ‘defence in depth Bitan believed that the fondine af the Allon plan woald quickly fll under v2 HOLLOW LAND stick just asthe Bar Lev Tine had Gllen, and that @ network of setlements throughout the depth of the cermin would serve miltry purposes to far better cfc. Permanent temporariness “To obtain s legal ruling in favour of land requisition the government had to convince the cout thatthe setement in question was designed ra security news’ and also that it ws & "temporary intervention ‘pressing sad not a ‘permanent uansformation of the occupied area If the role of se defence was well established in Zionist culture, Palesnian petiioners wondered hhow settlements built on land requisitioned fom chem could possibly be y’. Commenting on the sling of the 1978 Bett case, Justice Landsw addressed the issue considered as “emp to anower how ise possible co establish 2 permanent senlement on a hat vs resusioned any for teroprary pups? This is = seus question, T ADF holds the land on sion onde. "his possession itsel? may one day come to ein seederae wil be able to exist aly 28 lag the cent of #1 td at esl of internacional negotiations which cout end in x new arangement ‘hue wl ai force unde interatonal ls so wil determine th fae f the sete ment, ke all other sesdement in the Oceuped Tetris.” Setlements could be understood by the judges of the HC) as temporary’ in content of contemporary developments, Tae Bet-El ease wie argued in court in the winter of 1978-9, when the terms of the peace process with Egypt had to start to be flflled, In the Camp David peace tal, Menachern Begin agreed to evacsat all Tstselisetements from Sina, including the town of Yarit and the smaller agricultural setiements of the Raf Salient ‘This wa enoufh to convince 5 had been builtin the West Bank and Gaza since 1967 had pusely temporary presence fn the ground, the court tht all homes, public institutions, roads and iodustial zones ¢h Indeed, in the same Berl ruling, Jusice Miriam Ben-Porst scored the judgment thatthe term permanent comnusity’ was a‘purely relative concept’ Indeed, the aasate of property ride fs in the settlements reflects their temporary natuee. They consist of vhe stndard [sie venewuble 49-year leases, bu include » classe that emphasizes thatthe deeds ate valid only as long 45 the Lsralislitary maintnins a presence on the ground. The tile explicly eaves with the slits commander the authority to regan immediate postession of the property! SRTTLEMENTS: BATTLE FOR THT HILLTOP 03 ‘Two seemingly contmctory conditions thus euintaced the ‘temporay’ state of Isaet’s military regime: the persistence of violence, an the one hand, and intintves for politcal resolaion, an the other. The fat that some degree of violeoce persisted justified the continual application of what the militry understands as ‘urgent, temporary security messutes'. Violence allows ‘tecutty 1 be invoked a5 legal asgument c justify the undestaking of tasformations ‘hat could otherwise not be accepted. Ror security to go on fulling its role, a

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