CONFLICT IN CITIES
Architecture and Urban Order in Divided Jerusalem
SITE OVERVIEW
This study is focused around the neighbourhood of Musrara just north of Damascus Gate, where Old City meets New, and where the remains of the 1948-67 border between Israel and Jordan has been transformed into a hinterland for competing Palestinian and Israeli interests. The edges of this area form a triangle with the Old City wall to the south and the edges of East and West Jerusalem abutting Road 1, an inner city highway.
This study is an attempt to make visible the fractures and interactions of day-to-day life in this abrasive microscale. In order to remain as close as possible to the immediate and everyday nature of the topic, conditions have been recorded on the adjacent map on just one ordinary day -Tuesday 27 December 2005. Like a fly caught in amber, this study and its map offer a brief and partial view of one of the worldÕs most contested sites, focusing on events that are normally overlooked in planning documents and political negotiations, but that nonetheless contribute in key ways to the spacio-political workings of the city.
The adjacent map is interactive: please click on it to explore the triangle.
This study is focused around the neighbourhood of Musrara just north of Damascus Gate, where Old City meets New, and where the remains of the 1948-67 border between Israel and Jordan has been transformed into a hinterland for competing Palestinian and Israeli interests. The edges of this area form a triangle with the Old City wall to the south and the edges of East and West Jerusalem abutting Road 1, an inner city highway.
This study is an attempt to make visible the fractures and interactions of day-to-day life in this abrasive microscale. In order to remain as close as possible to the immediate and everyday nature of the topic, conditions have been recorded on the adjacent map on just one ordinary day -Tuesday 27 December 2005. Like a fly caught in amber, this study and its map offer a brief and partial view of one of the worldÕs most contested sites, focusing on events that are normally overlooked in planning documents and political negotiations, but that nonetheless contribute in key ways to the spacio-political workings of the city.
The adjacent map is interactive: please click on it to explore the triangle.
DAMASCUS GATE AND AMPHITHEATER
Since the sixteenth century, the large Ottoman structure of Damascus Gate has been the most prominent entrance to Jerusalem, standing in the middle of the city's northern wall. The landmark has provided a setting for a variety of civic functions - trade and commerce, casual meetings, political demonstrations, religious gatherings, transportation hub, security - typical of gateway squares in Middle Eastern cities with most of these endeavours still being carried out there today.
Israeli planners introduced the amphitheatre in front of the gate in the 1980s to ease the level change down from the street, and to provide a view of the historic portal for tourists, while they listen to briefings by their guides. With few tourists, it rarely fulfills its intended purpose; rather, ad hoc usage has turned it into a market with overspill from Damascus Gate. Such imposed theatricality might be regarded as overly self-conscious, and not of interest to the Palestinians, who already suffer from too much scrutiny.
Since the sixteenth century, the large Ottoman structure of Damascus Gate has been the most prominent entrance to Jerusalem, standing in the middle of the city's northern wall. The landmark has provided a setting for a variety of civic functions - trade and commerce, casual meetings, political demonstrations, religious gatherings, transportation hub, security - typical of gateway squares in Middle Eastern cities with most of these endeavours still being carried out there today.
Israeli planners introduced the amphitheatre in front of the gate in the 1980s to ease the level change down from the street, and to provide a view of the historic portal for tourists, while they listen to briefings by their guides. With few tourists, it rarely fulfills its intended purpose; rather, ad hoc usage has turned it into a market with overspill from Damascus Gate. Such imposed theatricality might be regarded as overly self-conscious, and not of interest to the Palestinians, who already suffer from too much scrutiny.
DAMASCUS GATE PANOPTICON
Such is the level of activity and centrality of place for the Palestinians in and around this gate, that the observational assets of the old gate are fully exploited by the Israelis, whose army mans its towers and ramparts. A member of the Israel Defence Forces has become a familiar installation in the window above the main arch; seen from below as a silhouette, without individual characteristics, this soldier reads as a fixture of the occupation, placed to take good advantage of the panoptical features supplied by the gate. The area bristles with the ocular cells of electronic surveillance equipment, but from the gate itself the anonymous human eye offers a more immediate level of penetration.
Such is the level of activity and centrality of place for the Palestinians in and around this gate, that the observational assets of the old gate are fully exploited by the Israelis, whose army mans its towers and ramparts. A member of the Israel Defence Forces has become a familiar installation in the window above the main arch; seen from below as a silhouette, without individual characteristics, this soldier reads as a fixture of the occupation, placed to take good advantage of the panoptical features supplied by the gate. The area bristles with the ocular cells of electronic surveillance equipment, but from the gate itself the anonymous human eye offers a more immediate level of penetration.
ROAD 1 - INNER CITY FRONTIER
Despite considerable debate and planning attention, the 'Damascus gate triangle' has remained an urban void, much of it having succumbed to a wide and rapid inner city motorway, that most profound of dividers. Known as Road 1, this thoroughfare fills the west side of the triangle with six lanes including tunnels. In its speed and intensity, it has become the de facto border between Israel and Palestine in central Jerusalem.
Despite considerable debate and planning attention, the 'Damascus gate triangle' has remained an urban void, much of it having succumbed to a wide and rapid inner city motorway, that most profound of dividers. Known as Road 1, this thoroughfare fills the west side of the triangle with six lanes including tunnels. In its speed and intensity, it has become the de facto border between Israel and Palestine in central Jerusalem.
ROAD 1 - INNER CITY BYPASS ROAD
Road 1 is large and fast, with tunnels and well engineered curves so that Israeli vehicles can bypass this juncture of the two Jerusalems with no more than a quick glimpse of the city wall and some distant markets.
Road 1 is large and fast, with tunnels and well engineered curves so that Israeli vehicles can bypass this juncture of the two Jerusalems with no more than a quick glimpse of the city wall and some distant markets.
EAST JERUSALEM TRAFFIC CONTROL
For the Palestinian drivers who make the turn off Road 1 into a single small roundabout in East Jerusalem, it means quickly grinding to a halt to join the traffic stalled by pedestrians, carts and police blockades. There is a quick shift into the crowded and narrow streets of the Palestinian city where no new road has been built since the 1960s; here is segregation by road engineering.
For the Palestinian drivers who make the turn off Road 1 into a single small roundabout in East Jerusalem, it means quickly grinding to a halt to join the traffic stalled by pedestrians, carts and police blockades. There is a quick shift into the crowded and narrow streets of the Palestinian city where no new road has been built since the 1960s; here is segregation by road engineering.
PALESTINIAN MUSRARA - AD HOC RESILIENCE
Much of the triangle's terrain is rough and uncared for; it is difficult, sometimes impossible, to negotiate on foot, and even the areas that have been refurbished are inordinately studded with obstacles like fences, stone bollards and police barricades. Despite these difficulties life on the Palestinian side of the triangle does not mirror the hinterland of Israeli Musrara; it bristles with the activity from ad hoc car parks and taxi stands, and casual market traders intermingling with the remnants of a commercial strip.
Much of the triangle's terrain is rough and uncared for; it is difficult, sometimes impossible, to negotiate on foot, and even the areas that have been refurbished are inordinately studded with obstacles like fences, stone bollards and police barricades. Despite these difficulties life on the Palestinian side of the triangle does not mirror the hinterland of Israeli Musrara; it bristles with the activity from ad hoc car parks and taxi stands, and casual market traders intermingling with the remnants of a commercial strip.
PALESTINIAN MUSRARA - COMMERCIAL STRIP
The remains of a commercial strip define the edge of Palestinian Musrara within the triangle. This stretch developed as a wholesale outlet in the 1930s, and still relies upon its proximity to the Old City souk accessed through Damascus Gate. Despite the strange combination of dereliction and control, the Palestinian side is open and surprisingly active, where shoppers and drivers vie with carts and porters amidst those just passing time. And while it must be pointed out that many men lounge about the pavements because of Palestine's distressingly high level of unemployment, and indeed, some of these figures constitute the remains of what, in less caustic times, was an informal labour market, there is still something reassuring to find that this area, against all odds, is capable of supporting such a lively and varied pedestrian life.
The remains of a commercial strip define the edge of Palestinian Musrara within the triangle. This stretch developed as a wholesale outlet in the 1930s, and still relies upon its proximity to the Old City souk accessed through Damascus Gate. Despite the strange combination of dereliction and control, the Palestinian side is open and surprisingly active, where shoppers and drivers vie with carts and porters amidst those just passing time. And while it must be pointed out that many men lounge about the pavements because of Palestine's distressingly high level of unemployment, and indeed, some of these figures constitute the remains of what, in less caustic times, was an informal labour market, there is still something reassuring to find that this area, against all odds, is capable of supporting such a lively and varied pedestrian life.
PALM TREE PARK
The Israeli municipal planners have introduced several urban projects to the triangle such as this park consisting of long rows of palm trees and water channels. The park is unused; dust blocks the drains and rubbish has been dumped into the rills. There are a number of possible reasons for this: first of all, it is unused by Israelis and tourists to Israel who normally do not venture into this Palestinian area. The park is shunned by Palestinians who are unwilling to frequent an Israeli urban initiative on their territory. Moreover, the palm tree alleys conveniently aid the long view of the police patrols down to Damascus Gate, and the Orientalist aesthetic created by full-size coconut palms imported into this relatively cold hill city is either irrelevant or offensive to some.
The Israeli municipal planners have introduced several urban projects to the triangle such as this park consisting of long rows of palm trees and water channels. The park is unused; dust blocks the drains and rubbish has been dumped into the rills. There are a number of possible reasons for this: first of all, it is unused by Israelis and tourists to Israel who normally do not venture into this Palestinian area. The park is shunned by Palestinians who are unwilling to frequent an Israeli urban initiative on their territory. Moreover, the palm tree alleys conveniently aid the long view of the police patrols down to Damascus Gate, and the Orientalist aesthetic created by full-size coconut palms imported into this relatively cold hill city is either irrelevant or offensive to some.
ISRAELI MUSRARA
Like many urban areas that find themselves on borders, the Israeli residential neighbourhood of Musrara is oriented away, back into itself; house facades are riddled with bullet holes and protected by a series of new stone walls. Cars whistle by, but it is rare to meet anyone on foot. Although some Israeli pedestrians from West Jerusalem neighbourhoods follow a route across Road 1 and along the Palestinian shops fronts to Damascus Gate, in order to visit the Jewish holy sites in the Old City, few spend time in Palestinian territory, making soldiers and border police on duty the main Israeli contingency.
Like many urban areas that find themselves on borders, the Israeli residential neighbourhood of Musrara is oriented away, back into itself; house facades are riddled with bullet holes and protected by a series of new stone walls. Cars whistle by, but it is rare to meet anyone on foot. Although some Israeli pedestrians from West Jerusalem neighbourhoods follow a route across Road 1 and along the Palestinian shops fronts to Damascus Gate, in order to visit the Jewish holy sites in the Old City, few spend time in Palestinian territory, making soldiers and border police on duty the main Israeli contingency.