“A group including some of Britain’s most prominent architects is considering calling for an economic boycott of Israel’s construction industry in protest at the building of Israeli settlements and the separation barrier in the Occupied Territories.
“The group said that architects, planners and engineers working on Israeli projects in the occupied territories were ‘complicit in social, political and economic oppression’, and ‘in violation of their professional code of ethics’.
“It said that: ‘Planning, architecture and other construction disciplines are being used to promote an apartheid system of environmental control.'”
While the chairman of the Israel Architects’ Association may claim that the boycott is inappropriate because “the Government of Israel, which evacuated the Gaza Strip, is currently showing goodwill and trying to reach an agreement”, the co-ordinator of the proposed boycott argues that, “since nothing seems to deter Israel, and western governments remain silent, civil society has to pressure Israel and those creating the physical reality of these injustices that are the cause of such instability in the Middle East.”
Desperate times call for desperate measures.