Architectural and Urban Analysis and Contextual Register

Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 This work consist of (a) a descriptive text [text, maps and diagrams], followed by (b) a consequential hypertext. The descriptive text/maps/diagrams is for the territory named Beit Eil, an illegal colony north of the cities of al-Bireh and Ramallah, Palestine. The territory is being investigated and analyzed for the project of my thesis, in the Maestría de Proyecto Arquitectónico y Urbano. After positioning the territory in a larger frame, the descriptive text divides into two parallel and contrasted descriptions, one belongs to the current user of the space in the territory, and the other belongs to the affected one, non-user of the space, and residing in its surrounding. Upon my own understanding of the site, affected by the social and collective understanding of the colonies in the West Bank in Palestine, the following work presents a hypertext for an alternative projection of what the territory can be. The projection is presented as a proposal for a program of an urban project, and as conceptual characteristics for a specific architectural project. The idea advocated by the hypertext expands beyond (1) criticizing and documenting a phenomenon or an event, OR (2) approaching it by memorization, in futuristic time and circumstances, as by cultural and memorial centers. The idea presented is a call for exploring potential possibilities to include active functional operations, designed to benefit at least the affected group, or both the influential user and the affected nonuser. The hypertext and all its’ projected ideas, are all original. Some parts of it is intended to be presented in an advanced much detailed document for my thesis in MAP[au]. Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 Definition Beit Eil is an Israeli colony and a local council, established on 1977 on private and public lands, which belong to the Palestinian villages of Beitin and Dura al-Kare’, and to the city of al-Bireh. It has an area of 5.315,671 km square, and it mainly consist of (a) a residential neighborhood, that have a population of about 6,500, Israelis Jews only, (b) an industrial zone, and (c) a military base. Having a military base attached to an Israeli colony is a regular Israeli planning practice, in order to provide direct “protection” to the Israeli settlers. However, in the case of Beit Eil the military base happens to be not similar to any others; as it has the administrative center of all Israeli military operations controlling the West Bank; the headquarters of the Israeli military which is called the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria -Judea and Samaria is the Israeli name of the West Bank-, which include the District Coordination Office (DCO), that coordinates with the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian individuals. The base manages, controls and interferes in fields of martial, civil and commercial activities all over the West Bank. The base has also a Military School of Coordination for Israeli Army, and other military facilities. Political Frame The Israeli colonies (or the widely used term: settlements) are closed urban areas surrounded by advanced security instruments and procedures, that can include only Israeli activities, as residential, agricultural, or military use. Those colonies are all the non-Palestinian closed zones that exist in part of the Palestinian lands, the West Bank. There had been other colonies in Gaza Strip, but they were partially dismantled and then entirely deconstructed, right after the Israeli unilateral withdrawal on August 2005, leaving huge mined zones and tons of toxic rubbles. The West Bank is part of the Occupied Palestinian Territories recognized by the United Nations, and part of -the new- state of Palestine, which had been agreed on between Palestinians and Israelis on Oslo Accords I and II beginning of 90s, adopting the 2 States Solution. Besides having all colonies established on an occupied and stolen lands, the colonies are illegal by international law according to Fourth Geneva Convention (article 49), and according to the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations; resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 446 (1979), 452 (1979), 465 (1980), 476 (1980), 478 (1980), 1397 (2002), 1515 (2003), 1850 (2008), and 2334 (2016). Moreover, according to both the Palestinians and the International Community, they present a dangerous instrument of continuous colonization that seriously threatening the 2 States Solution. Property and Dominance The land in Palestine was part of the Islamic state, which its latest phase was the Ottoman Empire (12991923), and thus it was subject to its laws, then ruled by the British as Mandate for Palestine (1920-1948), administrated by Jordan (1948-1967), then occupied by the Israeli military (1967-present). The Ottomans and the following governments had applied the Ottoman system of land categorization, while the Britishs tried to interpret it to English led to some mistakes and gaps. The system had one category for private ownership (Mamloka), while the other four are various types of governmental (Amiri), common (Matroka), religious (Wakf\Mawkofa) and common unplanned (Mawat) ownerships. The last four categories were all vanished under the new Israeli category; State Lands. Beside this major change of properties system, there were many documented evidences that prove that the private ownership of Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 land parcels in the colonies belong to Palestinian individuals, as in the case of the colony of Beit Eil. A secret database published by Haaretz the Israeli newspapers in 2009 that revealed that Beit El was largely built on private Palestinian lands, without the approval of the land owners, without being sold, and as a result; the demolition of Ulpana neighborhood in Beit Eil in 2013, after it was persecuted judicially in 2008 for the same reason. Narrative [Religious Version] Biblical Era> Ten years after occupying the West Bank on 1967 by Israel, the name Beit Eil (Hebrew: ‫ בֵּ ית אֵ ל‬:Arabic . ‫ب ت إ ل‬. English: Beit El) was given to the hill adjacent to the Palestinian village of Beitin, which is believed to be the original Bethel (meaning: House of God), the village mentioned in the Torah, as the site where Jacob slept and dreamed of angels going up and down a ladder. The first to establish that the village of Beitin as the site of Bethel was Edward Robinson, in 1838. Henry Baker Tristram repeated this claim, J. J. Bimson and David Livingston proposed the city of al-Bireh as the site of Bethel, a view rejected by Jules Francis Gomes. [History Version] Modern Era> A parcel of land of what’s known as Beit Eil today, was used by the British to establish the Palestinian National Radio Station. The Jordanian used the spot intermittently, mainly as a military hospital. In 1970, private Palestinian lands was seized by military order for an Israeli military outpost (the military base of Beit Eil). Later on, more lands were captured by settlers for establishing a residential settlement, north of the military base. In 1977, the primary Beit Eil residential neighborhoods, A then B, were established. Beit Eil today is a medium sized colony, with an industrial zone and a principal military base. Administration According to the Israeli Laws, it is a settlement and a local council located in the Binyamin Region, in the governorate of Judea and Samaria. According to the Palestinians, it is an Israeli colony and military base located at the northern entrance of the city of al-Bireh, in the governorate of Ramallah and al-Bireh, in the West Bank, Palestine. The colony is de facto inhabited only by Jewish Israelis, and entirely administrated by the Israel government and its army. Social and Urban Position A Beit Eil is a modern residential settlement located north of Jerusalem, and have some kind of centric position as it have a principal military base and an industrial zone, reasons which place it in a relatively advanced position from the rest of the settlements. Beit Eil has a view on the north entrance hills of Jerusalem. In addition, it has an archaeological site, which is believed to be the one mentioned in the Torah, where Jacob slept at the hills of Bethel once, and B Beit Eil is a military and residential colony north of the cities of al-Bireh and Ramallah, and have a centric position as it have the principal military base responsible for the West Bank, located exactly at the northern entrance of the city of alBireh. The current colony is adjacent to several Palestinian villages, one of them is Beitin. Beitin has numerous archeological sites from Chalcolithic period (5000 BC), Early Bronze Age (about 3200 BC) including Canaanites, Middle Bronze Age (about 1750 BC), Late Bronze Age Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP dreamed of angles climbing up and down a ladder to the sky. Beit Eil also, on the Israeli national level, is considered a bright example and among the earliest settlements within the 2nd stage of spreading settlements (1977-1984), a stage of the extremist Lekud party had risen, and peace agreements between Israel and its neighbors were started, as the agreement with Egypt. The stage was crowned from one side by signing Camp David agreement and the subsequent evacuation of the Sinai Peninsula colonies, and from the other side by a big expansion and wide horizontal spread of settlements. The stage aimed to (1) establish of linear block that cuts the West Bank from North to South as an axis, from which wide branches extend on east and west, (2) to resettle 120,000 settlers through the construction of 50 new settlements that shall be set up in strategic places in the Palestinian territories, and (3) to concentrated exactly where other plans tried to avoid; near the Palestinian population centers in the highlands. Beit Eil has a higher elevation than Jerusalem, has cool nights in summer and occasional snow in winter. It is surrounded from east, north and southern east by empty valleys in which there are cliffs and natural water springs. Beit El has immigrants mainly from United States, India, Peru, Ethiopia and Russia. In addition, it continue to receive new immigrants living temporarily in caravans, in order to be moved later to permanent housing in Beit Eil or in another colonies or towns. The residents are Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 (about 1550-1200 BC), the Byzantine era, the Crusaders, the Ayyubid, and the Ottomans. There were found several ruins, such as a defensive wall, a tower, a water system, tombs and others. Excavations are still continuous. Beit Eil is an urban infection that affect the entire surrounding, either by expanding or by the military dominancy and practiced violence. The effects are noted on villages and on the cities of al-Bireh and Ramallah. Beit Eil is one of the earliest illegal settlement in the West Bank. It represent a mark of the weakness period -the defeat of Arabs in 1967 and its effects-, and translated physically in colonial projects that people from West Bank could watch forming directly, and besieging them. Moreover, what was a temporary military base full of alerted soldiers had started to expand and include a residential closed neighborhood of settlers. The change and the mix of alerted soldier occupier to settled civils, was dramatic. Beit Eil had been established upon confiscated lands that were occupied by force. Many (about 62%) of its lands belong to Palestinians whom still have the documents of their properties. The lands were before orchards of citrus like pulm, lemon, and of fug, olives, grapes and almonds. The land was famous of having many natural springs, but now even the remaining valleys adjacent to the colony boundary, are considered dangerous and thus left empty. The surrounding villages have generally its native residents, but Al-Jalazoun; a camp of refugees (population of 9,723 in 2015), located out of the city fabric on north, 200 meters from the colony, on northwest side. The camp have Palestinian Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP generally identify themselves as a religious community, and members of religious and Zionists movements and parties. Economically, Beit Eil is a home for a national media agency, and a number of small factories, including a winery, and others located in its industrial zone, like metalwork workshops, carpentry shops, a bakery and others. Residents travels daily to other Israeli cities to practice their activities regularly, the nearest city is Jerusalem. Militarily, Beit Eil is known as the largest and the principal military base in West Bank, adjacent to Ramallah and al-Bireh -which host the Palestinian administration authorities. Beit Eil has the office of coordination with the Palestinian authority. It has also the headquarters of the civil administration of the entire West Bank. In addition, it has a school of coordination for the Israeli army. Moreover, the military base has a huge and flexible capacity to stock, maintain and manage weapons and military vehicles. Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 Refugees registered and administrated by the UNRWA, as refugees mainly of war 1948. The Palestinians majority are Muslims, while some cities are originally Christians as the city of Ramallah, or the village of Jifna (1.1 km northwest of the colony – adjacent to alJalazoun). Palestinian Jews are a minority. Palestinians live in mixed societies with various religious, political and national views. The confiscation of the agricultural lands had affected its owners economically. The change of dominancy on lands and connectivity between villages, and villages and the city, had effects on several periods. For example, the main entrance of the village of Beitin had been closed, and thus the village had to function reversely. The visitors to the city had to cross checkpoints. Many times the colony had function as a stopper to the city, besieging and disconnecting the city and the villages, by controlling its northern entrance. Other effects appears further in administration processes, like the humiliation in the concept and the process of applying to a permission to visit a place or a relative, or for work or health reasons, basically a permission of movement, a concept that lies within the practiced apartheid by the military regime. The coordination office in Beit Eil is a military space of security checks which Palestinians need to visit to apply for a movement permission. The permanent checkpoint that Biet Eil operate had closed the main entrance of the village of Beitin, cut the main road between both the cities of al-Bireh and Ramallah, and Nablus in the north, the same ancient road which used to connect Jerusalem to Nablus, affecting also all of the villages lying in between the mentioned cities. Other temporary checkpoints usually established to cut more roads of Palestinians for the benefit of the colonists, around the colony, like the entrance of a village or al-Jalazoun refugees camp. In 2001, Beit Eil military base was the principal base from which al-Bireh and Ramallah were invaded. Within its flattened fields, it hosted and Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP Besides the workers who come to work in the industrial area of Beit Eil, it receives few visitors occasionally; most of them are foreign tourists. The main attraction is the place believed where Jacob slept, and may be to have a closer look from a distance- at Palestinian cities and villages. Beit Eil is connected to other settlements and to Jerusalem through specific and safe connectivity system that include a network of transportation systems, operating on special bypass roads, that can’t be used by Palestinians. Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 prepared the tanks. The sounds of the tanks motors were heard for long nights before the invasion. During the invasion, many youths and adults were arrested, and Beit Eil was one of the temporary prisons, and hosted, till today, one of its military courts. The invasion was brutal, in which hundreds of lives were lost, the infrastructure of both cities were harmed intensively, roads, private properties and others. Residents kept under siege and curfew, forbidden to leave their houses under the threat of shooting, for 40 continuous days, followed by about 2 months of a less strict type of curfew; people were allowed to leave their houses about 3 hours a day, 2 days a week. The civil life had literally stopped during those months. And the time that followed had more events and consequences. Beit Eil constitutes an obstacle of connectivity between the cities of Ramallah and al-Bireh, and the surrounding villages, and to the north in general. This had affected the life of the villages and its economy. From one side it deprives the farmers of reaching their lands, dominating the built and unbuilt confiscated lands, and the surrounding lands, and from the other hand, it cuts and controls the roads network, affecting both sides of the cities and the villages, and their residents. The colonists only use bypass roads, which were built crossing agricultural, private and public lands. The roads if intersect with Palestinian roads, it then has a bridge, a tunnel or a checkpoint, because it is intended to be prohibited to be used by Palestinians. The Israeli military secure those roads and the passing vehicles. The direct road leading to the village of Beitin is closed since 2001. The trip that used to take 10 minutes from al-Bireh center to Beitin, now need about 30 minutes (12.5 km), driving around the colony and passing by other Palestinian villages. During the 2nd Intifada (2001-2003), the only way to reach Beitin -when there was one- needed about 1.5 hour (21.5 km), crossing eight villages, and the entrance to the village of Ein Yabroud – the last village before Beitin- was digged inside Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 out where no vehicles can pass. In addition to checkpoints, some of which were permanent, like the one in the street to the village of Surda, lasting about 4 years (2002-2006). Those changes, made the village adjacent to the city, farer. And made it difficult for its residents to practice their daily activities. This comparison exercise of combining definitions and descriptions for the same territory, from a social and urban point of view, from users of the space. The information had been extracted from blogs in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and from political, economic and literature articles that documented various events and effects, and from personal experiences. The rest of the information are documented / mapped / written by the investigator. As a hypertext, as a motivational and operational text, What PROGRAM can be imagined for such a space in the future? In a time of application of the Two States Solution, or a One State Solution, or any other. In a future where the dominancy of the physical spatial space no longer is the focal point, but the future and the benefit of its residents.  Diagrams of pieces > and what can it be replaced by. Program[s] Knowing that 38% of the lands of the colonies in the Governorate of al-Bireh and Ramallah are originally public lands, and the rest are private -according to the NGO: ARIJ 2016-, it is important to think of public projects programs. The permanent checkpoint area can be the gate of the city, a terminal transportation station, considering its location in reference to the city. A station is a new connectivity center which gather the people, then distribute them in the city or away from it. Daily visitors can leave their vehicles, and use other local public transportation systems to move within the city. The ex-checkpoints, which its locations were chosen strategically between urban zones, can become a service points, with lounge areas, guide points, info desks, and services providers. The elements of the checkpoint shall be re-used, but not hided, to mark the separation life people used to face. The flattened fields in the military base, which were the parking to store the tanks which invaded the city, can become public open plazas, which people can invade back any time, and organize events or any other activities. The military offices of which the permissions of movement were issued, and in which people had experienced difficult circumstances, the waiting rooms, the long corridors, the investigation and isolation rooms, were all metallic structures. It all can be changed to a center of human rights, a center for civil rights, and a special center for the right of freedom of movement. It is not that simple to re-inhabit the place of the enemy. If the suggested program calls for reusing the same structures without a change, and for the same function; then the change is only replacement of the actors; the users. Moreover, if the suggested program calls for demolition of the existing structures and features, and to build new projects, then parts of the history will be hidden. In both cases there may Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 be a risk to impose a new reality of another apartheid (political or social), within the same society. The content of the program shall always be connecting, uniting, public, sensitive and collective. Generally, can the elements and the instruments used to practice and maintain the state of apartheid, be recycled, developed, reused, to become the instruments of the opposite state? It should at least solve the problems it had created. Besides reserving the memory of the territory and the society, its ancient and contemporary history, it is possible not only to celebrate those by only cultural centers and museums. It shall also, respond to the city [residents] needs by re-using and re-inhabiting the available colonial and military construction. For example, may be the best celebration of post-apartheid circumstances, is a collective operational space, with items/spaces/features to mark the past. Such projects can be on a national level, as a parliamentrelated institute, or a ministry of Justice (or a branch), or any parallel. On a local level, it could be a collection of projects, as an experimental museum, a connectivity center, or, much more operational and productive project as an institute of industrial education and application, or an institute of agricultural education and training, an occasional market, or any other active project that assure collective and productive gathering. May be the collection of all such projects together in one place can urbanize/civilize the military base, and may convert it to a new live centric point in the city. This collection could be a new type of urban project that advances local development. On the scale of elements, there are other reuses that can be done. For example, the 1.2*1.2*1.2 concrete blocks that were used to close roads, can be gathered and relocated in groups to form a monument [symbolic/artistic]. The concrete wall units that were used as separation barriers can be reused horizontally to pave grounds of the new plazas, or as part of retaining walls in public places [infrastructure]. The containers, which were used as military offices, or as temporary residential units, are all fertile elements if gathered and build new structures with, or, to be distributed in the city and used as kiosks selling periodical printed materials, or as environmental stations run by the municipality. Architectural Project What local ideas can be implemented on a smaller scale, on a fragment of the territory? For example, a parcel of land which is not directly confiscated, but affected by the existence of the colony and its practices. It is a private land that currently considered dangerous to invest in. It has a triangle shape, located on a corner directly on the roundabout, from one side there is a 4 stars hotel (City Inn Hotel). From the other side there is a gas station (al-Huda Fuel Station), a service / fuel station and a café, lies strategically at the entrance / exit of the city. In addition, from the latest side, there is the entrance of the military base of the colony, a military road opened in a private land, which also has a house constructed before the colony. The Hotel and the Gas Station, were forced to close various times, every time there was a confrontation, as they are in the domain of the danger. The Hotel façade was burned twice, and when it was open, its most regular visitors were journalists, reporters and camera men. When it was closed, it was because the Israeli snipers occupied its roof. In other place or in another geographical area or time or circumstances, a private land on a crossroads at the entrance of a principal city, on two regional main roads, could be a promising investment, as a Seminario Análisis y Registro Contextual, Arquitectónico y Urbano MAP[au] - FAU – UNLP Ayman Safi Zaid | 02.2017 commercial center, a parking, a hotel, a work space, or; a tower of various uses. However, this parcel of land have more complex heritage [the previously mentioned context]. It witnessed all the demonstrations, the clashes, the injuries and the martyrs. Diameter: 409 meters. Area: 6,376 square meters. Coordinates: 31o55’19.28’’ N 31o55’19.18’’ N 31o55’19.99’’ N 31o55’20.10’’ N 31o55’20.37’’ N 31o55’20.76’’ N 31o55’21.17’’ N 31o55’21.54’’ N 31o55’21.45’’ N 31o55’21.06’’ N 31o55’20.67’’ N 35o13’08.87’’ E 35o13’09.81’’ E 35o13’13.94’’ E 35o13’15.58’’ E 35o13’14.81’’ E 35o13’13.87’’ E 35o13’13.16’’ E 35o13’12.21’’ E 35o13’10.76’’ E 35o13’10.34’’ E 35o13’10.26’’ E + 839 m + 839 m + 836 m + 836 m + 836 m + 836 m + 837 m + 838 m + 839 m + 839 m + 839 m For a tower of mixed-use spaces, I would extract some conceptual design methodologies to be taken into consideration in design process; 1. A high-rise mixed-use structure will be an evidence of termination of the military dominance. It will be a starter that encourage spreading a proper similar development in the area, on a main axis of the city, that also may help leading an extension of the city towards the north (the previously blocked direction). 2. The volume of the new mass, shall respect the surrounding and the scale of the context, thus, it would be more convenient if it consists of fragments, which shape together the total volume. 3. The solid body of the tower not to create a barrier, but visual and physical connection; connectivity with the spaces around, and connectivity towards the farer surroundings. 4. The materials shall represent the rebelling new fact; the turning over of an era, but not to cover or eliminate the memory of the territory. It could be not only a mixture of transparent and solid, but also a mixture of brand new and used materials. The materials and textures of current context shall be further studied, to determine which and how to use. Those could be distributed gradually following the fragmented masses of the tower. 5. The tower can contribute by a semi-public area/s to the new surroundings, at least on the level of ground / the public level. Such a space can be repeated variously on different heights, with diversity of the level of publicity.