 |
Send This Project |
 |
Leave a Comment |
 |
Appreciate It! |
 |
Share This |
Hebron Settlers
Statistics
Created: 11/05/07
Last Edited: 11/30/07
Views: 1025
Appreciations: 40
Comments: 5
Project Info
Owners
Tags
Project featured on 11/30/07
From: Dan Seltzer's Portfolio
'Right' in Hebron: A look at the Unsettled-Heart of an Occupied City
The eviction of the Israeli settlers from Gaza, last year, only reinforced the chasm between the religious Jews and the mainstream secular Israeli public. And yet, within the settlers movement, which up until recently was part of the political consensus, a fringe group of zealots started to emerge who believe in separating themselves from the values of Israeli democracy. Their messianic ideals, advocating the formation of a separate society on the basis of extreme religious stricture and the formation of the Kingdom of Judea, has turned them into a vigilante group that is hard to penetrate.
The purpose of my project is neither to legitimize their ideology nor to demonize them by having a privileged access into their lives. Instead, by being able to live among them, gain their trust and photograph their actions, I want to show the complexity of the political situation they are entangled in: to show how their ideology relies on creating an orderly life in an abnormal location of strife in order to justify their claim to living in such a contentious area, thus differentiating themselves from the rest of the Israeli public.
The scene of this painful tragic play takes place in the heart of the city of Hebron, occupied in 1967. The city center was taken over by Jewish settlers, claiming an ancestral right to living there. The Israeli army has had to maintain a large presence in the city to supposedly protect a minority of 500 settlers who have not missed a chance to make the life of the 30,000 Palestinian inhabitance of the city hellish. Hebron represents the core of the political unconscious of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: a city in which entire bustling areas have turned into ghost streets; where roof tops serve as watch towers for the Israeli army, or playgrounds for the Palestinian children during the long days of curfews; a city filled with checkpoints, barb wire, and an incomprehensible border-line that only the inhabitance really understand; a city of symbols in which both Jews and Palestinians claim control over the sacred Cave of the Patriarchsâ€"the site in which the significance of Abraham in the Biblical land is pertinent to both religions.
Published in the last issue of Blue Eyes Magazine.
|
Send This Project |
|
Appreciate It! |
Other Projects From
Comments
http://behance.vo.llnwd.net/profiles/54007/projects/46957/540071194266301.jpg <- I'd love a copy of that on my wall if there are any going.
Great work
You could be just a little bit more strict with the selection, one or two photos could be dropped.
Congrats :)