LiminalSpaces

Sabine Horlitz and Oliver Clemens
How much did you pay for this plot of land?
(Land Value in Ramallah and East Jerusalem)
A one dunam (1000 square meters) plot of land in the center of Ramallah
costs up to $8 million; the same plot costs $300,000 in an upper-class
residential area; near the settlement of Psagot, bycontrast, a one dunam
plot costs only $30,000, while a dunam of land inside Zone C is available
for $3,000. Through such an analysis of land value, political conditions,
conflicts, social expectations and hopes all come to the fore.
Land prices in the West Bank rose steeply following the Oslo Accords, as
a Palestinian state seemed suddenly to be within reach. Exiled Palestinians
moved back to the territories and invested in real estate. These investments
gave rise to neighborhoods of American-style villas and to shopping
centers, which have little in common with the image of Palestine in the
European media. The existing landscape, however, is not shaped by
capitalist promises alone; the occupation, the classification of theWest
Bank into different zones, the building of the separation wall and the
struggle over the land have all left their marks upon the terrain. Safety
zones surround settlement roads, and checkpoints that have been setup
between villages cut through residential neighborhoods. The territorial
conflict has resulted in the fragmentation of space, and spatial proximity
is no longer a criterion for accessibility.
The efforts exerted by the occupying power to control the space and its
inhabitants; the movement constraints imposed upon them; the restrictive
residency policy; and the rampant capitalist attempts to utilize the land
have led to the creation of a complex and fragmented spatial structure.
An analysis of land value can provide information about the operation of
these forces ? for it is they, rather than the condition of the plot, or its
agricultural or real estate potential ? that determine its value. An
examination of this topic also raises the question of whether land value in
the West Bank can be regarded as an objective parameter, given that it
follows a distinct and rapidly changing logic. Land value depends on the
zoning created in the context of the Oslo Accords, on the distance of a
given plot from military zones and from Jewish selements, andonits
accessibility in relation to various checkpoints. In Ramallah, one can find
exorbitantly expensive areas adjacent to waqf land that cannot be sold
and to illegally rented houses in the refugee camps. In East Jerusalem,
prices are sky rocketing because of Israeli residency regulations, while
land in the city of Al Ram, which is now is cut off from Jerusalem by the
separation wall, has become devalued. In the selements, due to the
expropriation of Palestinian land on the one hand and to state subsidies
on the other, one can hardly talk about the actual value of the land.
The material presented here is based on talks and interviews with
inhabitants, architects, researchers, municipal employees, project
developers and real-estate agencies, as well as on related studies and
texts.

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Sabine Horlitz, born 1972, Berlin, Germany & Oliver Clemens, born 1967,
Konstanz, Gremany. Both architects that live and work in Berlin. Co-
founders and editorial board members of An Architektur, a political
architectural journal that focuses on critical analysis of spatial relations
and the visualization of their inherent socio-political conceptions. Have
participated in various urban research projects, exhibitions and
conferences, as well as organization of the ‘Camp for Oppositional
Architecture’, an international Congress on the possibilities of
oppositional architectural practice, Berlin 2005. Participated in a workshop
for an alternative plan for the Palestinian village Ein Hud near Haifa/
Israel, which was the continuation of an international architecture and
planning competition organized by FAST (Foundation for Achieving
Seamless Territory), 2005.

oliverclemens@yahoo.de
sabine.horlitz@gmx.net
www.anarchitektur.com