DISPUTED TERRITORIES

West Bank, Fall 2011

  1. 17th of September - Qalandiya Checkpoint, East Jerusalem.
  2. 2011 - A map showing the complex tapestry through which the West Bank is administered: Area A and B (brown), under various degree of Palestinian control, Area C (white), under complete Israeli occupation and Israeli settlements (blue, grey and orange).
  3. 7th of November - Checkpoint 300, Bethlehem: Under Israeli Law, it is illegal for Israeli citizens to enter the areas under the Palestinian Authorities. Palestinians can access Israeli-held areas, if they have a permit to do so.
  4. 16th of September - Nabi Saleh: A Palestinian shabab during clashes with Israeli forces after the violent dispersal of the weekly demonstration against the occupation held by the village.
  5. 11th of November - Hizma Checkpoint: \"Kahane was right\" (\"Kahane Tzadak\"). Posters commemorating Rabbi Meir Kahane at a bus stop just outside Jerusalem. Kahane, who argued that the only way to maintain Jewish sovereignty over the West Bank was to \"transfer\" its Arab population elsewhere, was assassinated in 1990 but remains an important figure for the Israeli right.
  6. 18th of October - Ofer Terminal, Betunia: A Palestinian waits for his daughter to be released at the gate near Ofer Prison. Thousands of Palestinians are in Israeli military prisons for security reasons at any given time, subjected to military law and often under \"administrative detention\" orders, a British Mandate regulation allowing the detention of people for up to six months without trial.
  7. 18th of October - Ofter Terminal, Betunia: Hamas flags at the celebrations for a prisoner exchange deal obtained by the organization in exchange for the return of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, captured during an attack along the Gaza border in 2006. Regarded by Israel as a terrorist organization, Hamas is practically illegal in the West Bank.
  8. 16th of September - Nabi Saleh: The chairman of the Palestinian Authorities, Abu Mazen, talking on TV about the P.A.\'s bid for state-level membership in the UN, to be discussed at the General Assembly a few days later. The largely symbolic move, which eventually yielded uncertain results, represented an unilateral attempt to break the impasse on the final status of the Palestinian territories.
  9. 20th of Setpember - HaMaskit Junction: Israeli settlers from the Itamar community march on the roads of Samaria, reaffirming their intention to establish, maintain and defend Jewish sovereignty over the area.
  10. 7th of November - Bethlehem: The Separation Wall around Rachel\'s tomb, an Israeli-held enclave deep inside the city, accessible only through a corridor walled on both sides.
  11. 11th of December - Nabi Saleh: The Magav (Israeli border police) dispersing protesters during a demonstration against the occupation.
  12. 11th of December - Nabi Saleh: Teargas rains on protesters during a demonstration against the occupation. Under Order 101, a 1967 military regulations, all demonstrations in the West Bank are illegal, and are routinely and violently dispersed by security forces.
  13. 8th of December: Conflicting accounts, respectively from the IDF spokesperson and Palestinian sources, of a security operation carried out by the Israeli Air Force in Gaza. With very few transit permits given to West Bank Palestinian and all Israelis, including journalists, barred under Israeli law from entering the Gaza Strip, it is extremely difficult to know what happens in Gaza.
  14. 17th of September - Qalandiya Checkpoint: A soldier taking a picture of a Palestinian demonstration in support of the P.A.\'s bid for state-level membership in the UN.
  15. 10th of December - Ramallah: Mourners gather in Manar Square to commemorate Mustafa Tamimi, killed the previous day in the village of Nabi Saleh during clashes following the violent dispersal of a demonstration against the occupation.
  16. 28th of November - East Jerusalem: T-shirts on sale at a tourist shop reveal the deep polarization surrounding foreign intervention in dealing with the conflict, with both sides accusing external players of siding with the other.
  17. 7th of December - Kedar: An Israeli settlement in the Judean hills. Settlements such as Kedar are strongly supported by the Israeli government, which sees them as tool to establish sovereignty over the West Bank, and are believed to remain under Israeli control within any future peace agreement.
  18. 20th of September - Itamar: Political and security considerations aside, the struggle over the West Bank can be seen as a long-term demographic battle. While on one hand the Palestinians believe their growing numbers will one day force Israel to give up the territory the Israeli government and the settler movement see their mission to attain Jewish majority, ultimately validating their claim to sovereignty over this disputed territory.

In 1967, the state of Israel took over the West Bank and its Palestinian population. More than 40 years later, the conflict over these territory is still unresolved, and as peace initiatives fail one after the other and a military solution continues to elude both sides, the situation of the ground is locked in a never-ending low intensity conflict. And as the two sides become increasingly separated and Israeli authorities and settlers continue to establish Jewish sovereignty over what to them is Judea and Samaria, the solution to one of the world’s most intractable issues remains nowhere in sight.