In Jerusalem, everything is political — even the stone architects used to design the city
Danae Elon’s film ‘Rule of Stone’ explores the history behind Jerusalem’s architecture
A stonemason at Mount of Olives. Photo by Danae Elon
By Olivia Haynie June 9, 2025
During the British occupation of Palestine, a law was passed that all buildings in Jerusalem have to be made out of Jerusalem stone, a name that refers to different types of pale stone found in the area. Growing up in Jerusalem after its annexation in 1967, filmmaker Danae Elon told me that she remembers walking with her father, Israeli journalist Amos Elon, and talking about the new construction in the city and how architecture reflects the story of a society.
In her latest documentary, Rule of Stone, Elon, known for the documentaries Another Road Home and P.S. Jerusalem, explores the political and nationalist messages hidden within the architecture of Jerusalem. Through interviews with Israeli architects who had a hand in shaping the city after the 1967 War, including Moshe Safdie and Elionar Barzacchi, as well as Palestinians who live on the city’s outskirts, Elon captures the dueling narratives that define the city.
Jerusalem stone gives the city a biblical and historical feel, helping instill a narrative that it has always existed as it looks today. The pale yellow stone glows in the sunlight, creating a sense of holiness. But in the film, Elon also points out that its brightness can blind observers to the darker side of the city’s history.
After the occupation of Jerusalem in June 1967, Palestinian neighborhoods were destroyed so that the city could be redesigned. One of the many ironies that the film illuminates is that Palestinians were brought back to their old neighborhoods as laborers to hand carve the stones that would be used to build houses for the new residents.
The film argues that it’s virtually impossible for Palestinians wanting to live in Jerusalem to get a building permit or maintain their current property. One of the film’s Palestinian subjects, Izzat Ziadah, explains how, after he made an addition to his house for his son and wife, the government told him he had violated the law and had to destroy the entire property.
Elon met him while scouting locations to shoot B-roll of the landscape and found that he encapsulated an important narrative.
“I think that he was just a stone mason that lived in a quarry, and that in the end also represented a kind of a spirit that would never be able to be crushed,” Elon told me. “He’s always there to find a way to protect his sense of dignity, to protect his right to have a home, his right to have space, his right to that basic humanity, which comes with being able to build, being able to have a home and a place that isn’t under the threat of demolition.”
The film is insightful and dynamic, in part because of the different interpretations Elon’s interviewees have of the role of architects in marginalizing the Palestinians. Zvi Efrat, an architect and architecture historian, fiercely condemns what he calls the “destruction, expulsion, and appropriation” of neighborhoods.
Elionar Barzacchi, who served as the planner for the Jerusalem District at the Ministry of Construction and Housing from 1977 to 1989, says she wasn’t bothered by the plans for the city when she first began working on the project, but later felt regret for how people were displaced. Even though the architects did not create the policies that led to these expulsions, she says, they still carry the burden of being “the executors of policy.”
Architect and theorist Moshe Safdie, whose work includes the Alrov Mamilla Quarter in Jerusalem and Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv, takes a different stance. Despite being known for socially responsible designs, Safdie, a close friend of Elon’s father, tells her that architects do not have a moral responsibility when it comes to the projects they are assigned — only a responsibility to make sure they’re not ugly.
Having challenging and honest conversations is something Elon thinks the creative world needs more space for now in general. Because her film is a criticism of the displacement of Palestinians but also funded by an Israeli cultural grant, she’s been receiving backlash from all sides of the conflict.
“This has been very complex and has left us questioning also what is the future of the stories that we’re going to be able to tell and how do we fight this polarization,” Elon said. “We must engage and be able to talk and be able to contribute to a common future.”
Elon added that filmmakers have a responsibility to offer audiences a new way of thinking about the world — especially audiences who may disagree with them.
“I think that documentary film festivals have to offer a secure space for films and filmmakers that work very hard and take great risks to put very serious work out there,” she said. “And not to become these spaces where everybody expresses their own sense of justice.”
The documentary Rule of Stone will screen at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival on June 15.
