Episode 2.


- Recognize that this place is inextricably tied and linked to the creation of the modern Nation State of Israel, and therefore is testimony to the phenomenon/event of the creation of the modern State as well as placing historical perspective and context to her present identity.

Photo: The valley landscape of Lifta.


Lifta is unique and offers an unrivalled insight into the history of this region. Whilst many palestinian places affected by the Nakba tragedy were either totally removed or annexed under the State of Israel, Lifta stood obscurely due to nearly 60 years of unhinderance from redevelopment. She is a place that conceals the traces of a dramatic scene, of an historical phenomenom preserved and made tangible through memory; a space yet to encounter. She has remained predominantly desolate since the uprooting of her population; no conquest has fully re-contextualized the place. A place located disparate between two epochs, two histories, and the two dominant cultures of the region; a space in-between and connecting two paradigms. Through the phenomena of this relationship she reveals that the dissonance and conflict that arose in the uprooting of her village is inextricably tied together to the creation of the Modern State of Israel.

Lifta is a unique and real trace of a contextual origin of the Modern State of Israel. She is a place where the Modern State can be traced back to an historical event. And regarding genealogical origins, Lifta can also be perceived as important to substantiating the contextual origins of the identity of Israel. She is a contextual origin whereby the genealogy of Israel's history can be traced back to a point of departure; or in this particular case a phenomena made tangible through a bond. The events that occured during the uprooting of the Palestinian and the establishment of the Israeli are inextricably tied together by a context which needs reason behind one historical event to explain the other. Lifta is a place that encounters the creation of the two dominant existential identities of the region; a 'point of departure' of the two current narratives of the Israeli and the Palestinian. The language of history of the Palestinian and the Israeli are bound and concealed by a place; to fail to recognize Lifta is to also to deny both Palestinian and Israeli history.

The two existential narratives opposed in conflict share the same story with the same language of a reality through the given context of Lifta; what the narratives oppose of one another is also brought together by this place. Lifta is a genealogical origin, a place where the language of the conflict is created and departed into two distinctly seperate existential narratives. Their constructions are achieved through dissonance, a staging of a conflict of values, constructing differences and establishing the 'other'. She is a tangible embodiment and representation of the larger context of events in the region during 1947/48, the larger dissonance and the conflict of values. This conflict that defines this particular moment in history has essentially unfolded into the current existential values of today. The current issues of dissonance between the Israeli Jew and Palestinians seen unfolding in the present context have their origins traced at a place whereby the source of the conflict becomes tangible.

Lifta is a place that can allow and sustain a greater insight into the current conflict. As an origin to the modern State, she can be a vital place for contemplating and understanding historical continuity. For instance, the central character of dissonance staged within this region today has the possibility of being objectively engaged and disclosed at this origin. Reflection from a place that conceals the cause increases the likelihood to address further understanding. For Israel's region, Lifta is a place needing enquiry for the purposes of practising self reflection and reappraisal. She is important to situating, establishing and addressing disregarded aspects of the identity of the Modern State. Evidence of the events of 1948 are not only crucial for establishing the preservation of a memory in rememberance to the tragedy, but can connect these historical events to discordant elements inherent within the current nature of planning.

Buildings that still exist today - 2007
Buildings destroyed in the event of the 1948 conflict
The event of the attack by IZL/Stern gangs conquering Lifta's valley
Direction of villagers fleeing in process of uprooting

Map: 'The 1948 conflict in Lifta; the creation of dissonance and the two narratives. (*The information documented in the mapping is an impression of the phenomena/event that occured in the village during the 1948 conflict.)

Due to the ideological outlook of space and a vision subsequently reappraising regional identities, Lifta was uprooted as part of ongoing strategy for a modern Nation-State of Israel. The conflict created during the uprooting of the village, along with the many hundreds of village and towns in the region, underlined the consequence of a radical practice of space and the process of planning. This discord created from this conflict also characterizes particular phenomenons of exclusive constructions in the current nature of planning. (For an example of a detailed analysis into this observation, please refer to the article in the sidelink - 'Reinventing Lifta'.) With this original 'point-of-departure', the modern Nation State of Israel has a genealogical power origin that recognizes a traceable character of exclusivity within the current identity of the State. It explains today why parts of Israel's identity can be percieved as an ever-present reproduction of a conflict of 1948, and thus a history sustained through an exclusive existential narrative.

Alive and in practice through reconstructions the current struggles in the region can be perceived an uncontested phenomena of the original departure and a character also visible within the current nature of planning. If the Nation State allowed the removal of the signs of a unique history, that is still tangible, it would be detrimental in erazing a history which forms part of their current existential truth. Lifta is a unique memorial of facts-on-the-ground that sustains a truth which is significantly crucial to relating and defining the construction of identities. Profoundly, she substantiates Israel's authenticity through the exclusive existential character of her history. Lifta is historically important to the legacy of the State of Israel as well as archaeological evidence of the origin of the modern Nation State. The consequences of the situation of today can be understood by a place that locates exclusivity to a context. An historical point of origin that has the capacity to engage as a common ground at the tangible constructions of confrontation, differences and narratives.

If the past can be understood, drawn upon and engaged at by either side in the conflict, then it can allow greater insight and understanding of the present. Notwithstanding acknowledgement and understanding of the 'other', of how they have become determined and also the situation of being determined in terms of one another. Lifta allows the State to have a space to contest, understand, and respond to the origins of the conflict. It would also be a significant step if truths appearing as confrontational are tolerated through the recognition and preservation of this unique context of place. If cultivations on an historical ground can be recognised as still retaining a form of tangible existence, then here lies an opportunity for the possibility of reconciling differences. Opportunities such as reconciling histories may also allow the possibilty to re-narrate sustainable cultivations; it will also allow Lifta to exist as heritage of the modern State and the region.

For the modern Nation State of Israel to deny the existence of Lifta is also to disregard part of their own history, and of what gets overlooked obliviously and unattended within their own reproductive identity. To recognize Lifta is to also understand a particular characteristic of the Nation State's cultivation, ontological practice of space and how it has an affect on the present. Notwithstanding, identities are distinguished out of their particular differences in cultivation; commongrounds between identities are not conceivable unless they seek to create opportunities from the definable differences. Concerning Lifta and in pursuit to sustain a genealogy this is an important analogy to make, because the common past can be used to resort to reconcilable narratives and situations. Fundamentally, heritage can provide new insight by elaborating history and determine opportunites in the nature of how we locate inclusively or exclusively.

written by Anil Korotane, Architectural Activist, FAST.

For an insight into the tragedy of 1948 from the memory of an uprooted descendant of Lifta, refer to 'Reactions & Memories' side link and scroll down to 'Hussien from Lifta By Mike Odetalla'.

For the Introduction into the Grassroots Campaign & Episode 1, please scroll down below.