MAPS, TECHNOLOGY, and DECOLONIAL SPATIAL PRACTICES in PALESTINE by Zena Agha

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief January 2020

MAPS, TECHNOLOGY, AND DECOLONIAL SPATIAL PRACTICES IN PALESTINE By Zena Agha

Overview maps do not simply reflect reality: They create and embed a particular perception of the earth we live on. The practice of mapping in Palestine-Israel has Lines drawn on a map separate countries from oceans

[email protected] long been an exercise in power, imperialism, and and each other. The area between the lines represents dispossession. From the British Mandate to the present constructed socio-political entities of sovereign space: day, Zionist (later Israeli) cartographers have used nation states. Despite the process of state formation maps to obfuscate and eradicate physical, geographic, and disintegration in places like Palestine, Sudan, and and social markers of Palestinians’ connections to, and Tibet, nation states are accepted in the international possession of, the land. order as fixed entities. In contemporary map projections, which represent Earth’s three-dimensional The advent of Global Positioning System (GPS) surface on a two-dimensional plane, nation states are technology, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) portrayed as definitive, objective, and self-evident software, and increasing numbers of remote sensing markers of political reality – a façade reinforced by satellites over the past few decades enabled the accurate users who interact with political maps as a perfect, and comprehensive mapping of the Mandate territory scaled portrayal of space. of Palestine. Instead, publishers of satellite imagery, including Google, continue to erode the presence of “Today’s world maps are still Palestine either by publishing low-resolution imagery, suggesting incorrect route options for Palestinians, colonial and nationalist enterprises labeling inaccurate and/or Hebraicized place names, or simply leaving territories inhabited by Palestinians blank reflecting predominantly Western – a pixelated terra nullius. acquisition and control of territory.” www.Al-Shabaka.org This policy brief examines the varied ways that Palestinians have been excluded from maps of their Over the past few decades, globe projections, especially own land, from the start of the British Mandate to the the ubiquitous Mercator cylindrical projection, have present day. It argues that poorly mapped localities been criticized for their Eurocentrism. The standard alter the way that Palestinians understand space and world map places the northern hemisphere on top, with alienate them from their homeland. It also explores Europe firmly in the center. The Mercator projection, alternative, subversive maps as ways of recognizing the in particular, distorts the relative size of the continents, past, appraising the present, and imagining the future. It dramatically shrinking Africa and South America concludes that maps, though intricately linked to both and making Europe, North America, Australia, and British and Israeli colonialism, and consistently used as particularly Greenland appear much larger than they vehicles of erasure, can be reclaimed as expressions of actually are. geographic imagination and a means of resistance. The world maps of today are still very much colonial Colonial Cartography and nationalist enterprises reflecting predominantly Western acquisition and control of territory. Maps intended as navigational tools quickly evolved into the 1 Despite their claims to a mathematical realism, modern January 2020

means by which the Earth and its assets were artificially divided amongst the colonial powers. It was only by containing diversity in single, bounded areas that control could be first exercised, and then consolidated and maintained. As Paul Carter argues, maps were “the hieroglyph of imperialism’s intent to separate and classify the spread of the earth’s surface in order to occupy its territories and command its resources.”

This is consistent with maps of the modern Middle East drawn during and shortly after the First World War by British and French imperial powers, epitomized by the Sykes-Picot agreement in 1917 and the San Remo conference in 1920. The new maps composed by European actors transformed a region formerly comprised of territorially fluid Ottoman administrative units into a disjointed set of territories marked by long, arrow-straight lines from which sprung the new protectorates of Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. These nations were endowed with newly-minted imperial monarchs and nested within a paternalistic mandate system.

British Colonial Maps in Mandatory Palestine

In Culture and Imperialism, Edward Said explains the “struggle over geography” as one “not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.” In this vein, the latter half of the nineteenth century saw a flurry of orientalist explorations of Palestine by Europeans conducting historical, linguistic, geographic, and archaeological studies and surveys, especially in areas of biblical and religious significance. In contrast to medieval and early-modern religious maps typically featuring mythical creatures and biblical place names, modern European explorers-cum-cartographers based claims to the realism and accuracy of their maps on the “scientific” methods underlying them.

While the British Mandate over Palestine came into full Figure 1: The Peel Commission Partition Plan, 1937 effect in 1922, the British government had been readying itself for domination over Palestine decades prior. From 1871-1877, Britain’s Palestine Exploration Fund carried out an extensive survey of western Palestine. Although the expedition was led by religious and academic figures, there was direct involvement from the government which, it is argued, used these benign associations “as a front to…collect intelligence on the region.” The survey produced was by far the most precise and technologically sophisticated to date, and was used as a military planning aid during the British invasion of Palestine in the First World War. Its scope focused on the territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, closely resembling the borders of British Mandate Palestine 50 years later. 2 January 2020 January Figure 2: Keren Hayesod map, 1932 map, Hayesod Figure 2: Keren Figure 3: Jewish National Fund map, ~1940 National Fund map, Figure 3: Jewish Thisbecame a 1 with the Zionist leadership, with the Zionist leadership, tension , Jerusalem, 1941. A Gazetteer of the Place Names Which Appear in the Small-Scale Maps of Palestine and Trans-Jordan 1. See American community. One side ofAmerican community. the document boasts while the map of achievements, Hayesod’s the Keren side depicts the Mediterraneanon the reverse coast Figure 2 is a 1932 map that the Keren Hayesod used as Hayesod Figure 2 is a 1932 map that the Keren a fundraising tool to solicit donations from the Jewish- dedicated to the acquisition and development ofdedicated to the acquisition and development settlement, used Jewish land for exclusive Palestinian the Zionist colonization ofmaps to advance Palestine. Hayesod, the fundraising armHayesod, of the Zionist movement, National Fund (JNF), an organization and the Jewish proliferate, many featuring topographicproliferate, and religious the map in the image designed to redraw markers of the Keren In particular, a proposed Zionist state. In the wake ofIn the wake the First Zionist Congress in Basel in ofwave 1897 and the first Aliyah, or Jewish European immigration from 1881 to 1903, Zionist maps began to Early Zionist Cartography spatial policy after the creation of the state of Israel in today. 1948, and continues designations in official government publications. The designations in official publications. government elimination of Arabic names and their replacement with Hebrew names became the cornerstone of Zionist who insisted on the inclusion of Hebrew place names alongside Arabic and/or English existed) they (wherever depicted as a single administrative unit. In it, thousands depicted as a single administrative of used. names were Arabic place great source of especially in places significant to the Christian tradition. especially in places significant to The Mandatory British Survey of prepared Palestine map ofin the 1940s became the canonical Palestine The geographic language of almost British maps was entirely comprised of transliterated Arabic names, partition plans ignoring the demographic realities on the ground 1). (Figure finding a “solution” to the unrest and for the first time to the unrest and for the first finding a “solution” in 1937 – used recommending partitioning Palestine different possible Arab/Jewish maps to demonstrate For instance, following the Great Arab Revolt (1936- Revolt the Great Arab following instance, For with Commission – tasked the Peel 39) in Palestine, political, social, and economic planning. The geographic planning. social, and economic political, of and activity distribution indigenous Palestine’s depicted rarely on the maps. were Arab inhabitants During the British Mandate, the colonial forces forces colonial the Mandate, the British During an arrayproduced of surveys detailed for military,

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 3

praised January 2020 January established : “As long as : “As stated to use and distribute the new names, to use and distribute the new names, Hebrew names to all the places, mountains, mountains, places, names to all the Hebrew ordered You have banished the shame of have You and foreignness oflanguage an alien from half of Israeli territory the Israeli Defense and completed the job begun by to liberate the Negev foreign rule. from I Forces: will until you work your will continue hope that you redeem the entire area of the Land of Israel from the rule of foreign language. determine Hebrew place names into official and unofficial The Israeli and organizations. agencies, institutions, army was and the Ministry of instructed Education was to affirm The Hebrew names and discard Arabic ones in schools. also disseminated and promoted Hebrew names were the Public as such governmental agencies, in various Department, as in media outlets. as well Works The of Hebraicization place names subsequently project. Thebecame a state-sponsored national Names Commission was Governmental “Hebrew names to all places 1951 to give in March for newly- with Arabic names” and assign names created, A decade after the state was created places. the commission had assigned some 3,000 new names whereas the names of villages were Palestinian official index. from Israel’s removed simultaneously 1958 report As the commission’s take they cannot the names did not appear in maps, possession in life.” Meanwhile Ben-Gurion and the commission drilled Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, Ben-Gurion, David minister, first prime Israel’s not simply a were that place names understood of but an expression choice linguistic relations, power to assembled a commission 1949 he and in July “ of in the area the like roads and springs, valleys, the eight-month period, the Beer Sheba an Over Negev.” transformed was region in the south the “Negev,” into Hebrew map of 1950 with a culminating in August the gathering area. This by done from place names was the existing Arabic translating British colonial maps, in a biblical/religious and situating these names names, to lend them authenticity. and historical context seen as an was Hebraicizing the Beer Sheba region Israeli sovereignty essential test case for strengthening Ben-Gurion acquired territory. the newly over the commission:

claim ) depicting new many as a way of as a way Zionist nation-building. and was agriculturally active and agriculturally and was active 600,000 of the original inhabitants. the only language to understand the through which the experiences and histories erasing thereby landscape, Hebrew names were affixed to all geographic affixed Hebrew names were features history with territorialin order to fuse biblical Jewish control. The ultimate goal to render Hebrew was 750,000 Palestinians from their homes – the new state 750,000 Palestinians of Israel set out to transform the national map from Arabic to Hebrew In the wake ofIn the wake the Nakba of 1948 – denoting the loss of homeland and the displacement of the Palestinian Creating the Hebrew Map Creating the Hebrew of about economically and politically engaged. Palestine was “a land without a people for a people “a land was Palestine of This Palestine, was, without a land.” a fallacy. course, the end ofby had a population the nineteenth century, The of erasure people from the indigenous Palestinian Zionist adagethe land reinforced the infamous that Palestinian centers in what is today referred centers in what is today to as the Palestinian with only Jerusalem and the Bank are vacant, West road indicating any life at all. Jerusalem-Jericho 2 and again the map features almost no Palestinian 2 and again features almost no Palestinian the map The and agricultural commercial thriving localities. Jewish history integralJewish to the geography of modern Zionist expansionism. The settlement patterns in coastal and northernthose in Figure regions resemble The of names selected pre-state settlements were the references or in according to Biblical/Talmudic commemoration of making biblical Zionist figures, Figure 3 is a JNF map (one ofFigure 3 is a JNF 1936 and 1940 in Hebrew. settlements between Jewish ones to “make history,” whilst the natives formed natives whilst the an history,” ones to “make “almost inorganic background.” laborers drawn beside new agriculturallaborers drawn and industrial This illustrates Ella Shohat’s juxtaposition centers. as the understood themselves that European Zionists sketched figures riding on camelback superimposed camelback riding on figures sketched Jewish the desert. hardworking figures show Other over the Star ofthe Star limited localities are while Palestinian David, ofto a handful population The native urban centers. is depicted, example of in a clear as four orientalism, and northernand the key what to indicate in red region by Jerusalem is marked lands.” as “Jewish designates

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 4 January 2020 January satellite, the general satellite, to witness and assess IKONOS and conflict to facilitating disaster relief use geospatial data

Palestinians have been “abolished from “abolished from been have Palestinians says poverty “The Hebrew map was, and and was, map Hebrew “The practices of the Israeli state.” the Israeli of practices formation, a living document of of document a living formation, and authoritative – and is thus generally depoliticized and authoritative printed maps, just like and rarely challenged. However, they are put) satellite images (and the uses to which are still vulnerable to cartographers’ social and political biases that can hinder their potentially progressive impact. Thisis especially apparent in the case of Google and its thorny relationship with Palestine. High-resolution geospatial data is used for advocacy, High-resolution geospatialfor advocacy, data is used of and analysis in a myriad accountability, different to monitoring climate breakdown from tracking causes, global and preserving Amnesty Groups like cultural heritage. as as well International Human Rights Watch and media outlets human rights abuses internationally. imagerySatellite precise, portrayedis often as objective, Thus, the Hebrew map was, and continues to be, be, to and continues map was, Hebrew the Thus, formation, in state an exercise of document a living Zionist ideology where Zionist colonization is folded spatial practices ofinto the This is state. the Israeli cartographerwhat Palestinian Sitta means Salman Abu when he the map.” Opportunity as a Missed Technology have decades the past two over advances Technological Since humans interact with space. radically altered how ofthe 1999 launch the to access detailed imagespublic has been able of Earth, a privilege previously reserved for governments. The democratization and proliferation of rapid satellite both open source and commercial, including imagery, Planet, and WorldView, Google Earth, DigitalGlobe’s heralded a new era. ideology is folded into the spatial the spatial ideology into folded is Zionist colonization where Zionist Zionist where colonization Zionist continues to be, an exercise in state state in exercise be, an to continues to have to have assumed the maximum amount of the maximum land with , convoluted, and often illegible to , convoluted, depict an unstable and unfinished geographic reality control, and to manipulate, where Israel continues annex land. within the Green Line regularly portray Israel as a fixed within the Green Line regularly portray Israel as a fixed it beyond maps and homogeneous geography entity, as soon as it is issued, as Jewish-Israeli settlements as soon as it is issued, as Jewish-Israeli lands are truncated, Palestinian and barriersincrease, are expanded, collapsed, or relocated. While maps multi-layered any map of Crucially, the layperson. the Occupied (OPT) is out of Territory Palestinian date almost as checkpoints and roadblocks. Maps produced and roadblocks. as checkpoints Office for as the UN’s monitoring bodies such by the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs are and C. These are often superimposed with illegaland C. built-up areas as well settlements and Palestinian Today, maps of Bank portray a dizzying the West Today, ofpatchwork political and military designations according to Oslo Accords-determined Areas A, B, sought to control of number the minimum Palestinians. demonstrates the ongoing nature of Israeli state- the its inception,building project – a state that, since has Commission has determined for illegal monikers settlements since 1967 to ensure linguistic Jewish uniformity on both sides of This the Green Line. and the occupied Syrian Golan. Despite the fact and the occupied Syrian Golan. Despite that settlements are in violation of Article 49 of the Names the Government Convention, Geneva Fourth Green Line (delineating the Armistice Line of 1949) Bank, the Gaza Strip, in East Jerusalem, the West Hebrew, appropriated them with a Hebrew inflection. appropriated them Hebrew, the The map is still being crafted beyond Hebrew past, affecting how Hebrew names were chosen. The chosen. Hebrew names were past, affecting how directly translated the meaning commission either of if Arabic names or, to similar their sounds were preservedtraditions of the ancient names and Biblical they became a clue to the the commission, For times. relationship to and knowledgerelationship of due to the landscape Contemporary centuries. presence over their continued therefore were Arabic place names it was accused of accused it was on the and alien, while being foreign of marker the undisputed was it other, authenticity intimate possessed an Palestinians and indigeneity. The of Hebraicization a paradoxical displays the map On the one hand, language. the Arabic attitude toward

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 5 “do- January 2020 January , such as by attaching digital attaching as by , such , by deliberately blurring, by satellite demonstrate to document the construction of a six-lane highway neighborhood ofthat cut through the Palestinian Beit Safafa in Jerusalem the local and its effects on population. as as well as the KBA, Damaging legislation such the complicity of technology firms in privileging Israeli spatial control at the expense of Palestinians, represent a missed opportunity to use technological Though the law was implemented under the pretense implemented Though was the law it is better characterized of security, Israel’s protecting as censorship since images of are Palestine-Israel limited to a resolution of and As Fradley meters. two Zerbini images of hinders the work the KBA Palestine-Israel, of geographers, environmentalists, archaeologists, imagery Indeed, lower-resolution and humanitarians. impedes humanitarian efforts to document human home as Israeli land grabs, such rights violations, and undermines and settlement activities, demolitions, claims to land. It also hinders the Palestinian assessment of damage hard-to- in dense, from conflict most recently during as the Gaza Strip, areas such reach ofthe Great March 2018. beginning in March Return this censorship by directly challenged have Palestinians aerial images obtaining their own at a higher actively Google through resolution than those offered by it-yourself ” techniques This used method was cameras to kites or balloons. Moreover, as a direct consequence of consequence a direct as Moreover, government US Google Earth is legally restrict access required to policy, to images of Bipartisan legislation Palestine-Israel. of the US House passed by in 1997 Representatives quality oflimits the imagery satellite of Palestine-Israel platforms through US-based to the public available The Kyl-Bingaman Earth Google like Maps. and Bing Defense to the US National Amendment (KBA) of Act restricts the availability Authorization high- imageryresolution satellite satellite preventing by in the US from selling or operators and retailers disseminating images of at a resolution Palestine-Israel While the non-US market. on higher than that available the hegemony only applies to US companies, the KBA for satellite imagerythey hold in the commercial market the legislation to de elevated had, until very recently, the access affecting facto institutionalization globally, of and researchers monitoring bodies, campaigners, worldwide. by 7amleh, the Arab Center for Social for Arab Center the 7amleh, by in 2016 over a bug that removed the names that removed a bug in 2016 over entitled “Google: Put Palestine On Your On Your entitled “Google: Put Palestine democratize mapping.” democratize a missed opportunity to use to a missed opportunity 2018 report2018 petition firestorm technological advancements to to advancements technological the Gaza Strip. the Gaza Strip. Conversely, much of much to remains unavailable Palestine Conversely, of with the exception cities ofview, the Palestinian Bethlehem, and Ramallah and a few places in Jericho, otherwise, also applies to Google Street View, which which also applies to Google Street View, otherwise, of most covers as illegal Israel and its settlements, as the Israeli-occupied Old City ofwell Jerusalem. Google’s emphasis on Israeli localities, illegal or emphasis on Israeli localities, Google’s West Bank and Gaza Strip from its map, prompting Strip from its map, Bank and Gaza West a 615,000 signatures. has accrued which over Maps!,” appear as part of any country since Palestine or state, engulfed in Indeed, Google was is not labeled as such. a C of the West Bank. Significantly, the West Bank and the C of Bank. Significantly, the West illegal Israeli settlements) do not Gaza Strip (excluding emphasized or altogether Bedouin erased, including as villages the Israeli state, that remain unrecognized by villages within Israel-controlled Area as Palestinian well uncontested block ofuncontested block with Jerusalem marked territory, as its capital, ignoring its internationally recognized localities are de- many Palestinian Meanwhile, status. Labeling and naming is likewise a matter ofLabeling and naming is likewise contention. Google declared its borders, having Despite never Israel a label and boundary as ifgives an it were to use Israeli-only roads, and neglects the hundreds and roads, to use Israeli-only of and barriers that curtail roadblocks, checkpoints, freedom ofPalestinian movement. settlers and can be dangerous for Palestinians.” The dangeroussettlers and can be for Palestinians.” the calculates routes under automatically software the user is an Israeli ID holder able assumption that frameworks. The report Maps that Google highlights frameworks. “only for Israelis and illegalroutes are designed Israeli the interests ofthe interests government, the Israeli facilitating its occupied toward to shirk its responsibilities attempts under internationalpopulations human rights A serves that Google Maps argues Media Advancement, “Israeli spatial control represents represents control spatial “Israeli

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 6 January 2020 January Counter (a collaboration , an interactive , an interactive and Columbia University and Columbia University iNakba , envisioned the spatial possibilities the spatial possibilities , envisioned right of return.” of right Palestine Open Maps Palestine visual stories “that bring to life absent Visualizing Palestine narrate tangibly imagine the Palestinian the Palestinian imagine tangibly “Technology can serve can to a tool as “Technology The of launch between Studio-X Amman) in 2018 is the first open-source mapping project based around historical maps from the British Mandate period. The detailed, multi-layered maps and hidden geographies” the users to search and allow Open Maps Palestine landscape. pre-Nakba Palestinian also carries users to extract out mapathons allowing to commemorate Palestinian heritage and identity as to commemorate Palestinian as assertwell right of the returned the return: “We seek to village we to the map and now Palestinian powerful she said. “It’s refugee,” return the Palestinian interactive…If in the Ein El Hilwa because it’s you’re [refugee] can be updated about camp [in Lebanon], you to life.” brought back It’s villageyour in Palestine. also facilitates projects around the right ofZochrot the 2010 example, return with those affected. For project, Participatory Action Research Mapping Return and pitfalls of right of the Palestinian return to one region. village, Miska, in the Tulkarem destroyed participants created a and Jewish Palestinians map that alternative multi-layered comprehensive, dismantled current They discriminatory policies. acknowledgement identified the first step as of the destruction the caused by personal and collective Nakba. encroachment into Palestinian land, but allow allow land, but into Palestinian encroachment reality. imagine an alternative actively to Palestinians ofThe to raise awareness seeks Zochrot Israeli NGO Israeli public. the broader Nakba among the Palestinian One of is its many projects smartphone by and downloaded created in 2014 app over iNakba has catalogued 40,000 people to date. over destroyed and villages towns that were 600 Palestinian text—in Arabic, images, providing by during the Nakba and Google Waze crucially, and English—and, Hebrew, get to users how well there as to show Map coordinates as add information themselves. Creator of said the app is meant Raneen Jeries iNakba ,”

.” calls charts (2010) is a censorship counterpoint to exile that counter-maps that counter-maps All that Remains Atlas of Palestine for return using maps, highlighting for return using maps, criticism destroyed during the Nakba. Such images during the Nakba. Such not only destroyed substantial proofprovide of the ongoing colonial the right of return. maps and Detailed historical uncensored, high-resolution images Palestinians allow to catalogue the remnants of villages and towns laid out using aerial imagery at a scale of 1:25,000. can serve as a tool to tangibly imagine Technology peoples. Additionally, his Additionally, peoples. historical record of methodically pre-Nakba Palestine, comprehensive plan comprehensive not been repopulated villages have that many destroyed and can therefore accommodate the return of their each destroyed Palestinian village with images and Palestinian destroyed each Salman Abu Sitta, demographic information. Similarly, founder of up a has drawn Land Society, the Palestine incorporate them into a legal and political framework. 1992 tome Khalidi’s Walid decolonized cartography simply (re)asserting beyond these efforts put Rather, lines on an existing map. memories in spatial termspersonal and collective and reproduce and embed existing exclusionary territorial ongoing efforts counter-mapping and spatial practices, a and allies are creating Palestinians demonstrate how While there is valid While there is valid raises critical and practical questions such as: What such raises critical and practical questions does return build where? Who What do we like? look will build what? refugees and internally people is not just displaced a political solution but the first step in a process of as a “ decolonization. Return, of atlases, maps, memoirs, art, books, oral histories, of oral histories, art, books, memoirs, maps, atlases, The right ofand websites. return for Palestinian imagination with a spatial-material consciousness. a spatial-material consciousness. imagination with held on to the memory have Since 1948, Palestinians of homes and villages through the creation destroyed Decolonization requires what David Harvey what David Decolonization requires “the geographical – linking social imagination” (Palestinians) on the one hand, and documenting and on the one hand, and documenting (Palestinians) systems and structuresexposing the colonial (Zionist the other. expansionism) on Decolonizing maps is a process that involves that involves maps is a process Decolonizing experience of the acknowledging the colonial subjects Decolonial and Counter-Mapping Decolonial advancements to democratize mapping. Instead, it has Instead, mapping. to democratize advancements of “ubiquitous mechanism created a

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 7 January 2020 January by 7amleh, Palestine should be should 7amleh, Palestine by recommended make the changes outlined above. make restrictions and restricted streets. Palestinian Google should locate “unrecognized” villages in villages as Palestinian within Israel as well Area C. The States should dispose of United the KBA, US field between playing the commercial leveling allow Thisand non-US imagery would providers. imagessatellite operators to share high-resolution ofopen-access on widely-used Palestine-Israel also enable archaeologists, It would platforms. and humanitarians to accurately researchers, document changes on the ground for and allow better accountability of the Israeli occupation. society should encourage and civil Palestinian use ofpromote the active as an counter-maps to incomplete contemporaryalternative maps. society and allies civil Palestinian Simultaneously, should focus their efforts on pressuring (a) the US and (b) Google to government to abolish the KBA As with the in line Maps, on Google named properly of Resolution UN General Assembly November 2012. 181 ofAccording to Resolution the UN General the international status ofAssembly, Jerusalem should be correctly on Google Maps. displayed also identify and correctlyGoogle must illegal label on occupied land, according to Israeli settlements Article 49 of and Convention Geneva the Fourth Article 55 of the Hague Regulations. and areas A, B, Google should clearly distinguish Bank and account for all movement C in the West 4. 5. 6. However, Palestinians and allies continue to subvert subvert to continue and allies Palestinians However, There counter-maps. colonial maps through and resist other concrete stepsare some forward: 1. 2. 3. , and Gaza War Gaza War , “Cartographic states , enable Palestinians to oppose to oppose , enable Palestinians , for one, which launched in the launched which , for one, Decolonizing Art Residency and Architecture , applications fail to account for the walled-off reality on the ground and the restrictions and repercussions it has movement. on Palestinian Gaza Strip, despite technology creating an opening for Gaza Strip, mapping mainstream democratizing spatial practices, cements their separation homeland and from their living Palestinians For restricts it to the virtual sphere. under martial in the OPT or under siege law in the For Palestinian refugees, the majority of refugees, Palestinian For whom have no recourse to visit, let alone return to the land from ejected, censorship were they or their ancestors which of hundreds of years of life and history. Palestinian have worked to remove Palestinian traces from the Palestinian to remove worked have The decade after 1948 transformedlandscape. the land, with a fully-formed Hebraicized map taking the place knowledge is power: that is why this profession has that is why knowledge is power: In the case close links with the militarysuch and war.” of British and Zionist cartographic efforts Palestine, control, and erasure of As Israeli political territory. scientist Meron Benvenisti Cartography in the has long been another weapon for the acquisition, arsenal: a tool used colonizer’s present, are another example. Challenging the Cartographic Gatekeepers and demolition. More symbolic efforts, such as the such and demolition. More symbolic efforts, ofGreat March in Gaza from 2018 to the Return internally displaced inhabitants of villages including and Al-Araqib returned decades after Iqrit, Al-Walaja, oftheir initial expulsion despite the risk state violence and cartographic are often These terms. initiatives efforts to or juxtaposed with, Palestinian reinforced by, the instance, For return villages in reality. to destroyed and subvert the hegemonicand subvert discourse and assert an vision ofalternative liberation and return in spatial These projects, among others, including the among others, These projects, Map Architecture Forensic in the OPT to track traffic at checkpoints and design checkpoints traffic at in the OPT to track routes they can take. summer ofsummer road closures and 2019, crowd-sources Palestinian drivers its users and allows traffic data from Simultaneously, Palestinians are using technology are using Palestinians Simultaneously, independent mapping services. their own to create NavigatorDoroob data from Mandate maps (as do other organizations other (as do maps from Mandate data Alliance). NGO Rebuilding as US-based such

Al-Shabaka Policy Brief 8 Zena Agha served as Al-Shabaka’s US Policy Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network is an in- Fellow from 2017 - 2019. Her areas of expertise dependent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization include Israeli settlement-building in the occupied whose mission is to educate and foster public debate Palestinian territory with a special focus on on Palestinian human rights and self-determination Jerusalem, modern Middle Eastern history, and within the framework of international law. Al-Shabaka spatial practices. She has previously worked at the policy briefs may be reproduced with due attribution Economist, the Iraqi Embassy in Paris, and the to Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network. For Palestinian delegation at UNESCO. more information visit www.al-shabaka.org or contact us by email: [email protected].

Al-Shabaka materials may be circulated with due attribution to Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network. The opinion of individual members of Al-Shabaka’s policy network do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization as a whole.