Please send letters for the website, clearly marked FORUM, to Julia Dawson at: julia.dawson@emap.com or The Architectural Review, Greater London House, Hampstead Road, London NW1 7EJ, England. CRUEL IRONY OF ISRAEL SITUATION SIR: I would like to applaud your decision to publish Abe Hayeem’s letter regarding the UNESCO World Heritage Status of Tel Aviv (AR July 2004). Mr Hayeem’s very emotive letter may be seen by some as being exaggerated, partisan and unrelated to the niceties of architectural discourse. However, it would be highly disingenuous for Israeli, European or American architects and planners to celebrate and romanticize the built achievements of the European settlers of the 1930s in Tel Aviv, while overlooking and so condoning the ongoing systematic efforts of the Zionist project to negate, marginalize and destroy indigenous Palestinian culture. On the bitterly-fought culture and media front of the conflict, Israel has scored a public relations victory with the UNESCO decision. I believe that it is absolutely urgent for us to recognize the cruel ironies of this situation. It is all too easy to detach architecture from its political and ideological context, but the (architecturally average) Bauhaus-influenced centre of Tel Aviv cannot be viewed in splendid isolation. There will never be justice in Israel/Palestine until the injustices perpetrated on the Palestinian people by Israel are acknowledged and admitted. Complacency in these dire circumstances must be challenged, and thus Mr Hayeem’s letter, with its uncomfortable truths, must be taken very seriously. Yours etc Steve Fox London E8, UK