(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
In 2002, Israeli architects Rafi Segal and Eyal Weizman won an architectural competition organized by the IAUA (Israeli Architects' Association) and were chosen to represent the organization and create an exhibition on Israeli architecture at a congress in Berlin.
Their proposal aimed to illustrate and discuss the role of Israeli architecture in the Middle East conflict. However, for political reasons, the proposal did not win the favor of the IAUA, and the exhibition was canceled on the pretext that the budget was too low. 5000 copies of the already printed catalog were shredded.
Eyal Weizmans thesis if this is called The Politics of Verticality and can be read at Open Democracy,
There he develops the thesis that Israeli architecture plays an important role in the conflict that began in 1949, when the state of Israel was founded. The thesis is that the military uses architecture and buildings to reinforce and build a militarized society in which everything is subordinated to military goals. Using a sophisticated matrix of roads, bridges, walls, fences and highways, the Israelis construct a system that locks the Palestinians in isolated areas of land without communication with others. High-tech fences protect the Jewish settlers, while checkpoints and soldiers stop the Palestinians from moving freely.
The settlements are illegal, since they are built on occupied land.
Center for Research Architecture
Centre for Research Architecture (CRA) ved Goldsmith University in London) has developed a unique laboratory for forensic architecture.
The center is the driving force behind the exploration of forensic architecture, a new field of research where state violence and systemic racism are seen as new scenarios. As a living wickerwork ('rhizome') the center is now being copied and reproduced by many other laboratories, a powerful alliance between universities and activists. At the University of Bologna, for example, Lorenzo Pezzatti runs a center where research is conducted on the border-forensics, the policy used to prevent emigration from Africa to Europe in dangerous vessels on the Mediterranean.
Another institution affiliated with CRA is working on the forced relocation of 43 young teachers in Ayotzinapa in Mexico. They are collaborating with the Argentine Forensic Institute, which is still working to clarify the fate of 30 Argentines and Uruguayans who disappeared in connection with the Condor map (which was a military collaboration between the dictatorships of Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay).
Together with the sister organization Forensic In Berlin, the CRA also did extensive work to show the extent and depth of the destruction in Gaza. The CRA led the part of the investigation called German Arm Exports to Israel.
Cartography and visualization
CRA's work is presented in the form of an ambitious visual platform with thousands of images, tables and documents showing how Israeli forces attacked hundreds of schools, universities, markets, religious sites and hospitals.
The work was shown as A Cartography of Genocide: Israel’s Conduct in Gaza Since October 2023 It is the latest project launched by the CRA at Goldsmith's College in London – the most comprehensive survey of the genocide and the ethnic cleansing in GazaThe Hague Tribunal may need this work and the associated findings to strengthen and build its case against Benjamin Netanyahu and the State of Israel.
Now that 70 percent of its fields and 45 percent of its greenhouses have been destroyed, Gaza can no longer feed itself.
The cartography shows, for example, how all buildings and agricultural land in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed. Now that 70 percent of the fields and 45 percent of the greenhouses have been destroyed, Gaza can no longer feed itself. The danger of famine is large, and the aid convoys that transport food into the Strip have also been attacked. The goal of attacking greenhouses and agricultural areas is to destroy the Palestinians' food sovereignty and make them more dependent on UN food packages. To get food for the elderly, children and hospitals, people have to walk far, risking being killed by drones or snipers.
The destructions
The destruction of the universities has made it impossible for young students and researchers to study in Gaza. An entire future has been erased. The only option is to study in Egypt or Russia – just as the old Soviet Union once gave Gaza students student visas. Many of the doctors who have been killed had their medical degrees from the Soviet Union and Egypt.
The UN has estimated that it will take 21 years for Gaza to be rebuilt. The latest news regarding Gaza's future is President Trump's declared intention to take ownership of the strip and rebuild it into a bathing place for the wealthy Israelis and Americans. His criminal proposal has added new and dangerous elements to the conflict – the people of Gaza will not allow themselves to be ethnically cleansed from their homeland without resistance.
The data that the CRA has used in its investigations is based on and includes thousands of images and videos from organizations and individuals. Every single photo and every single video is geotagged, so that its authenticity is verified. Many of the photos and videos are from open sourceOthers come from surveillance drones and satellites from this region, which is one of the most militarized in the world.
CRA's analysis of Israel's ethnic cleansing of Gaza is unique.
