Photography | Palestine

al-Khalil (Hebron) الخليل: Where Occupation is ‘In Da House’

Visiting on October 3, 2023 Series: A photographic tour of Palestine

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The scorched gas station and the red sign (All photos by the author, Oct. 3, 2023).

I wonder why our bus from Bethlehem has stopped at that burnt-out old shack. It stands near to the red sign. Perhaps the giant skeleton of a building in the back has once been a checkpoint — its corrugated metal roof seems hastily laid atop a steel framework that more resembles scaffolding. The shack, made from the same corrugated metal, looks like an afterthought added near a lone pump, itself scorched and projecting a charred halo onto the gravel. Apparently, this gas station offers a steal on Diesel.

On the way back to Bethlehem, …, a red trilingual sign stood warning, verbatim:

“This Road leads To Area ‘A’
Under the Palestinian Authority
The Entrance For Israeli
Citizens Is Forbidden,
Dangerous To Your Lives
And Is Against The Israeli Law”

It recalled whispers to “lock your car doors” in Detroit. I looked around for a “Do Not Feed The Animals” sign.

— Ramsey Hanhan, Fugitive Dreams