Settlement Building Research Articles

Lords of the Land: The Settlers and the State of Israel, 1967–2004 (review)

Reviewed by: Lords of the Land: The Settlers and the State of Israel, 1967–2004 Menachem Klein Idit Zertal and Akiva Eldar. Lords of the Land: The Settlers and the State of Israel, 1967–2004[Hebrew]. Or Yehudah: Kineret, Zemora-Bitan, Dvir, 2004. Pp. xvi + 640. Oddly enough, Israel's settlement movement has not been chronicled by the settlers themselves. Their documentation of the project is largely theological and ideological. That is how the settlers want to see themselves and that is how they want others to see them. Although there have been many studies of the politics and ideology of Gush Emunim, the principal settlement movement, relatively few scholars have examined the history, politics, sociology, and anthropology of the settlements themselves.1 This book by the historian Idit Zertal and the journalist Akiva Eldar is the first chronicle of the entire settlement project. They integrate into their narrative Gidon Aran's finding on Gush Emunim origins and ideological development, Ravitzky's analysis of the messianic theology of the Kook rabbinical dynasty, alongside Sprinzak's conclusions on the political methods used by the hard core of the Israeli nationalists. Eldar and Zertal did not do their own research on the ideology of Gush Emunim. Rather, through original documents (such as the protocol of Prime Minister Eshkol's meetings with Kfar Etzion settlers in 1967, the personal papers of Colonel (reserve) Shaul Arieli, who coordinated the settlement building issue between the IDF and the Civil Administration of the Occupied Territories; and interviews with former ministers and former senior officials, they reveal the close cooperation that existed between Israeli ministries and state agencies—such as the IDF, the police, and the legal system—on the one hand, and the settlers on the other hand. Up to this [End Page e125] time no author has provided so much evidence for this cooperation, nor such a comprehensive summary of the settlement building project. The two authors are not indifferent to the object of their study and make no effort to hide their sharp criticism of the settlements. Nevertheless, they provide a detailed and well-documented account that all future writers on the subject will have to take into account. Both those who believe that the settlers hijacked the state of Israel and those who have concluded that the country willingly gave itself over to the settlers' messianic vision will discover that the truth is somewhere in between. The authors prove that the story is one of cooperation and symbiosis between the state and the settlers. The book is divided into two parts, chronological and thematic. The first chapter covers the decade after 1967 and compares the settlements at Kfar Etzion and in Hebron, the first two Israel sponsored in the occupied territories. Although both sought to enforce a right of return to places where Jews once lived, they represent two very different models. The settlement project originated in September 1967, during "the mixture of hubris and blindness" (p. 27) that followed the Six-Day War, leading Prime Minister Levi Eshkol to support the reestablishment of Kibbutz Kfar Etzion, which had been conquered by the Jordanian army in May 1948. In the spring of 1968 the Jewish right of return was actualized in Hebron, where sixty-six men, women, and children—10 percent of the Jewish community in the city–had been massacred in 1929. Since 1968 Hebron has been the site of continuing confrontation between two extremisms of blood, revenge, sanctity, and land. The second chapter discusses the period when Menahem Begin was prime minister and Ariel Sharon minister of agriculture. These two men worked to establish settlements throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip in response to the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt . The third chapter covers the Oslo period, 1993–2000, during which the number of West Bank settlers nearly doubled from 116,000 to more than 200,000. The book's second part is thematic. One chapter is devoted to Gush Emunim's theology and politics and another original and fascinating one discusses the cult of death in the settler community and the means used to turn death into a political tool. A third chapter addresses the intimate relations and symbiosis...

ISRAEL AND THE FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION: ON THE ICJ ADVISORY OPINION CONCERNING THE SEPARATION BARRIER

Since 1977 Israel has pursued an open policy of settlement building in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Although the Security Council determined that this action constituted a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel continued to settle its nationals and new Jewish immigrants in these territories.The approval by the Israeli government on 26 February 1997 of a disputed plan to settle a colony in Djabal Abou Ghounaym, in the south of Jerusalem, led to a draft resolution being submitted to the Security Council, which was not adopted due to the repeated veto of the United States on 5 and 21 March 1997.

Groundwater and urbanisation, risks and mitigation: The case for the city of Windhoek, Namibia

The City of Windhoek is underlain by the Kuiseb Schist, locally known as the “Windhoek Schist” and amphibolites. In the low-lying parts of the Windhoek valley, gravels and sands are present. The Windhoek schist has several lithologies, dominated by garnet–muscovite–chlorite–biotite schist, with distinctive cleavage. This pervasive cleavage renders the underlying lithology permeable to fluids percolating from the surface into the aquifer. Other minor lithologies are trachytes, metarhyolites and quartzites found to the east of the city. The amphibolite is part of the Matchless belt, and traverses the city in a NE–SW fashion. When weathered, it forms a perfect aquiclude. North–south and northeast–southwest trending faults with a few splays cut across the Kuiseb Schist. The faults play a significant role in increasing the fracture density of the fissile schist. The faults are the major links that form channels between the surface and the aquifer below. The city of Windhoek uses the aquifer both as a source of fresh water and as a storage facility. The recharge areas of the aquifer lie to the east and south- to southeast of the city in the vicinity of the suburb of Kleine Kuppe. The soil horizon over the Windhoek schist is very shallow and most buildings are built directly on bedrock. The thin soil horizon makes the aquifer prone to pollution, caused either by accidents such as spills or by carelessness due to unsupervised dumping. The fissility and fracture density of the schist imply that leakage of surface waters, phenols, septic-tank spills, sewer-bursts, chemical and industrial contaminants and other such materials can reach the aquifer in unusually high rainfall years. The effects of fuels and oils are much more adverse, as they may remain in soils for long periods. The rapid urbanization and building of informal settlements without sewage reticulation has increased the risk of pollution to the Windhoek aquifer. The close monitoring of sewage pipes, filling stations and dump sites (including cemeteries), preferably using a GIS-based model, is the best way to prevent future pollution.

KAJIAN ARKEOLOGI MENGENAI KERATON SUROSOWAN BANTEN LAMA, BANTEN

This research intrinsically is about activity of field and non-field archaeology. Focus of this research is to know form, settlement, and room function and/or building specially undercarriage building structure which still can be seen in Surosowan keraton. Methods used for the research are excavation, bibliography study, artifact and feature analysis, special analysis, and reconstruction. The result may indicate that, according to ancient map analysis, Surosowan keraton at least have experienced of five development phase. Excavation can only show the existence of is biphase of development pursuant to building structure indication which is overlap. According to tiling remains in every room, this research can reconstruct measure and pattern of tiling installation at every room in complex of keraton. The Research also obtain data to reconstruct building wall brick couple pattern and foundation at building in complex of keraton. Meanwhile, according to field observation is also obtained an assumption for some building function which have been shown, like sultan’s residence, audience hall, garden pool of Roro Denok, and bath of Pancuran Mas. Keywords: Archaeology, excavation, reconstruction, palace

The Influence of Building Attributes on Residents' ‘Images of the Past’ in the Architecture of Salt City, Jordan

This paper presents an empirical study conducted in a small traditional city, Salt, Jordan. An investigation was made to examine residents' ‘images of the past’. The objective was to identify building attributes that influence these residents' images. A survey research design using multiple sorting tasks with open‐ended questions was used to identify these building attributes. The images were elicited through the observation of coloured photographs of a sample of older buildings in the city centre. Images of the past were examined within three content areas: knowledge of the past; date of construction; and character of the past of Salt City. The building attributes investigated were: contour, size, shape, surface quality, signage, visibility, use, and significance. The results of the study suggest that older buildings in the centre of the city evoked similar images of the past focused on public or social buildings along with residential settlement building. Attributes relating to images of the past were original use, date of construction, historic signage, and historic integrity. This study presents an approach for operationalising an image of the past.

Building traditions of Mzab facing the challenges of re-shaping of its built form and society

The vernacular building of Mzab settlements shows the optimization, over many centuries of the performance of locally available materials within the climatic conditions of southern Algeria, designed to serve the specific needs of “Ibadits” culture. Mzab demonstrates to a marked degree some peculiarities of Islamic culture, especially in town planning and dwelling design. It provides a good example of how a site may be exploited to assist defense, to benefit from summer breezes and to promote natural drainage, while providing shelter from the sun and adapting generally to severe local climate. Two main concepts can be used to explain the ways the traditional Mzab dwellings are organized and the settlements are planned; these are centrality and barriers. The application of these two concepts by Mzab traditional society persisted until the last few decades when it has undergone profound changes in the re-shaping of its built form and society. These changes were the result of the evolution of political, economical and social factors of the country as a whole and the aspiration of Mzab society to a luxurious and modern life. New modern urban forms have, consequently, appeared and disrupted traditional building design and planning practices. In fact, Mzab is living in a period when everything is in a state of agitation—everything seems to be undergoing a change. In this paper, the knowledge and understanding of the qualities and advantages of the traditional design of Mzab settlements are analyzed. The decline of traditional building design and urban form, and its causes are discussed, and remedies are proposed.

Bersu's Goldberg IV: A Petty Chief's Establishment of the 6th–5th Centuries B.C.

Goldberg bei Nordlingen, located in southern Germany, was excavated earlier this century by Gerhard Bersu. The results of his work were never fully published. This paper concentrates on his excavation of the Hallstatt D settlement known as Goldberg Phase IV. An appraisal of the available evidence shows that Phase IV can be divided into two distinct Sub‐Phases, and continuity of occupation is demonstrated. The fortification of Phase IVB indicates a community under threat, and an increase in social differentiation is implied by the appearance of a palisaded enclosure to house the chief and by differences in the structure and functionality of the settlement's buildings.

Housing, Household, and the Family: The 'Ilhas' of Porto at the End of the Nineteenth Century

At the end of the nineteenth century, with the spread of urban growth and industrial activity—mainly the textile sector—the building of housing settlements (‘ilhas’) for the working classes developed in Porto, the most important city in the north of Portugal. These ‘urban communities’ played an important socio-historical role in the socialization of the newly arrived workers, and created family behaviors and strategies grounded in the formation of young couples and neighborhood kin ties. This family structure adjusted to the cottage industry system, in which the simple family embodies the work group, prevailing in Porto at that time.

The William Keys Ranch: Settlement on the Twentieth-Century California Desert

ALTHOUGH declared the American frontier officially closed in 1890, the processes of exploration, settlement, and community building continued in remote parts of the country. Some recalcitrant pockets of the arid west remained unsettled well into the twentieth century often in counterpoint to adjacent, relatively well-populated regions. Turn-of-the-century Los Angeles was booming but, scarcely ninety miles east, large portions of the Mojave Desert remained desolate and virtually empty, the human vacuum created by diminishment of the indigenous Indian population not yet filled by Anglo settlers.

Forest Clearing and Pepper Farming by Bugis Migrants in East Kalimantan: Antecedents and Impact

The migration of Bugis farmers to the forests of East Kalimantan is a well-organized continuing process. Through it forested lands offering new opportunities are cleared quickly and at least temporarily settled, without the government providing the substantial and costly assistance in land clearing and settlement building to the migrants required under the official resettlement and transmigration programs. The research reported here was aimed at assessing the actual or potential impact of migrant Bugis farmers on the East Kalimantan forest, and involved examining the mobility of the Bugis in relation to their use of land and their impact on the environment. We considered not only the forest-clearing, land-opening, and land-use activities of the farmers but also the causes, magnitude, and organization of their migrations. We did this as part of a larger research program concerned with identifying the forces contributing to deforestation in East Kalimantan.

The Scars of Occupation: An Eye-Witness Report

Most Americans have not experienced life under enemy military occupation, yet one frequently reads in the American press that the Israeli occupation is relatively liberal and benign, as occupations go. After a month of conversations with Palestinians under Israeli occupation I am inclined to doubt the validity of such assertions. The objective evidence of Israeli intentions in the territories, which can only be described as creeping (if not galloping) annexation, is now ubiquitous: the building of settlements, the continuing seizure of land and the manipulation of water resources. The subjective factors, which account for the grim outlook of the Palestinians, are manifested by the sense of powerlessness and degradation that accompanies the checkpoints, the armed patrols, the military bureaucracy and the punishment for alleged resistance or political activity.