During our documentary work in and around Jerusalem, we have been increasingly exposed to the dark side of the “City of Light.” Here, hundreds of thousands of people are living in the shadows, with identity defined by forces they cannot control, unwanted in their own homes, afraid of being expelled while they are just asking to live peacefully in their city.
Above all we wanted to discuss humanity, sadly though, in Jerusalem one’s values as a human being is determined by their ethnic group and religion. Together with its bulldozers, the Israeli government tries to smash the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem to dust. Divide and rule. Conquer and annex.
In the same year that Israel celebrates 40 years of the so-called “unification” of Jerusalem, the city has been divided by force, discrimination and injustice. In the “holy city” of 2007, it seems that the only god is “security” and real estate. Israeli policy is drawing a twisting path of a wall, that more than anything, ensures more conflict, suffering and despair.
This project was published in a booklet and presented in a traveling exhibition co-produced by ActiveStills and ICAHD: The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions' Action Advocacy Project (Angela Godfrey-Goldstein). Funding by Irish Aid, The Austrian Development Agency, and The Netherlands Representative Office.
Photos: Keren Manor, Oren Ziv, Yotam Ronen, Anne Paq, Tess Scheflan
