I really didn't like our reading assignment that was about architecture, I'm not sure why but maybe because a l0t of the things that I read were of common sense, or maybe just that I all ready knew about it .... I mean it is clear that every country takes architecture seriously because its what makes the country standout in its own different way. The one thing that does bother me is that I feel Israel uses architecture to build a new identity for it's self while in the process diminishing architectural and culture that was all ready there. I think there was a part where I read that there was a Jewish architecture that was working on a project in "the Arab village "; it said something about him believing in coexistence so I really liked hearing that because i feel like if one ethnicity gets to exist architecturally than any other ethnicity should have that right as well.
3 questions :
1) What projects do you have planned for the future?
2) what is Israel's stance on the work you do?
3) ... not sure what I want to ask -- will prob get an idea during class...
I agree with you that the Israelis are trying to take their architecture and reshape what Jerusalem is. What you said makes even more sense to me today after what AHmad said about how the Ummayid palaces were destroyed for more Israeli things.
ReplyDeleteHow I understand the situation is that Israel is a country established only 63 years ago on the ruins of another nation that was destroyed then. It was established based on a claim from thousands of years ago. In order to protect its existence and legitimize their claim, they need to prove some connection to the land and the city in particular. In order to do that, they had to adopt a policy to disconnect the land from its Arabic and Islamic surroundings and create a new culture and image for the land and city that legitimizes their claim. one of the best examples on this is that roman olive tree's which are thousands of years old were uprooted from the Palestinian peoples lands to build the Apartheid Wall and re-planted in Israeli illegal settlements in the west bank. and this was not to protect the nature but to find a connection somehow for these settlements with the land and history.
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