Gaza’s space design: land and laboratory

Author: Miguel Mesa del Castillo Clavel*

 

Since the withdrawal of the settlers and the Israeli Armed Forces from Gaza in 2005, the control over the territory of the Strip has been primarily managed from outside its narrow borders by means of devastating military operations. This paper analyses the violent urbanization processes undertaken by Israel in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to control the territory from outside. These operations of urban redesign “from a distance” makes Gaza a model of the category of the camp suggested by Giorgio Agamben. Nonetheless, it also makes Gaza a privileged urbanism laboratory where it is possible to put into practise the most advanced techniques of urban modelling that was tested and improved in Gaza, which can now be transferred to the West Bank.  Finally, we will look at the different devices used to control and dominate the territory inside and outside Gaza, but most importantly, we highlight the importance of everyday Palestinian resistance acts as a crucial element to offer a full detailed description of the urbanization process of domination and resistance in the occupation of the territory. 

 

Keywords: Urbanization, Gaza Strip, Camp, Palestinian resistance.  

 


*PhD. Candidate (Doctoranda), Escuela Politécnica Superior, Departamento de Expresión Gráfica y Cartografía, Universidad de Alicante, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

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