Development-Oriented Counter-Planning versus Restrictive Planning in Area C of the West Bank, Palestine

The rationale for spatial planning lies in its ostensive service to the community. However, in situations of ethno-national and geopolitical conflict and community tension, planning may be a salient feature of hegemonic power imposed from the top down to achieve government goals and strategies. In the Israeli-Palestinian context, spatial planning has served as a component of the hard and soft sophisticated matrix of control that has aimed to secure Israeli control and perpetuate the occupation. This article examines the statutory spatial planning process in Area C of the occupied West Bank, Palestine, which remains under full Israeli control to the present. It pays special attention to the development-oriented counter-planning (DOCP) project that has recently been initiated by Palestinian communities in Area C in an attempt to address their own spatial planning needs, protect their homes, and encourage development.