 |
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September-October 2008, page 64 Waging Peace Through a Photojournalist’s Lens
PALESTINIAN peace activist/Reuters photojournalist Nayef Hashlamoun shared his photos and the stories behind them at Washington, DC’s Potter’s House on July 13. The event was organized by Non-Violence International, a group committed to spreading nonviolent methods through training and education. Instead of taking for granted the images seen in mass media, this was a unique opportunity to hear what life is like for a photographer in Hebron, Palestine. Photojournalists require far more than a long-lens when covering an occupation. They usually wear a reflective vest, helmet, and sometimes even tear gas masks, and they always use large “Press” markings to identify their cars. Despite every precaution, however, Hashlamoun illuminated how tenuous the situation is for Palestinian journalists. They are a constant target of harassment and intimidation by Israeli soldiers trying to prevent them from taking photographs, the journalist said, “because they don’t want us to cover what they are doing to the people.” He described being injured more than six times, including being shot with a “rubber bullet” from a distance of 20 yards. Another time he was forced into an Israeli army jeep so that he could not document an attack. Hashlamoun was so severely assaulted on another occasion that his body broke down and he suffered heart failure. “For me, I am doing my work, I am taking pictures,” Hashlamoun calmly reflected. “I [can]not care if they shoot me, or kill me.” In instances like the one captured in the photo accompanying this article, he stood his ground, thinking to himself, “This is the last moment in my life, but I have to do my job.” In less up-close-and-personal situations, Hashlamoun uses a 100-400mm zoom lens to capture events happening at a distance, because, he explained, “[when] covering violence, it is not allowed for you to come in close.” Hashlamoun showed many photographs of subjects ranging from the normalcy of his own family and cat, to striking images of daily life and violence in Palestine. Villages outside Hebron fall victim to “Israeli settlers...com[ing] at night,” he recounted. “They cut the trees [and] it kind of force[s] the people to leave...sometimes the soldiers come with bulldozers and remove the trees.” Among his photographs was one of an elderly woman in traditional dress distraught at finding her family’s once bountiful olive orchard now hacked barren with ripped branches, leaving nothing for the harvest or posterity. A woman in attendance pointed out that these actions “go even deeper than money; they go to the heart of the culture.” Included in his presentation were arresting images of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) using gas meant for use in the open against soldiers wearing protective gear, against civilians in small spaces. Sometimes soldiers force people far away from the checkpoints by firing tear gas, Hashlamoun said. The gas is incredibly potent, he added, and “we spit blood after the gas.” Among his photographs are young schoolchildren running for shelter from a fast-expanding gray cloud covering city streets. A photojournalist by trade but a peace activist at heart, Hashlamoun showed many moving pictures of Palestinian, Israeli and international demonstrators working together to protest IDF atrocities. In one photo a protester is holding a sign that reads: “The World is Watching.” In response, Hashlamoun stated: “People in the world do nothing for peace—Just watching. And the soldiers kill people and confiscate land and houses—Just watching.” As director of Hebron’s al-Watan Community Center, Hashlamoun is committed to spreading nonviolence. The center focuses on workshops and programs geared toward “civic education, conflict resolution, and nonviolence,” he explained. Most importantly, Hashlamoun added, “We try to help people stay safe and take the conflict out of themselves” and work toward peace; because with globalization, “peace here means peace everywhere.” Nayef Hashlamoun’s photographs can be viewed at the gallery on <www.palestinetoday.org>. For more information about al-Watan Center, visit <www.alwatan.org>. —Nina Hamedani |
|||||
