Lebanon Pavilion at Venice Biennale starts petition to ban white phosphorus in warfare

Material is highly toxic and can start uncontrollable fires, say activists who are using event as platform for change

Images exhibited in the Lebanon Pavilion at Venice Biennale document the destruction caused by weapons that use white phosphorous. Photo: Green Southerners

The Lebanon Pavilion at Venice Biennale of Architecture is calling on visitors and the wider creative community to sign a petition to make white phosphorus illegal in weaponry and warfare.

The pavilion's exhibition is curated by Collective for Architecture Lebanon and titled The Land Remembers. It seeks to highlight the environmental devastation caused by months of Israeli airstrikes and the use of white phosphorus last year, as well as during previous conflicts and unchecked urbanisation.

As visitors wander through the pavilion, they are presented with research, maps, testimonies, and both traditional and experimental techniques that encourage architects to think how to rebuild, whilst prioritising the healing of the land itself.

Styled as a fictional ministry of land intelligence and a space for activism, the pavilion eventually asks visitors to sign the petition which, in partnership with environmental Lebanese NGO Green Southerners, is intended to be put to international legal bodies such as the United Nations.

Co-curator Elias Tamer tells The National: “In our pavilion, we clearly show with the maps by Public Works Studio and other documentation that white phosphorus was used a lot on agricultural areas, especially on olive groves, with a clear intention to destroy nature and kill economic activity.

The pavilion asks visitors to sign a petition that it intends to raise to global bodies. Photo: Green Southerners

"If you're killing the land people have been living off for generations, it becomes much harder to come back to their villages – it's intentional destruction of the environment to achieve military or political objectives.

“Once you come to the pavilion, you see, you learn, and then you take action, which is signing the petition itself. You leave as someone who can help make change,” Tamer says. “As architects, we're calling for other architects to be activists, because architecture is political."

It is estimated that about 300,000 people from around the world will visit the Venice Biennale by the end of November, including ministers and officials, adds Tamer, "so it’s a way to create awareness, get the information to a lot of people and help make a difference”.

The petition is part of a wider campaign Green Southerners is working on, which includes mapping, gathering documentation, soil analysis samples, toxicology reports, photos and more, to build an evidence-based case.

Currently, the use of white phosphorus is restricted, but not illegal. Classified as incendiary weapons under international humanitarian law, it can be used for the purposes of creating smokescreens or marking targets. However, it is illegal to deploy such weaponry upon civilian areas or infrastructure, including agricultural land.

Due to the extremely high temperature at which white phosphorus burns, it can start uncontrollable fires. Weapons that use it cause fatal burns, respiratory damage, organ failure and other horrific injuries on the people and animals exposed to it. They also make agricultural land unusable, due to the material's high toxicity.

Green Southerners began documenting Israel’s violations of these conditions in Lebanon the moment the war broke out, and have to date recorded 238 white phosphorus shells, all used on villages or agricultural land. The Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture estimates about 60,000 olive trees have been burnt to ash as a result of Israeli strikes, which would take 20-30 years to grow again.

The pavilion highlights the environmental impact of war. Photo: Collective for Architecture Lebanon

“The conditions of when white phosphorus is legal or illegal are somewhat grey, and Israel has always used it within this grey area,” Green Southerners head Hisham Younes says. “Our case is to firstly have it be classed as a chemical weapon, not an incendiary weapon, because it is highly toxic and has a long-lasting impact on the environment, water sources and people.

“Secondly, we call for it to be banned from use in weaponry or warfare, based on these findings,” he adds. “We believe this is a humanitarian case, and it is not only related to Gaza or Lebanon, as it has probably been used this way in other conflicts around the world and caused unknown casualties.”

The curators hope the petition will create awareness through the international platform in Venice, rallying creative communities worldwide – who have often been part of significant social and political changes – to support the legal battle ahead.