The impact of Israeli settlements on the urban development of the old city of al Khalil (Hebron)‎

Dissertant

Usfur, Hamdi A. M.

Thesis advisor

Amr, Jamal

Comitee Members

Thawaba, Salim
Ghadban, Shadi

University

Birzeit University

Faculty

Faculty of Engineering and Technology

Department

Department of Architectural Engineering

University Country

Palestine (West Bank)

Degree

Master

Degree Date

2009

English Abstract

Since the early days of Israeli occupation for Al Khalil (Hebron) mainly the Old City, oppression and deception reigned on the inhabitants owing to acts of tyranny and aggression committed against them, especially by the hands of Jewish settlers who infiltrated into the city under cover of night.

The main aims behind founding Israeli settlements in the Old City of Al Khalil (Hebron) come to apply the needs and benefits of the Israeli settlers and the policy maker's agenda and to forbid the Palestinians from all kinds of developments around the Israeli settlements, and to keep the Palestinians away from the settlements regions as a separation area.

Many policies were made to capture the city, like the reduction of the Palestinian inhabitants of the Old City to the tenth of its existing number, [1] also the policy of finding "territorial contiguity” between Kiryat Arba, and the illegal colonies in the mid of the city [2].

Unfortunately this is what happening these days.

The settlements presence forms a very sad point for Palestinian daily life ; these settlements take the form of evacuation and replacement settling, and they are dividing the city into two parts, adding to this the city economic decline because of the continuous curfews and closures of the city.

However the great suffering appears in the educational sector, and the disturbance of the educational process, as well as the attacks against the schools, especially those close to the Jewish settlements.

The research aims to focus on the general conditions of the Palestinian daily life from all sides, to impose the effects and impacts of the Jewish settlements existence on the Palestinian economic conditions in the city, the Palestinian educational process, the Palestinians social life, the Palestinian cultural heritages, and the political obstacles which face the Palestinian as a result of the Israeli settlements and the Israeli Army (I.A.) existence in the heart of the Old City.

The study discusses the role of the Palestinian local authorities, the importance of the old city to these authorities, and the Palestinian decision makers through criticizing Al Khalil H.1.

H.2.

Agreement.

The researcher emphasizes that the Israelis use the settlers and settlements as the slow killing tool of the Old City, by forbidding of the introduction of all kinds of services like building erection or restoration actions, the needed infrastructure, or making any kind of urban regional plans for this part of the city for military and security reasons, and that is to facilitate and give the Israeli settlers a high quality of life.

In this study the researcher used different ways in collecting the data and information from different sources which led to prepare a comprehensive study ; the researcher used researching tools like interviews, visual approaches documented by photos, documents analysis, and several visits to the specified study area.

The researcher recommends reevaluating the Old City conditions, and finding out the solutions meet the Palestinian residents needs and interests, besides increasing the Palestinians public awareness against the Jewish settling plans of the Old City, by supporting the Palestinian dwellers to stay in the old city and not leaving it for the Jewish settlers.

Also, the researcher recommends making land survey and registration all over the city to control its random expansion, and then preparing the City Master Plans.

Main Subjects

Civil Engineering

Topics

• Urban planning
• Urbanization
• Palestine
• Hebron

No. of Pages

177

Table of Contents

• APA
• MLA
• AMA

Language

English

Data Type

Arab Theses

Record ID

BIM-302573