UK architects: Israeli architects accomplice in Palestinian repression

Leading British architects said their Israeli counterparts are accomplices in schemes that contribute to the social, political and economic oppression of Palestinians.

Building Design magazine reported that the architects, include Royal Institute of British Architects president Jack Pringle, president-elect Sunand Prasad, Will Alsop, Terry Farrell and Richard MacCormac.

They have joined in signing a petition, organized by Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, which seeks international support for an ethical and just practice for the design professions in the occupied territories.

"APJP asserts that the actions of our fellow professionals working with these enterprises are clearly unethical, immoral and contravene universally recognized professional codes of conduct," the petition said.

"We ask the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) to meet their professional obligations to declare their opposition to this inhuman occupation," it said.

Alsop told the London-based magazine that the architects felt compelled to act and would like their "fellow colleagues in Israel to feel some responsibility about this shabby treatment." "I think the Palestinians are living in a prison," said the architect who is famous for designing several distinctive and modernist buildings in the UK.

Last year, some of Britain's most prominent architects attended a APJP meeting in London to consider calling for an economic boycott of Israeli construction industry in protest at the building of more illegal settlements and 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." "Planning, architecture and other construction disciplines are being used to promote an apartheid system of environmental control," it said.