A Hopeful Endeavor into Palestinian Home Demolitions
Honors Thesis by: Colleen O’Neill
O’Neill 2
I first became entranced with the Palestinian/Israeli conflict when I saw
a news report on a poor homeless man whose family farm was robbed of
him. He had not returned to his homeland for years and when he did,
pointing to an enormous shopping center; he stood, showing the camera
where his livelihood and timeless memories were stolen. The news report
was short, I remembered it being perhaps 4 minutes long at best. I was
passing through my living room when my father pointed this out. I cannot
remember where this man was from or even the shopping center’s new
“home”. All I can remember is that he was from the Middle East. My thoughts
and curiosity of this man’s story and how both the land and the man were
torn apart from each other stayed with me. It was not until the continuous
exposure over the years to the Arab-Israeli conflicts that my curiosity won
over and I finally decided to investigate for myself what is going on.
When I took on this project back in the fall of 2014, I was interested in
the concept of perception and the prejudices that lay with individuals and
group sentiment people have towards the “other”. I became interested in
what both the Palestinians and Israelis shared in common and how their
differences could be utilized into a sense of commonality and mutual
respect. Stemming from information I gathered on the conflict, I began
working on pieces that focused on accessibility and transparency. I began
layering different materials and obstructions were created within each piece.
My desire was for the viewer to peer through each piece to gain a sense of
accessibility to the “other.” I envisioned accessibility as having portals in
O’Neill 3
which a person could enter or be denied entrance. I translated this idea into
my pieces by creating physically opened and closed off sections. My interest
stemmed from wanting to further investigate personal identity and the
relationships people develop with one another and the communities that
foster. Hope was one of the overriding themes I wanted to convey through
my artwork (see Figure 1).
Fig. 1. Example of Experimental Pieces. Personal Photograph by Colleen
O’Neill. 15 Apr. 2016.
At this point I encountered a road block once I realized that this topic
was too broad and vague for a thesis. I realized that this interest did not
specifically relate to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and found the conflict
itself intricately complicated and too large of a subject for me to work with.
O’Neill 4
As I continued to narrow my research, I began to focus on domestic life
within the West Bank and Gaza territories. I soon became interested in
Palestinian home demolitions after a friend mentioned it, and from then on I
decided to look further into this aspect of the conflict.
Through my research I learned that the majority of Palestinians
undergoing home demolition are refugees. According to Amnesty
International, “Most of the houses demolished by the Israeli army in the
Occupied Territories [are] the homes of refugee families” (Under the Rubble
1). This was important for me to realize because it put Palestine into context
in relation to the rest of the world. I then realized that although the majority
of Palestinians live in poverty, the Palestinian State also has its poor, middle,
and high classes like various other countries.
I also discovered that the general reasons for home demolitions “are
done based on unlicensed housing, military/security needs such as suicide
bombings and other attacks against Israeli civilians also known as
destruction done for deterrence” (Amnesty International 1-2). Other reasons
pertain “to build or expand roads or other infrastructure for the benefit or
protection of Israeli settlers, also preventive measures as form of collective
punishment, and property destroyed in the course of combat activities”
(Under the Rubble 7-9). Although this text was written in 2004, I have found
these same reasons through other organizations such as The Israeli
Committee Against Home Demolitions (ICAHD) and B’Tselem. B’Tselem has
statistical lists on the destruction of Palestinian property, residencies,
O’Neill 5
settlements and home demolitions within both the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip territories.
Another problem Palestinian refugees face are the embargoes placed
on construction materials in both the West Bank and Gaza territories. The
embargoes placed delay families from rebuilding their homes. Many of the
people left homeless, especially in the Gaza sector find difficulty rebuilding
due to this limited access of construction supplies. According to Reuters
Makeshift Homes Sprout in Gaza, back in 2015, “Around 150,000 families
[were] still homeless after last year's war between Israel and Hamas, in
which Israeli bombardment destroyed thousands of apartment buildings and
homes.” Reuters also states that many agencies “Rather than wait to rebuild
permanent homes… have decided to build temporary structures with
materials they can get.” Many of these families are left stuck in “temporary
housing” until the embargo is lifted. Regardless of who is in the right or
wrong, this deficiency of building materials restricts homeless Palestinians
from rebuilding their homes and as such their lives.
So for those getting by with what is available, resource availability is a
life impacting issue. Some Palestinians who experience homelessness never
fully recover to their original state due to these embargoes. I started
empathizing with their situation because my family and I had experienced a
similar misfortune during the 2008 market crash in the U.S. Except in our
situation, my family was the host family for two other families from my
mother’s side. Both families had lost their homes and turned to us for
O’Neill 6
shelter. My father took on the burden of supporting 3 families including ours
for two years. As I read through testimonials, I thought about the loss of
privacy and the vulnerability that comes with homelessness. I began putting
myself in their shoes and contemplated how these refugees would
experience a complete shift in perceiving and relating to materialistic goods.
I was certain they would most likely hesitate towards becoming emotionally
attached to personal possessions in fear of losing them again. I started
asking myself how these people could go about trying to mend their lives
back together and what that process would look like. I considered how I
would go about visually interpreting an experience of someone hesitating to
submitting to closeness. Where would that person decide to put their hopes
and aspirations?
In my attempt to relate to them I began constructing my art. I decided
a way that I could personally relate to this problem from the U.S. would be to
restrict my own materials and only use scraps or found materials for my
piece. I thought this would be the most empathetic approach because I then
could personally embody the experience of remaking a home using limited
material. I upcycled whatever I could find and treated the material with care
but also with restraint. I started working alongside the themes of privacy
loss, vulnerability, hopelessness, struggle, impermanence, family dynamics,
loss of power, and feeling out of control. With time the project became a
comparison piece. As I continued reading up on the issue I became less
concerned with accountability and whether the demolitions were done
O’Neill 7
rightfully or wrongfully so. I knew there would always be the average Joe who
suffers from the politics occurring around them, and for me, they were the
ones I felt the most concern for. When I started working based of these
limitations, I found myself utilizing the materials in unconventional ways. I
did not have power tools to resize the wooden pieces I found, so oftentimes I
would have to stack them or rearrange them in order to balance the piece.
Many times I was building “in the moment”, so to speak, because I would use
screws and mount temporary structures to hold up the parts that were too
fragile. At any moment they could have easily fallen over. I was now starting
to internalize my perception on the subject of Palestinian home demolitions
(see Figure 2).
Fig. 2. Final Artwork. Personal photograph by Colleen O’Neill. 15 Apr. 2016.
Certain sections of the piece began embodying particular themes, one
being a reference to home and resisting attachment. An example is the
O’Neill 8
makeshift curtain I made out of a scrap of cloth. I covered it with a red mesh
so it would allude to the defiance of personalization and closeness to home
(see figure 3). Another section in which these thoughts exist are found within
the flowered wallpaper collaged with a small drawing located by the
makeshift curtain. I strategically obstructed the wallpaper with strips of wood
so it would visually relate back to the resistance of becoming close to
something that may be taken away.
Fig. 3. Close up of Makeshift Curtain. Personal photograph by Colleen O’Neill.
15 Apr. 2016.
As I worked, I continued reading and learned that most homeless
Palestinians generally turn to their relatives or the international community
for shelter. This is a stressful situation especially for Palestinian women
because they are traditionally in charge of the home and children. According
to Under the Rubble, “When families are made homeless by the demolition of
their homes, women bear the brunt of rebuilding the home.” They often
O’Neill 9
carry this burden because “for most women the running of the house is
mainly their responsibility or their primary activity” (Under the Rubble, 9).
When homeless Palestinian families turn to their relatives for refuge, their
relatives oftentimes “do not have sufficient space to accommodate an
additional family” (Under the Rubble 9). This places strain on both families
and makes it more difficult for the homeless Palestinian mother to
successfully attend to family concerns. By living in close proximity, the
hosting family will always provide unwarranted opinions to how their guest’s
family life should be managed. This leaves them with a deepened lack of
security and privacy for the family.
I could empathize with these difficulties as it was the experience my
family and I had during the 2008 market crash. In order to host so many
people within our home, we constructed a bedroom in the living room with
temporary plywood walls. I personally understand how this becomes an
additional burden for the host family and the strained loving relationships
that result from it because I have lived through it.
O’Neill 10
Fig. 4. Close up of Finished Piece. Personal photograph by Colleen O’Neill. 15
Apr. 2016
As I returned to my studio to hash out these ideas, I started
metaphorizing these concepts into my piece. I found that by having empty
spaces, and by having the structures lack sturdy physical walls, I could allude
to the fragility and insecurity that comes with being homeless. I started
purposefully creating makeshift walls out of cloth, cardboard, plaster cloth,
or feeble wood which does not make for a secure structure. I felt that this
openness and fragility symbolized the instability of somebody undergoing
this experience (see figure 4).
As I compared my personal experience with that of a Palestinian
refugee, I realized that a major difference between my experience and that
of the Palestinian’s is the accessbility to new housing. At least with my family
we could see an end to our situation sooner than later, whereas a Palestinian
cannot necessarily see theirs so clearly. According to the Los Angeles Times,
O’Neill 11
the embargoes placed on materials entering these areas, especially in the
Gaza Strip, “has choked economic development in Gaza” (Gaza’s Dilema). Therefore this results in a basic financial difficulty and physical limitation on
access to construction materials necessary to rebuilding a home. I started
wondering how a family would attempt at recovering financially. I then
wondered if women were involved in the arts and crafts in order to raise
money for their families. As I started digging through research, it turns out
that they do.
The poverty and lack of governmental support by the governing bodies
in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip inclines many Palestinian women to
make and sell embroidery. According to Jerusalem Institute of Injustice, the
governing bodies in both the Gaza strip and the West Bank participate in
“the foremost violations of human rights… against Palestinians” (Hidden
Injustices, 5). So even when a homeless Palestinian turns to their
government, either to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank or the
Hamas in the Gaza Strip, they are not met with the financial support they
need. Therefore some refugee women turn to emboridery “as a way to
support their families while their husbands and male relatives [find] it
increasingly hard to find work” (The Telegraph). The current use of
Palestinian embroidery also works as an effort to continue their cultural
traditions. They use this as a way to not lose their cultural heritage as this
reinforces solidarity into their communities during difficult times. Many
women turn to cooperatives to sell their work, and according to Al Arabiya
O’Neill 12
News, “[it helps] keep alive an artistic tradition that stretches back
generations and ties a far-flung diaspora to its homeland.” It is important to
note that the making of embroidery is also as a resistance to the Israeli
occupation. According to Mondoweiss, “theirs is a resilient act of keeping
alive Palestine’s cultural heritage and identity against the great, many odds.”
I saw these efforts as an additional sentiment that comes from experiencing
losing your home. Since I was interested in how people go about mending
their lives, I felt that embroidery is not only a synonym for healing, but also a
vehicle that carries out their sentiments and thoughts on their experiences.
Fig. 5. Close up of Chicken Wire. Personal Photograph by Colleen O’Neill. 15
Apr. 2016.
O’Neill 13
When I learned that homeless Palestinians turn to Palestinian
embroidery as a source of income, I felt it was important for me to tie this
aspect into my piece. Admittingly so, I was already attracted to incorporating
wire into my work and found the harsh cold aluminum of chicken wire to be
appealing . Once I worked it into my piece, I knew it to be a divider and as a
metaphorical restricting force (see figure 5). This further pushed the idea of
limited and confined spaces but also referenced the dividing wall that
separates Israel and Palestine. The moment I started weaving yarn into the
wire, I saw this section as giving way for a desire to free up clustered living
spaces. I saw the yarn as a mending force that attempts at dealing and
resolving internal conflicts a homeless Palestinian experiences after home
demolition.
If the chicken wire does also reference the wall, then perhaps the yarn
can also reference the graffiti used to personalize the wall. Perhaps the
graffiti then becomes the vehicle to humanize this enormous concrete
structure. As I continued contemplating the dichotomy between the act of
mending and resisting, I continued adding other instances within the piece
that exemplified this duality. These other instances exist in the weaving
between the wooden structures where cloth, wire, string or yarn was used
(see figure 6).
O’Neill 14
Fig. 6. Close up of Cloth Enravelled into Wooden Piece. Personal photograph by Colleen O’Neill. 15 Apr. 2016.
As I look back on these past semesters I have dedicated to this thesis, I
can tell where my efforts could have been improved or better directed. In
numerous ways I owe it to this program for giving me the opportunity to
learn and grow as an artist, but also for giving me the confidence necessary
to make a piece that is outside of my immediate reality. When I first
approached this project I desired to pursue a topic I knew I should be
informed about. I was curious and had many questions on the originality of
the conflict. This project has been an incredible challenge for me because
although I got to a creative place where I could work relentlessly, I know my
research skills could have been refined.
Whenever I think of what I could have done differently, I will always say
it is crucial to have a directed plan from the beginning. The best part is
although I did not have a structured schedule on approaching the research
and the work required, in the end I did left understanding what it takes. I
O’Neill 15
eventually did end up gaining the dedication and self-direction I ultimately
sought for myself. I do admit I do not particularly feel that I am drastically
more educated about the conflict. The more I read, the more questions I
have, and the more I lose myself to this issue. I firmly believe a topic like
this, especially one that is easily skewed by media interests and has many
political interests, will always be a challenge to fully comprehend.
Works Cited
O’Neill 16
Al-Mughrabi, Nidal. “Amid Israeli Restrictions on Materials, Makeshift Homes Sprout in Gaza.” Reuters, 19 Feb. 2015. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Close up of Cloth Enravelled into Wooden Piece. Personal photograph by
Colleen O’Neill. 15 Apr. 2016. Close up of Chicken Wire. Personal Photograph by Colleen O’Neill. 15 Apr.
2016.
Close up of Finished Piece. Personal photograph by Colleen O’Neill. 15 Apr.
2016
Ezzedine, Hossam. “Palestinian Women Weaving a Living From Home-Grown Art.” Expat News. The Telegraph, 26 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
“Guide: Gaza Under Blockade.” BBC News. 6 Jul. 2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2016. Hidden Injustices: A Review of PA and Hamas Human Rights Violations in the
West Bank and Gaza. Jerusalem, Israel: Jerusalem Institute of Injustice. 2012. Print.
Palestinian Embroidery under Occupation. Dir. Balata Film Collective. Standard Youtube Liscense, 2007. Film.
Shakle, Samira. “Israel tightens its blockade of Gaza for ‘security reasons.’” Memo, Middle Eastern Monitor. 14 Oct. 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Under the rubble: House demolition and destruction of land and property. Amnesty International. 2004. Print. AI Index: MDE.
“WBank Women Weave a Living From Traditional Art.” Al Arabiya News. 26 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Yamada, Shirabe. “Palestinian Women Sew for Change: Artisan Heritage as Cultural and Economic Empowerment Tool. Mondoweiss. 13 Oct. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Zavis, Alexandra and Sobelman, Batsheva. “Gaza’s Dilemma: Deadly War or Suffocating Israeli Embargo.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 23 Jul. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.