Oded Balilty: The Stone Throwers of Palestine

Photo © Oded Balilty-Courtesy TIME Lightbox

“On the weekend, they are in those protests, but other than that, they are totally normal people..."

"But other than that...? Is the implication in this qualifiying sentence that these Palestinians are not normal because they protest against the Israeli illegal occupation? I hope not.

But let's stray from politics for a while, and just focus on Oded Balilty's excellent photographs of seven Palestinian protestors as featured by TIME Lightbox a couple of weeks ago.

I featured Balilty's work on other occasions on this blog, and admire his work, especially his photographs of Jewish ultra orthodox communities, traditional Hasidic Jewish weddings, and preparations for Passover.  He is based in Tel Aviv as an Associated Press photographer and frequently photographs the ongoing "friction" between Israelis and Palestinians.
For these posed portraits, Balilty enlisted the help of his colleague, Nasser Shiyoukhi, the AP’s Palestinian photographer from the West Bank.

Perhaps it would've been even better had both Balilty and Shiyoukhi collaborated on this project...we may have seen a difference perspective in the setting up of the photographs.

Tanya Habjouqa: Women of Gaza

Photo © Tanya Habjouqa- Courtesy Al Jazeera

I am always very pleased to see impressive talent from the Middle East such as that of photographer Tanya Habjouqa, whose Women of Gaza was just featured on Al Jazeera website.

Tanya was born in Jordan and educated in the United States, and is currently based in Jerusalem. She won a well deserved reputation for gaining unique access to sensitive gender, social and human rights stories in the Middle East. She received a number of awards for her work, and is published in The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera, Washington Post, New York Times, Boston Globe and worked for various NGOs.

Her gallery of images on the Al Jazeera website documents the community spirit prevailing in the Gaza strip, which is maintained despite the ongoing Israeli siege and occupation. In her photographs, one clearly sees how the women in Gaza are continuing to live their lives as best they can...continuing to care for their families, working for a better future through education and careers.

Not only has Al Jazeera shown the US-based cable networks how to deliver news from the Middle East and elsewhere, but it's also supporting Middle Eastern photographers and photojournalists by featuring their work, and their projects. Would CNN or MSNBC have featured Women of Gaza? Not likely.  Well done, Al Jazeera!

Via Wendy Marijnissen Twitter feed.