Colonial Constructs: Stone, Cement, Labor, and Race in Modern Palestine/Israel

For over a century, construction has been at the heart of the struggle over Palestine/Israel. The ability to build on the land, the capacity to extract materials from it, and the development of economic and technological dominance in the construction industry were all central to Palestinian and Zionist ambitions to establish modern national communities. Construction also contributed to cementing a colonial social hierarchy among Jews and Palestinians, as racialized notions of skill, ability...