The Board of the ESA Research Network 37 on Urban Sociology condemns the ongoing violence against the Palestinian people. The forced displacement of population, the continuous bombing and killing of civilians, the blocking of humanitarian aid and the targeted killing and restrictions on journalists all signal an ongoing genocide.
Since the 7 October 2023 massacre of 1,195 Israelis, more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks, including nearly 19,000 children. Aside from this horrifying human toll, the whole Palestinian society is being erased through what can be called an urbicide.
The term “urbicide” refers to widespread and deliberate destruction of the urban environment. It captures a distinct form of violence targeting buildings and infrastructure, and leading to the displacement of populations, the dismantlement of social and cultural networks, and the erasure of collective memory.
The destruction of entire cities and neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army is a clear manifestation of the genocide Israel is committing in Palestine.
Gaza is a densely populated urban environment, including major cities and eight refugee camps. Cities can also die. Reminiscing of the legend according to which Rome decided to raze Carthage to the ground, and to sterilize its soil with salt so that nothing would ever grow there again, the urban fabric of the Gaza strip is being annihilated. Cities are not only essential to livelihood, but they are also highly symbolic and constitute a space in which to stage the destruction and negation of enemy.
This systematic destruction of building and infrastructure aims to erase the Palestinian national and cultural identity, impose permanent forced displacement, prevent return, dismantle communities, and eradicate their collective memory.
Aerial bombardment, remote demolition by explosives, and bulldozing of homes and civilian infrastructure constitutes a flagrant violation of international law and demands immediate intervention, accountability, and justice for the victims.
The ongoing urbicide in Gaza, however, did not begin after the 7 October 2023 massacre of Israeli civilians. Gaza’s history of violence, marked by military occupation, blockade, siege, and repeated military rampages, has been incessant. “Bulldozing has been used as a weapon of collective and individual punishment and intimidation, and as a means of shaping the geopolitical configuration of territory, since Israel’s independence in 1948”[1].
The RN37 Board calls for an end to the genocide in Gaza and the end of the occupation and colonisation of the west bank.
N.B.: The Beirut Urban Lab is leading a mapping project to track urbicide and document damage to the different components of the built environment, including buildings, green and open spaces, and institutions such as universities, schools and hospitals, as well as agricultural land and infrastructure. The project wants to keep a record of the violence against Gaza’s culture, education, buildings and the environment (https://beiruturbanlab.com/en/Details/1977).
[1] Graham, S. (2004). Constructing urbicide by bulldozer in the Occupied Territories. Cities, war, and terrorism: Towards an urban geopolitics, p.197. See also Weizman, E. (2004). Strategic Points, Flexible Lines, Tense Surfaces. Cities, war, and terrorism: Towards an urban geopolitics, pp. 172-191.
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
katarzynakajdanek (September 30, 2025). RN37 Board Solidarity Statement with the Palestinian People. European Sociological Association Research Network 37: Urban Sociology. Retrieved January 14, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/14sa8
