UK architects rescind call for boycott of Israeli counterparts

‘We got it wrong,’ union president says, following fact-finding mission to the region

The United Kingdom’s Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has rescinded a resolution passed earlier this year urging a ban of its Israeli counterpart following a fact-finding mission to the region, saying it had no business dealing with the matter in the first place, Architects’ Journal reported.

The motion passed in March by 23 votes to 16 had called on the International Union of Architects to suspend the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) from membership until it refused to accept projects in the West Bank.

But two RIBA officials who traveled to the region in November and met with IAUA officials as well as members of the Association of Architects in Palestine came to the conclusion that “The RIBA motion was beyond the powers of council. It should not have come before the members of council. This is not the forum for these issues.”

Subsequently the RIBA council accepted the task force’s recommendation to revoke the March motion.

RIBA president Stephen Hodder said following the council’s decision on Thursday that “for the institute to have engaged in this issue in a confrontational way… was wrong.

“RIBA Council has an important role to play in engaging with difficult and controversial issues. However it is a widely held view that the resolution passed in March concerning the IAUA did not make a constructive contribution to the current situation,” he said.

“We got it wrong,” he added.

The March motion called on the IAUA to adhere to the international Union of Architects, or UIA, resolution 13 of 2005 and 2009, which states that: “The UIA Council condemns development projects and the construction of buildings on land that has been ethnically purified or illegally appropriated, and projects based on regulations that are ethnically or culturally discriminatory, and similarly it condemns all action contravening the fourth Geneva Convention.”

Proposed by RIBA Immediate Past President Angela Brady, the motion stated: “Since the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) has paid no regard to the UIA resolution 13 of 2005 and 2009, the RIBA calls on the UIA, as the international guardian of professional and ethical standards in our profession, to suspend the membership of the Israeli Association of United Architects, until it acts to resist these illegal projects, and observes international law, and the UIA Accords and Resolution 13.”

JTA contributed to this report.