Land for the Taking: Palestinian Landscape in an American Mirror

• In Event: Development, Displacement, Dispossession

Abstract

This presentation traces the historical roots of dispossession in Israel / Palestine by focusing on the longstanding discourse of “land improvement” and property rights that motivated English colonists in North America, and how this discourse became part of the landscape. The aim of this presentation is to uncover the continuity in the cultural and legal justifications for the transfer of land from one group of people to another. The presentation will show how the landscape of Israel / Palestine today is part of a much longer and more enduring history about property rights and dispossession.

Author

• Gary Fields, University of California, San Diego (CA)