-Keeping the Balance Pt. 2

Damascus Gate, East Jerusalem – 22nd of March, 2014: Israeli border police carry out an arrest while dispersing an unauthorized sit-in called in protest against the killing of three Palestinian militants in the Jenin refugee camp earlier on the day. The gathering was dispersed several times as the less than a hundred protesters refused to obey the orders given by the police to refrain from chanting political slogans, waiving the Palestinian flag and marching on the nearby road to vent their anger and commemorate the dead militants, who opened fire on the forces who entered the camp to arrest one …

-Putin Bar

Jerusalem, Israel – 18th of March, 2014: Singing a traditional Ukrainian love song during karaoke night at the Putin Bar, the main hangout for Jerusalem’s Russian community, which includes several thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Upon hearing the song’s theme words “I love, I see” most people in the bar joined in, explaining that in Russia everybody knows it since their childhood. Earlier on the day, the Russian government formalized the annexation of Crimea, escalating a crisis which might result in a war with Ukraine – a prospect described by someone in the bar as both extremely …

-Shushan Purim

Jerusalem, Israel – 17th of March, 2014: Jerusalemites get drunk and dance at a street party in the Nachlaot neighborhood, during the holiday of Purim, which celebrates how the Jews of Persia were saved from an evil plot to destroy them.

-Keeping the Balance

Damascus Gate, East Jerusalem – 16th of March, 2014: Palestinian youth show their skills on the walls of the Old City as thousands gather to form a book-reading human chain all around the walls, during an event meant to encourage people to read more and support public libraries. Notwithstanding the efforts of the organizers to not let it turn into a demonstration, some youth begun chanting political slogans and eventually clashed with the police.

-Closure of the Old City

Ras al-Amud, East Jerusalem – 14th of March, 2014: Palestinian men hold their friday prayers on the street pavement in front of a line of police preventing them from accessing the Old City and the al-Aqsa mosques. As it often happens, Israeli authorities restricted access to Old City in order to prevent disturbances after a series of incidents which saw half a dozen Palestinians killed from Gaza to the Jordanian border.