The more I think of how to explain Hebron to you, the more I realize it is truly impossible to describe what goes on here. This stunningly beautiful city is currently the most violent location in Palestine. The city is split in two parts H1 & H2. Palestinian controlled H1 is a noisy, bustling center. Merchants and food venders yell loudly as honking taxis pass by, but as you make your way toward H2, the occupied old city, things quickly start to change. The number of people in the streets drops dramatically, and you will notice more closed and barred shut shops. Further down the path you find almost all stores closed. Only a few families living under intense poverty conditions try to make a living here. They sell their goods to the few tourists that dare enter the city and they make a maximum of $3 a day to feed their family with.
One of the first things I do when entering an unknown area is to walk around and get a feel for my surroundings. However, walking around in Hebron is no simple task; dotted with over 100 checkpoints movement becomes increasingly difficult. It is wise to walk against the walls and under the canopies here to avoid being pelted with objects (trash, rocks, urine, feces) from settlers above, who have taken control of the houses and streets. The illegal settlements have military outposts on rooftops and snipers to protect the occupants. Water is only imported to the city once every three weeks. The water pipes are controlled by the Israeli government who regularly cut the water supply to all Palestinian families for weeks.
I get hassled much less Palestinians, no one attempts to hide the racism or hatred here; there is no need to. The soldiers, who routinely humiliate the citizens of Palestine, can make moving around the city mildly annoying or impossible by closing a checkpoint or detaining people for no reason and for any amount of time.
Sometimes it is quite obvious the soldiers are just bored and get a kick out of making people suffer. I witnessed a group of soldiers detaining several Palestinian teenagers. While the military looked on and laughed, the teens were forced to stand in a circle, sing and dance to, the Israeli national anthem.
In the Jewish-Only H2 neighborhood soldiers are the only people you will see on otherwise abandoned street corners. Most walls and doors are covered with graffiti and almost all have the Star of David on them (this is done by both the IDF and settlers). I spoke with a Palestinian man about the area and he explained “it's a ghost town, but they don’t want to tell you who the ghosts are.”
With physical violence and humiliation also comes a sometimes hopelessly crushing feeling of not knowing what lies in the future. Psychological warfare is a main tactic progressively pushing insanity on the Arab inhabitants. As I write this I can’t truly explain or describe what it is like living under occupation in this city. Photographing resistance fighters in other regions in the West Bank is different than in Hebron, here every Palestinian is a resistance fighter. They may not pick up a gun or throw stones but every day is a fight for life.
Witnessing this occupation can be difficult beyond anything I imagined before I got here. Coming from the U.S. I am not unaware of racism, but seeing it so proudly displayed here sickens my soul. Yet even with all the horrific events I see, I still find myself smiling at times, this is because of the children of Palestine. Their smiles and welcoming attitudes lift my spirits, when I am with them all of the pain I feel and sacrifices I have made make sense, and those feelings pale in comparison to the hope I have that these children will be free and able to determine their own future without humiliation or imprisonment.
A Israeli military sign outside of an outpost. H2, Hebron.
A military patrol passes an elderly Palestinian man. Old city, Hebron.
Palestinian waiting at a check point to the Abraham mosque (H2).
Nightly military patrol, Old City.
Forcefully closed Palestinian neighborhood now Jewish only, H2.
Peace sign from an Israeli lookout station.
A woman being denied passage into the Jewish only section on Hebron.
A child being interrogated during a night patrol.
A small girl in a stare down with soldier, Old City.
Child doing backflips off a wall after school lets out.
Handprints of kids paint a Palestinian house.
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