Rula Zuhour


Master of Architecture

This thesis investigates past and current Israeli colonization tactics that have created the Kafr Aqab phenomenon at the edge of Jerusalem, where architecture and urban planning are instruments of dispossession, displacement, and control. Based on this investigation, the thesis speculates about possible futures for Kafr Aqab and its inhabitants. By examining moments in space and time of idiosyncratic collisions between the urban fabric, military structures, and political boundaries, the thesis reveals the method in which those territorial tools operate in parallel with oppressive legal, civilian, and administrative policies to expand Israel’s territory and consolidate its control, while displacing and fragmenting Palestinian communities. The thesis explores new roles for architecture, where it starts to critically examine the relationship between policy and space and uses design as a tool for narrative construction.