Arabba between Identity and Peace

The study addresses violence in Israel’s Arab sector, inquiring how architecture can create a safe space. I explore both the social and spatial dimensions of violence within the Arab communities in Israel, and through in-depth analysis of the phenomenon and the areas in which it is expressed, I attempt to find a solution that integrates these aspects.

Violence in the Arab sector in Israel refers to different types of disputes, crime or disorder that take place within the Arab communities in the country. The violence can be expressed in different ways, including inter-community conflicts, violence between tribes, activities of criminal gangs and organizations, domestic violence and more.

The city of Arabba, one of the Arab cities with the highest number of homicides and violence, was chosen as a test case. Located in the northern district, it is characterized by its low socioeconomically status, and has had the highest percentage of homicides in the last year. The analysis performed on Arabba revealed that the city center is the most dangerous area. A main road crosses it and connects it to the neighboring cities. What is now the city center is the area that has developed in the last decade and became the center. Up until the end of the 1980s, this space was a great blessing and an agricultural area; the city center at the time was in a different location – what is presently called the Old City.

The rapid development that occurred in the last decade expressed random planning of the city. The main street became wider with time, reaching approximately 25 meters, which created a dangerous traffic route, width-wise, length-wise, and in terms of large traffic flows. Additionally, the new space that developed in area north of the street is characterized by random, non-flowing traffic, and a system of single houses with a private yard – resulting in a lack of connections between the neighbors.

While seeking a solution to the problem of violence in this space, the need to understand how people lived peacefully in the past arose. Therefore, an analysis was performed on the Old City, which was characterized by a traffic network comprised of flowing and connecting narrow alleys, with houses built around shared yards that create relations between neighbors.

The analysis of today’s city center and the Old City core together paved the way for a solution to the problem of violence and crime in the area of the main street. This was achieved by injecting the ideas of the Old City into the space of the new city center, which includes the market, the large school and the large mosque as part of the main street, and also includes many areas of crime and danger.