And so the village remained – until
the start of this year, when the state Israel Lands Administration (ILA) issued a tender for the many plots of land which make up Lifta. To the outrage of Palestinians, but also many Israelis, the ILA’s latest building directive, Plan 6036, makes provision for the sale of land at Lifta with a view to re-fashioning the village as an exclusive tourist and residential complex. In all, the plan allows for the creation of 212 apartments amid and within the surviving historic buildings. Shops and swimming pools are also planned, as are transport links and a hotel. The scheme enjoys the support of
some Israeli conservation groups, on the grounds that the proposals offer the only prospect of any degree of conservation for Lifta’s historic buildings. Without development, they argue, the village will eventually crumble away. However, an increasingly vocal
lobby among Israelis is opposing the development plans. Instead of a private leisure development, they
INCREASINGLY VOCAL LOBBY AMONG
‘AN
OPPOSING THE DEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR
ISRAELIS IS
RECONCILIATION CENTRE’
MUSEUMAND
LIFTA… THEY SUGGEST A
suggest, the village could be sensitively refurbished as a museum and reconciliation centre. “The building plan for Lifta cannot
be considered innocent,” one commentator, Esther Zandberg, recently wrote in the Haaretz newspaper. “There is no reason to slaughter this beautiful piece of land for 200 homes for the rich; it answers no vital need and does not solve any of the housing problems in Jerusalem; and it will not contribute to reconciliation, but rather deepen the conflict and erase more proof that someone was here before us.”
62 Cornerstone, Vol 32, No 3 2011 The architect whose leisure
development plans have provoked such furore is adamant that scheme is the best, and only, way forward. “There is one approach that nothing should be done,” says Gabriel Kertesz, “which means the disappearance of the village.Our approach is one involving preservation and revival. The plan requires the most meticulous preservation rules and permits construction only after the historic buildings are preserved and everything is done under the supervision of the Antiquities Authority and a conservation architect,” he said. As in Britain, money for retail and
leisure developments in Israel is usually more readily available than for cultural and heritage schemes. This March, opponents of the leisure scheme appealed to UNESCO to afford protection to Lifta as a site of cultural importance for Palestinians. At the same time, Israeli and Arab conservationists opposed to the development managed to gain a temporary court injunction forcing the ILA to freeze the land-sale process. The struggle for Lifta, touching on
so many painful memories yet fuelled by powerful commercial interests which have no time for the past, is not likely to fade away.
Left (top to bottom page), it is unclear whether Lifta has been the subject of any detailed architectural or archaeological assessment. The unique state of preservation of empty buildings there underlines their structural resilience. Campaigners for the protection of the site argue for cautious consolidation and refurbishment, rather than large-scale rebuilding
PA/BETH BOWMAN/DEMOTIX
PA/BETH BOWMAN/DEMOTIX
OURIA TAMOR/ISRAEL SUN
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