Homeland: Zionism as Housing Regime, 1860–2011

305 Pages·2017·4.74 MB·English

by  Yael Allweil

Homeland:
Zionism as Housing Regime, 1860–2011
On 29 March 2016 the New York based online journal, Realty Today reported ‘Israel is facing a housing
crisis with …[the] home inventory lacking 100,000 apartments… House prices, which have more
than doubled in less than a decade, resulted in a mass protest back in 2011’.
As Yael Allweil reveals in her fascinating book, housing has played a pivotal role in the history of
nationalism and nation building in Israel-Palestine. She adopts the concept of ‘homeland’ to highlight
how land and housing are central to both Zionism and Palestinian nationalism, and how the history
of Zionist and Palestinian national housing have been inseparably intertwined from the introduction
of the Ottoman Land Code in 1858 to the present day.
Following the Introduction, Part I, ‘Historiographies of Land Reform and Nationalism’, discusses
the formation of nationalism as the direct result of the Ottoman land code of 1858. Part II, ‘Housing
as Proto-Nationalism’, focuses on housing as the means to claim rights over the homeland. Part III,
‘Housing and Nation-Building in the Age of State Sovereignty’, explores the effects of statehood
on national housing across several strata of Israeli society. The Afterword discusses housing as the
quintessential object of agonistic conflict in Israel-Palestine, around which the Israeli polity is formed
and reformed.
Yael Allweil is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion,
Haifa, Israel. Her research centres on the history of housing in Israel and Palestine and the struggles
over urban public spaces.
Planning, History and Environment Series
Editor:
Ann Rudkin, Alexandrine Press, Marcham, UK
Editorial Board:
Professor Arturo Almandoz, Universidad Simón Bolivar, Caracas, Venezuela and
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
Professor Nezar AlSayyad, University of California, Berkeley, USA
Professor Scott A. Bollens, University of California, Irvine, USA
Professor Robert Bruegmann, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
Professor Meredith Clausen, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Professor Yasser Elsheshtawy, UAE University, Al Ain, UAE
Professor Robert Freestone, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
Professor John R. Gold, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK
Professor Michael Hebbert, University College London, UK
Selection of Published Titles
Planning Europe’s Capital Cities: Aspects of nineteenth century Tanja Damljanović Conley (paperback 2015)
development by Thomas Hall Lessons in Post-War Reconstruction: Case studies from Lebanon in the
Selling Places: The marketing and promotion of towns and cities, aftermath of the 2006 war edited by Howayda Al-Harithy
1850–2000 by Stephen V. Ward Orienting Istanbul: Cultural capital of Europe? edited by Deniz
The Australian Metropolis: A planning history edited by Stephen Göktürk, Levent Soysal and İpek Türeli
Hamnett and Robert Freestone Olympic Cities: City agendas, planning and the world’s games
Utopian England: Community experiments 1900–1945 by Dennis 1896–2016, 2nd edition edited by John R. Gold and Margaret
Hardy M. Gold
Urban Planning in a Changing World: The twentieth century The Making of Hong Kong: From vertical to volumetric by Barrie
experience edited by Robert Freestone Shelton, Justyna Karakiewicz and Thomas Kvan (paperback
Twentieth-Century Suburbs: A morphological approach by J.W.R. 2014)
Whitehand and C.M.H. Carr Urban Coding and Planning edited by Stephen Marshall
Council Housing and Culture: The history of a social experi- Planning Asian Cities: Risks and resilience edited by Stephen
ment by Alison Ravetz Hamnett and Dean Forbes (paperback 2013)
Planning Latin America’s Capital Cities, 1850–1950 edited by Staging the New Berlin: Place marketing and the politics of reinvention
Arturo Almandoz post-1989 by Claire Colomb
Exporting American Architecture, 1870–2000 by Jeffrey W. Cody City and Soul in Divided Societies by Scott A. Bollens
The Making and Selling of Post-Mao Beijing by Anne-Marie Learning from the Japan City: Looking East in urban design, 2nd
Broudehoux edition by Barrie Shelton
Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An urban kaleidoscope in a globalizing The Urban Wisdom of Jane Jacobs edited by Sonia Hirt with Diane
world edited by Yasser Elsheshtawy Zahm (paperback 2014)
Globalizing Taipei: The political economy of spatial development edited Of Planting and Planning: The making of British colonial cities, 2nd
by Reginald Yin-Wang Kwok edition by Robert Home
New Urbanism and American Planning: The conflict of cultures by Healthy City Planning: Global health equity from neighbourhood to
Emily Talen nation by Jason Corburn
Remaking Chinese Urban Form: Modernity, scarcity and space. Good Cities, Better Lives: How Europe discovered the lost art of
1949–2005 by Duanfang Lu urbanism by Peter Hall
Planning Twentieth Century Capital Cities edited by David L.A. The Planning Imagination: Peter Hall and the study of urban and
Gordon regional planning edited by Mark Tewdwr-Jones, Nicholas Phelps
Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the twentieth century by and Robert Freestone
Christopher Silver Garden Cities of Tomorrow? A new future for cottage estates by Martin
Designing Australia’s Cities: Culture, commerce and the city beautiful, Crookston
1900–1930 by Robert Freestone Sociable Cities: The 21st-century reinvention of the Garden City by
Ordinary Places, Extraordinary Events: Citizenship, democracy and Peter Hall and Colin Ward
urban space in Latin America edited by Clara Irazábal (paperback Modernization, Urbanization and Development in Latin America,
2015) 1900s–2000s by Arturo Almandoz
The Evolving Arab City: Tradition, modernity and urban development Planning the Great Metropolis: The 1929 Regional Plan of New York
edited by Yasser Elsheshtawy and Its Environs by David A. Johnson (paperback 2015)
Stockholm: The making of a metropolis by Thomas Hall Remaking the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge: A case of
Dubai: Behind an urban spectacle by Yasser Elsheshtawy shadowboxing with nature by Karen Trapenberg Frick
(paperback 2013) Great British Plans: Who made them and how they worked by Ian
Capital Cities in the Aftermath of Empires: Planning in central and Wray
southeastern Europe edited by Emily Gunzburger Makaš and Homeland: Zionism as a housing regime, 1860–2011 by Yael Allweil
Homeland:
Zionism as Housing Regime,
1860–2011
Yael Allweil
First published 2017
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2017 Yael Allweil
This book was commissioned and edited by Alexandrine Press, Marcham, Oxfordshire
The right of the author has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
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without permission in writing from the publishers.
The publisher makes no representation, express or implied, with regard to the accuracy of the
information contained in this book and cannot accept any legal responsibility or liability for
any errors or omissions that may be made.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Allweil, Yael, author.
Homeland : Zionism as housing regime, 1860-2011 / Yael Allweil.
p. cm. — (Planning, history and environment series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–1–138–77605–0 (hardback : alk. paper)
ISBN 978–1–315–39598–2 (ebook)
Housing policy— Palestine—History—19th century. Housing policy— Palestine—History—
20th century. Housing policy—Israel—History. Dwelling—Social aspects—Palestine—History—
19th century. Dwellings—Social aspects—Palestine—History—20th century. Dwellings—Social
aspects—Israel. Nationalism and architecture.
HD7358.45.A3 A44 2017
333.33/80956940904--dc23
2016027270
ISBN: 978–1–138–77605–0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–1–315–39596–8 (ebk)
Typeset in Aldine and Swiss by PNR Design, Didcot
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction: Home-Land: The Historigraphy of a Blind Spot 1
Part I: Housing Outside City Walls: New Forms of Sovereignty in
Late Ottoman Palestine
1 Empire Land Commodification and the Backlash of Nationalism 29
2 Experimentation in Housing for Nationalism, 1858–1917 53
Part II: Housing for Proto-Nationalism
3 ‘New Native’ Palestinian Housing: Plantation as Backdrop for Nationalism
1858–1948 81
4 ‘Houses Before Street’: Tel Aviv’s Housing-Based Urban Planning by Weiss
and Geddes, 1909–1925 106
5 ‘Today’s Child is Tomorrow’s State’: Kibbutz Children’s House as Nursery
for the Good Zionist Subject, 1922–1948 134
Part III: Housing and Nation-Building in the Age of Sovereignty
6 Immigrant Housing and the Establishment of the State–Citizen Contract,
1948–1953 167
7 ‘Resistance to Being Swept Away’: Summud Arab-Palestinian Housing in
Israel, 1948–2004 194
8 Differentiated Citizenship in Differentiated Housing, 1948–2005 227
9 Afterword: For the Nation Yet to Come 258
References 264
Index 281

Acknowledgements
This book is the product of generosity and support from a number of different
individuals, organizations and institutions. Manuscript completion was generously
supported by grants from the Hebrew University Truman Institute, David Azrieli
Foundation and Israel Institute. Research at the Department of Architecture at
the University of California, Berkeley was generously supported by a Fulbright
Fellowship, an American Association of University Women International Award, and
several University of California, Berkeley fellowships. This research was awarded with
a Graham Foundation Citation of Special Recognition in the framework of the Carter
Manny Award.
At Berkeley my research benefitted tremendously from the guidance and support of
my advisors Nezar AlSayyad, Andrew Shanken, Teresa Caldeira and James Holston. I
am especially thankful for Nezar’s belief in this project and me, supporting my career
and intellectual achievements; and for Andy’s continuous emotional and intellectual
guidance at Berkeley and since. I started developing this research in book form as a
Post-Doctoral researcher at Hebrew University’s Harry S. Truman Institute for Peace
where I continue to benefit from a wonderful cohort of scholars as associate fellow
thanks to academic chair Menahem Blondheim and executive director Naama Shpeter.
Much of the writing and editing was conducted during my first 2 years at Technion
Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning, where I benefit from the support of
Dean Yehuda Kalay and my colleagues, especially Rachel Kallus, Michelle Portman,
David Behar and Alona Nitzan-Shiftan. I thank my housing seminar students for their
enthusiasm for housing as subject matter and architectural field.
My deep thanks go to the many archives I explored during this research. Staff at the
State Archive, the Central Zionist Archive, National Photo Collection and Tel Aviv
Municipal and Technical Archives all went out of their way to help me locate data and
high-resolution images. The wonderful people at Kibbutz Beit Alpha and Mazraa, and
holders of the private archives of Akiva Arieh Weiss and architect Alfred Mansfeld all
shared with me information I could never have accessed without their help.
My wonderful Berkeley cohort was a great source of support and intellectual
stimulation, I learned and continue to learn so much from you. Special thanks go to
Lusi Morhayim, Cecilia Chu, Clare Robinson, Tiago Castella, Ahmed El Antabli,
Kartikeya Date, Yael Perez, Ipek Tureli and Adriana Valencia. My beloved family, my
partner architect Meir Allweil, our lovely Alma, Omri and Noam, and my parents
Miriam and Jacob Ninio nurture my life and without whom this book would have
been impossible.
Yael Allweil
April 2016
For Lola-Lydia Cracaur
Introduction
Home-Land:
The Historiography of a Blind Spot
On 14 July 2011 Israeli protesters representing a broad social spectrum poured
into the streets demanding ‘social justice’ in housing. Six months after the first
mass demonstration of middle-class Egyptians in Tahrir Square, and after 20 years
of neoliberal privatization, Israeli protesters were demanding that the Israeli state
reassume its commitments to them. As observed by Michael Walzer, ‘This is the first
uprising, anywhere in the world, against a successful neo-liberal regime’ (Walzer, 2011).
The movement critiqued Israel as an oligarchy of the rich and affiliated itself with Arab
Spring demands for a ‘revolution’ in terms of how the state of Israel is governed and
managed. ‘Governments can be replaced – citizens cannot,’ called protesters, adding,
‘When the government is against the people – the people are against the government’
(Allweil, 2013; Marom, 2013; Leibner, 2015).
The 2011 eruption of mass social unrest, the largest since the 1970s, focused on
popular demand for housing as a basic right of citizenship – both substantive and
political. Indeed, protest started with a housing act: pitching dozens of tents in public
spaces in Tel Aviv, which quickly spread all over the country. The Rothschild Boulevard
tented camp expanded to become an ‘urban’ grid of four parallel ‘streets’, including
public spaces and other amenities, populating the pedestrian centre of the boulevard
completely with a tent city. And across the city and all over the country, citizens left
their apartments to set up tents in similar camps on central public squares, parks, and
boulevards. After two weeks there were twenty-six tent camps, occupied by urbanites
and suburbanites, the middle class and the very poor, renters and homeowners, Jews
and Arabs (News, 2011). By September, sixty-six camps had formed across the country,
supported by five protest encampments of Israelis living abroad in London, Berlin, and
the US (1Haam, 2011).1 Tent towns soon included communal amenities like shared
kitchens, ‘living rooms’ for meetings and debates, and urban planning in the form of
organized tent layouts, individual tent ‘addresses’, and the designation of ‘plots’ for
public services such as medical clinics and public toilets (figure 0.1). Protesters’ call for
a new polity based on housing was expressed by one of the movement’s symbols: an Israeli
flag whose national-religious Star of David was replaced with a house (figure 0.2).
Why was housing used to demand popular sovereignty of the state? Why was