Portfolio: The West Bank - A barred life

8/9/2019 Portfolio: The West Bank - A barred life

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The West Banka barred life


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The West Banka barred life

A series of photographs by Scott Smith 2008

A collection of images gathered from six months spent in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

The purpose of the series is not to be political but merely an attempt to point out all thatis not normal in Palestinian life and serve as a visual reference point of the broader issues

that are aecting the Palestinian people in all areas of their lives.

About the photographer:Scott Smith is an independent writer and photojournalist, currently based in Johannesburg,

South Africa. The photographs in this series are a result of living and working in the West

Bank for six months in 2008.

Contact: +27 (0)82 547 5948 / [email protected] / www.scottsmith.co.za

Cover picture

A barred life

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 12 September


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Yielded settlements

View of the Israeli Har Homa settlement to the east ofBethlehem from the troubled Arab village of An Numan

whose future existence is under threat due to Israeli

settlement expansion in the West Bank. Settlement

expansion in the West Bank is one of the sticking points ofany peace negotiation.

Location: An Numan, east of Bethlehem

Date: 11 November


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Demolished by your best friend

The rubble remains of a house demolition in Silwan,outside the Old City of Jerusalem, minutes after it occurred.

Residents are often given little or no warning of the

demolition and a very short time to remove any valuables.

Location: Silwan, East Jerusalem

Date: 5 November


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Basketball diaries

A decaying school court in the Muslim quarter of the oldcity of Jerusalem

Location: Old City Jerusalem

Date: 28 February


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Wasted hands

A strange apparition of hands on a newly constructed walldown the road from the Bethlehem terminal; I felt the

image was a perfect way of saying a 1000 words.

Location: BethlehemDate: 6 November


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Jerusalem protest post

Israeli soldiers stand watch over an organised protest inremembrance of the Nakba at the Damascus gate of the

Old City of Jerusalem. Protests are a common occurrence

in the West Bank but are more commonly attended by

internationals.

Location: Jerusalem

Date: 15 May


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Bedouin boy demolition

A Bedouin boy in Arab Ar-rahmadin Ash-shamali, nearthe Zun settlement, Qalqiliya district stands over the

demolished remains of his familys animal house. The land

they live on is in the so-called seam zone; that is the area

of land between the wall and the green line. On the hillbehind the boy is a military district oce.

Location: Qalqilya

Date: 12 March


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Flower power

A famous work by the UK grati artist, Banksy, in Bet

Sahour, outside Bethlehem. A call to non-violent protest.

Location: Bet Sahour, Bethlehem

Date: 27 September


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Stop the occupation

Members of the EAPPI gather in central Jerusalem alongwith the Women in Black in protest of the continuing

occupation of the West Bank. Occurring every Friday, these

protests are one of the few protests allowed by the Israeli

government. Public reaction is varied.

Location: Jerusalem

Date: 29 August


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Bethlehem terminal before it opens

Men jump the queue at the Bethlehem terminal before thecheckpoint opens on a working day. Hundreds of men pass

through the terminal before 7:00 in the morning, some

wait at the entrance from 2:00 to ensure that they are therst to go through. Those who come late may wait some 3

hours before they are allowed into Israel.

Location: BethlehemDate: 9 November


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Hebron walls

A view of the wall separating H1 from H2 in the southerncity of Hebron, on route to the famous Shahuda street, a

once thriving market area, now deserted.

Location: HebronDate: 25 March


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Beware, cameras everywhere!

A stencilled warning in the Muslim Quarter of the old city

of Jerusalem

Location: Old City Jerusalem

Date: 24 August


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Rose on a car

A rose placed on a car burnt out the day before. Parkedoutside the Jewish neighbourhood of Yemin Moshe, a

stones throw from the Jaa gate of the old city of Jerusalem.

Residents say this kind of thing occurs often.

Location: Jerusalem

Date: 14 November


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Denied entry

Two elderly Palestinian men attempt to avoid the crushingqueue on this Ramadan Friday when thousands ock to

Jerusalem to pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Even though

both men were over 60, their green ID cards were denied

and they had to join the common queue.

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 19 September


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Grimaced access

Woman struggle to stand in the swaying and crushing ofthe queue; the very old and the very young are crushed

indiscriminately

Location: BethlehemDate: 19 September


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Last chance

Palestinian men who have been denied entry into Jerusalemcautiously observe an Israeli soldier in the late morning.

All opportunities to pass through the terminal on this day

are gone.

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 19 September


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Sheltered existence

The mens queue on Friday during Ramadan, under a sunshade placed there temporarily.

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 26 September


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Crushed

The crushing force of the queue at the Bethlehem terminal;the man to the bottom left of the photograph feints shortly

after this photograph is taken



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Barred women

Women line up at the checkpoint on Friday duringRamadan. The cement wall can be seen behind them,

snaking over the hilltop, dividing the West Bank and Israelon a supercial border.

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 26 September


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Photographed young man

Photograph of an unknown man, placed on the bars of theterminal bars with a coat hanger on Friday during Ramadan

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 26 September


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Voices from the ghetto

Through the wall, can be seen the free land of Israel

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 26 September


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Israeli soldiers withdraw

Israeli soldiers and border police take one last look beforethey close the gate at the Bethlehem Terminal for the last

Friday of Ramadan.



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Organised occupation

A member of the Israeli border police, this Druze mandirects Palestinian woman in the queue early in the

morning on a Friday during Ramadan.



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A moment at the cement wall

A man turns momentarily in the crushing queue at theBethlehem terminal on a Friday during Ramadan; note the

green ID book ready for inspection.



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Barbed little girl

In the front of the queue a little girl still gets pushed upagainst the bars and the barbed wire in the early morning

on a Friday during Ramadan.



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Red kefyeh and a soldier

A Palestinian man waits to join the queue with a soldier inthe foreground

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 12 September


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Young woman through the bars

After the terminal is closed, people still push to get throughthe barred gates even though there are no Israeli soldiers

present.



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Muslim girl

A lone teenaged girl at the Bethlehem terminal after ithas been closed. According to Israeli security restrictions,

she is both too young and too old to pass through the gatebased on terrorist proling a prime suspect.

Location: Bethlehem

Date: 26 September


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Escape hatch

Political grati painted by an unknown artist on the steel

gate that provides entrance to Rachels Tomb in Bethlehem.

The tomb was closed o to Palestinians by the Israelis

who feared revenge attacks after the shooting incident at

Abrahams Mosque in 1994 by a Jewish American-Israelithat killed 29 Muslims while they prayed.

Location: BethlehemDate: 22 March


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Portfolio: The West Bank - A barred life