We, the undersigned architects, planners, designers and environmentalists are reaching out to you as individuals, international partners, professional bodies or institutions, inviting you to endorse and support our shared commitment as outlined below.
In our newspapers and on our TV screens, day after day, we are witnessing an unfolding genocide and environmental catastrophe. Israel’s relentless bombing of Gaza is destroying homes, hospitals, universities, schools, power lines, roads, sewers and water supply – in short, the complete infrastructure supporting everyday life. There are countless children without families, parents without children, and over 2 million people living without proper shelter or safety.
So far, 32,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza, destroying 60,000 housing units (70% of the total) and damaging 200,000 more buildings. The carpet bombing of Gaza in one month is the equivalent of one–and–a–half times the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Dust clouds from the bombardment are now causing nosebleeds for the inhabitants of the West Bank, kilometers away. Greenhouse gases released by the explosions will, however, affect us all because the carbon emission from one month of the Gaza bombing –1.3MT – is 4 times the UK’s total carbon emission in one year. Gaza is thus an ecological catastrophe, socially, environmentally and psychologically.
As architects, planners, environmentalists and designers, we condemn the spacio-cidal violence enacted on the Gaza Strip and its people. We call for an immediate permanent ceasefire and the rebuilding of Gaza in close collaboration with those displaced families. The 12,000 + lives that have already been lost cannot be restored, nor can the pain and suffering be wished away by airy words from politicians. But the people still alive need the means to survive. We thus call for the reinstatement of the essential services, of water, electricity, fuel and food within the Gaza Strip.
The people of Gaza have a right to their city, their homes, their land. They have a right to rebuild their lives, within a free Palestine. In the longer term, entire urban areas will obviously need to be rebuilt. Houses and neighbourhoods will hence have to be reconstructed, and Gazan cities provided with all the services and facilities required for a high quality of life that is environmentally sustainable. The international community of academics and professionals must stand strong to play a pivotal role in the reconstruction of Gaza. Together, in collaboration with its resilient residents, we can contribute to the restoration of lives, their homes, their neighbourhood and communities.
Self-Help Housing, Rebuild via Collaborative Clusters:
Architects for Gaza proposes the formation of Gaza Reconstruction Collective; interdisciplinary self-help clusters to help in reconstruction. This will include experts in psychological and social trauma alongside displaced families and individuals. These clusters will be strategically located wherever those expelled from their homes have since managed to gain a foothold or refuge elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.
Physical and Virtual Educational Clusters:
Considering the extensive damages and demolition of many Gazan educational buildings and institutes, we also see the urgency of setting up interdisciplinary clusters to enable local students to continue with their education. Our specific proposal is to assist architectural students and those on related courses to be taught either through physical clusters or via virtual platforms.
N.B. If you wish to register your interest as a potential student, mentor, tutor or partner organisation, please see our separate call for Gaza Global University
hereCall for Action: Sign and SupportWe urgently call on all individuals and international partners, professional bodies and institutions, to come together to sign and endorse our statement which sets out the following demands:
- A permanent and immediate ceasefire in Gaza and end to the siege.
- All restrictions on food, water, electricity, and fuel to be lifted immediately.
- The right for Palestinian refugees to return to rebuild their homes, neighbourhoods and cities accompanied by the required infrastructure, schools, hospitals and universities.
- In regard to the Right to a Home, immediate access for professional experts and helpers, including AFG, to be allowed to enter Gaza to set up self-help clusters that will enable housing reconstruction.
- In regard to the Right to Education, the call for academic institutions outside Gaza to offer virtual online courses to allow students there to continue their studies as educational classroom clusters.
- A call for all architectural magazines and journals to make the voices of Gaza heard while also reflecting upon the current Israeli policy of space-ocide and how it impacts upon the built environment, ecological conditions and human lives.
- A call for all architectural institutions/organisations globally to take a clear professional and ethical stand against the current human and ecological destruction taking place in the Gaza Strip, and thereby to support the right of Gazan people to rebuild their cities and their lives.
Your signature signifies a commitment to these essential humanitarian and professional principles and will also serve as an example of hope for those who are directly affected by the current crisis in Gaza. By signing and endorsing the above statement, you are joining a global community that is fully committed to collective action and tangible support for the rebuilding of the Gaza Strip.
Thank you for considering our urgent call to action. Together, we can make a meaningful impact on the pathway to recovery and resilience for Palestinian citizens living in Gaza.
— Architects For Gaza | Palestine Regeneration Team
in affiliation with Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine
