Flexibility of Palestinian cities is one of the important factors that help them to survive. In various periods of Palestinian contemporary history different policies have been imposed to control space (and people). In the face of these policies for spatial control, Palestinian people, in their every-day activities engage in spatial practices that give cities the power to survive.  Afforestation-agricultural practices, right of accessibility, and construction work by Palestinian people in the face of Israeli policies of anti-afforestation, closure and destruction are examples discussed to show how flexible Palestinian cities are. In current time and in contemporary history Palestinian cities have witnessed various practices of every-day life including planting, bypassing closed roads, and constructing buildings, to maintain their own rights of efficient urban life. The Palestinians in their continuous efforts in the face of Israeli uprooting practices engage in afforestation-agricultural policies. The main goals of the Palestinian initiatives are to support the Palestinian farmers, nourish the Palestinian national economy, and protect the Palestinian land from Israeli attack and confiscation. Closure policy has been one of the most effective policies imposed by the Israeli authorities. Palestinians’ internal movement among Palestinian cities, villages and camps has been firstly controlled by the Israeli authorities in March 1996. With the outbreak of the intifada in 2000, this internal closure policy has become more intensive; Palestinian cities have been gradually sealed off. In the face of this Israeli policy of controlling Palestinian space, time and life the Palestinians have invented alternative spaces using alternative road-networks. Finally, Palestinian people also have involved in informal building and construction policies in the face of Israeli building restrictions and building destruction.  The above alternative spatial practices by Palestinian people show how people’s insistency on their rights of basic every-day urban life could be considered features of flexible cities. 

Conference Title

Flexibilty Of cities

Conference Country

United Kingdom

Conference Date

Oct. 20, 2013 - Oct. 24, 2013

Conference Sponsor

Oxford University & urban Studies Center OU