PALESTINE

Jerusalem, Budrus and Ramallah

“It’s a real disaster, but we, the left wing, were right about it. I’m tired of being right so often. Unless Israel withdraws from all occupied territories immediately, we’re heading straight towards catastrophe.” Léa

Abstracts

"Today, it’s very complicated for a Palestinian Jerusalemite to go to the West Bank or Gaza, if not impossible. It’s impossible, except for a few rare exceptions, for West Bank or Gaza inhabitants to go to Jerusalem. And it’s strictly prohibited for Israelis, whether Muslims, Jews or Christians, to go to the West Bank or Gaza (outside of colonies and their bypass roads), at the risk of a fine equivalent to 10,000 euros.

Bans on movement are enforced through blockades, curfews, checkpoints, both fixed and itinerant. The wall’s construction tops off this closing-off strategy. This way, communication and exchange, sometimes within the one family, and above all, between two peoples, have been annihilated."

Extract from Zoé Zoé, Femmes du mondes, 2007, Éditions Gallimard