It's A Dog's Day, a photo from West Bank, East

Photographer's Note

The passage from the busy bustling commercial centre of Hebron to the ghost town of what was previously the commercial centre is a shocking indictment of the conflict which consumes the West Bank. The contrast is stark....one minute I'm feeling bemused and shocked at the extraordinary display of underwear that Palestinian women appear to wear beneath their modest outer garments and the next I'm looking at a street of boarded shops, covered by security netting and not a soul to be seen.

The netting was to prevent things being thrown down onto the Palestinian shopkeepers by the Jewish settlers .....and the evidence of that is still there to see....

The disruption of an area that housed 25,000 people and now houses somewhere between 10-15,000 for the sake of 500 settlers and the 2,000+ troops guarding them is highly visible in this godforsaken legacy of occupation. It is profoundly saddening.

This picture of never to be opened Arab shops covered in anti-Arab graffiti - 'Kill All Arabs' and the such like is as shocking as the martyr posters and anti-Israeli/ anti-Jewish slogans in Arab areas. This particular road is closed to provide protected routes for the settlers - checkpoints guard progress to any Arab entering the zone.......it is depressing in the extreme.

Very near this spot - just to the left is a small shrine to Shalhevet Pass a ten month old Jewish baby.......shot in her fathers arms.....the response of the IDF was to later shell and machine gun the neighbourhood from which the shot had come..........but not for the first time - they had actually been doing this randomly for the last six months according to the Christian Peacemaker monitoring teams. We didn't hear that side of it in British news reports or of the shell that landed in the bedroom of 10 month old Hart iSheik on the Palestinian side......

It is really very hard to make sense of this crazy situation......if I was living there I think I would rather be a dog lying in the midday sun.......

brevbrev14, bantonbuju, rbcy1974, marknunnerley, Angelillo, designsoul, sadeik, capthaddock, amino, Bergenphotos ha puntuado esta nota como útil.

Critiques | Translate

mrbialy (2568) 2006-12-08 4:34

Great photo. Tarantino with camera I would say about you after this photo, I love it. Crazy , just crazy. What's going on here in this scene. I will not read your note esspecially to do not understand what going on there with this dogs. straight to my favourite. have nice day

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brevbrev14 (140) 2006-12-08 4:40

HI KEv, this is a wonderful image!
all the dogs in line!!
Great composition!
ciao!
Valeria

bantonbuju (51815) 2006-12-08 5:38

"if I was living there I think I would rather be a dog lying in the midday sun......."
- kev - you loaded us with a mastery: both visual and written, this is the REAL story, this is the Photography with capitol "P";
man, respect for what you do...
tc, j.
(ps. december cancelled, the whole band wants to go in spring, so ...until later :-))

cessy (13647) 2006-12-08 5:44

so many dogs, and they have each their own spot
great find and nicely captured

rbcy1974 (20758) 2006-12-08 6:47

Hello KEv:
Bravo for this picture of aparent calm and for the explanation behind this absurd situation.
Graphically the photo is excellent with the long diagonal line lined with dogs.
I was wondering how safe it is to travel there, and if you travelled there on holidays or as part of a work team.
Cheers
Daniel

lenazap (4) 2006-12-08 12:42

Sad and truly picture. But also funny.
Hebron has the crual history.

marknunnerley (2780) 2006-12-08 17:51

What a sad state of affairs over there Kev. Unfortunately death seems so cheap. If it happened here it goes on the front pages. Take Iraq. Everyday some suicide bombere seems to kill 10, 20 50 people. It's just a figure to us over here. Yet we say 7/7 or 9/11. It pales into insignificance to what is happening in these other places.
br,
Mark

Angelillo (9374) 2006-12-08 17:57

Hi Kev,

Really crazy, understandable situation you describes very well. The shot continues the note, the dogs, at rest, inconscious. It's impressive the shot, very well seen and explained. Thanks! Best wishes,

Angel.

Furachan (0) 2006-12-08 18:19

It certainly is an etraordinary image, Kev, these dogs lined u at infinitum,dsolate, at the end of teir thether it seems. I think graphically yu might have done more to set them off against their background, more contrast perhaps to further dramatize things (do you see what I mean). There is something I wuoldn't say "hasty" but almost casual about te sot, in spite of the careful alignmen along the diagonal. I'd like to see more BLACKS in the tones and a tighter, meaner crop somehow, from aPJ standpoint, and this IS hotojournalism so I think I'm making sense. The note,however greatly enhances the overall story and adds a huge dimension, making the whole a powerful package.
Best,
Francis

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designsoul (17843) 2006-12-09 0:01

I kept looking at this shot over and over today without having had the chance to say anything. But now before going to bed, I have to... this is hitting me in the heart. Reading your note, the chaos and solutionlessness of the situation rings even clearer than reading any daily paper or searching for analyses. These dogs--could they have belonged to all the owners who would never be there to give them some treat any longer? They seem to be faithfully waiting... starving in the heat of the day. Heartwrenching... a very sad and poignant shot with a thoughtful, sensitive note again...
good night Kev
sasa

alekpet (4663) 2006-12-09 5:24

Hi Kev.

Another one of your photos filled with humour.
The dogs are known to keep their teritory, but this one example is ridiculous. They look almost human in this photo. Wonderful POV and remarkable usage of the colour (its absense).

take care, Aleks

sadeik (3282) 2006-12-10 16:09

Yes the dogs are probably the ones that have least troubles in a situation that seems to have no end in sight.
Its an excellant photo and well caught.

Simon

capthaddock (28790) 2006-12-10 17:27

Hi Kev - the image is as moving as the note, and I hold these dogs in a much higher esteem than the b*stards on all sides who created and seem intent on perpetuating this tragic situation, those in power in my country included. Regarding the photo, the almost even spacing between the dogs is pure genius.

arturo (31) 2007-12-17 12:21

Hi Kev,

i simply wonder if just a sole, walking by cat could have managed to throw some action into this apathetic scene...not sure...an illusory document if confronted with the region it was taken...cheers, arturo