In London this past weekend, Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) published a call to impose a boycott on construction companies involved in building the separation fence and the settlements in the territories in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Leading architects are among the members and supporters of the organization.
This is the first time since the boycott against South Africa in the 1960s that such a measure has been considered in Great Britain in the field of planning and construction.
The declaration that was formulated after the organization's first meeting stated, among other things: ‘We hold all design and construction professionals involved in projects that appropriate land and natural resources from Palestinian territory to be complicit in social, political and economic oppression and to be contrary to internationally acceptable professional ethics.’
The goal of the organization, says architect Abe Hayeem, one of the founders of an organization for justice in Palestine, is ‘to encourage local and international activity to bring an end to the occupation, and particularly to the establishment of the settlements and the separation fence, as well as the unchecked destruction of historical values in the cities of the West Bank, and the destruction of infrastructure.’ The organization, he added, is interested in making contact with Israeli organizations, such as the Bamakom association, which works for justice and equal rights in planning.