Before Friday’s demonstration in al Ma’asara, I spent some time hanging out with a few of the children playing outside. Once the children get over their initial shyness, you won’t be able to walk away from them without taking each child’s photo at least 50 times. It’s madness!

Anyway, here are just a few…

Being a freelance photographer gives me a degree of freedom that might not otherwise be possible. However, that also means that I am often forced to finance my own projects. If you enjoy my work, please consider making a donation.

Yesterday, I traveled to the Palestinian village of al Ma’asara, south of Bethlehem. For months now, Israeli peace activists and international activists have been meeting up with local Palestinians to protest the construction of Israeli settlements in the area and the proposed route of Israel’s “security/separation” wall, both of which, they say, are being built on the village’s land.

The march of approximately 50-60 activists and locals made its way through the village but stopped at a small makeshift roadblock set up by the Israeli army. The road, however, is not normally closed but the soldiers, who have grown accustomed to the weekly demonstrations, put up the roadblock to prevent the march from reaching the proposed route of the wall.

When the demonstrators reached the roadblock, they stopped and began chanting “1-2-3-4, occupation no more… 5-6-7-8, Israel a (sic) fascist state”. The soldiers, about 20-30 visible (I noticed later that another 10-20 soldiers were hidden in surrounding buildings and on rooftops), simply stood behind the roadblock without a sound and looked on.

The entire demonstration at the road block lasted less than 30 minutes and ended without incident. After some closing comments from the organizers of the march, everyone slowly dispersed and the roadblock was removed from the road.

Until next Friday anyway.

Being a freelance photographer gives me a degree of freedom that might not otherwise be possible. However, that also means that I am often forced to finance my own projects. If you enjoy my work, please consider making a donation.