After arriving in Israel I began to hear rumors about two young boys who had been shot to death in the West Bank village of Ni'ilin. I traveled to the village with a translator to meet their families.
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It is always difficult to photograph people who have just suffered a terrible loss, but you have to believe in your ability to document their struggle and then present it to the world. You also have to believe in the world's ability to recognize injustice and hopefully move toward change. If nothing ever comes from my work, and from these people's pain, then the situation feels truly hopeless.
In the end, you never feel like you are able to capture the weight and severity of what happened. No matter how hard you try it seems impossible to portray what has happened in a photograph. But you continue to try because it is better to try than to do nothing.
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I started with the family of the first boy, who had just turned ten years old a week before he was killed. His parents explained that he and his friend, the boy who lived next door, were walking down the street when Israeli Border Police, who recently built an outpost on the edge of the village, drove by and allegedly shot each boy in the face, killing them instantly.
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They told me that they filed a complaint against the border police but were told that the incident never happened. They then had the doctor remove the bullet from their son's head and it was confirmed that it was issued to the Israeli Military, who continues to deny involvement and claims the boys were shot by local militants. In a small town where everyone knows each other and has grown up together, the parents found this story difficult to believe.
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I listened as they told me their stories and took time to capture the reactions and expressions of each family member as they listened to each other speak.
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His mother
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His sisters
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His father and uncle
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After viewing the boy's room and the rooftop where his father had been planning to build an addition on the home when he grew up, they took me to their neighbor's home where I once again listened to their stories and tried to express my condolences.
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The second boy's father
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I am taken into the second boys room and shown the bed where he used to sleep.
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His little brother cannot sleep in the room anymore and has had terrible nightmares since the incident. He had shared the room with his brother since birth and does not understand what has happened.
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The boys' families then took me to the local graveyard and showed me the makeshift memorials that they set up for each child. The slap of my shutter seemed inappropriately loud as it shattered the silence in the cemetery.
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In the end, I offered my sincerest condolences to the families and thanked them for letting me into their lives during such a difficult time. I promised them that I will bring their story to as many people as I possibly can.
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Thank you for sharing this very sad story with the world, Zoriah. I'm sure it was very hard on you to find the right way to depict this tragedy in the most objective light, but you did a great job.
Keep it up, I have signed up to receive more updates from your blog and I will share it with my friends as well.
Posted by: IRIEchitect | October 15, 2008 at 21:25
Darn I just saw a documentary about you on hulu.com "In Harm's way" The pictures you have are amazing. And the stories that they tell.... just WOW..
Posted by: Humlara | October 23, 2008 at 19:49
Why don't you show the other side?!
Posted by: Leprechaun | October 29, 2008 at 17:54
i wonder if i saw the moment by my own eyes. the camera had to decide in what side she would be. thank's....
Posted by: www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1374494072 | November 03, 2009 at 13:42
Very nice pictures!!and you will get some prises to sir!!But Want to ask all that people who are passes from this blogs and all them too who will see this photographs at exhibition,This photograph is not for your clapping,It is reality and Do something in life to help them,so you can say with proud that you have done something best in your past.
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