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Occupied Pleasures

40 images Created 21 Jan 2013

*Excerpt, contact for full edit*

Occupied Pleasures presents a nuanced, multi-dimensional portrayal of humanity’s ability to find pleasure in the face of trying circumstances in Occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza. Occupied Pleasures straddles passive and active meanings: to be occupied under Israel, and to occupy oneself, joyfully and defiantly, in pastime and simple pleasures. 

More than four million Palestinians live in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, where the political situation regularly intrudes upon the most mundane of moments. Movement is circumscribed and threat of violence often hangs overhead. This creates the strongest of desires for the smallest of pleasures, and a sharp sense of humour about the absurdities that a 47-year occupation has produced.

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  • A woman in Gaza, without a travel permit, passes through  an underground tunnel on her way to a party in Egypt, carrying a bouquet of flowers.
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  • High school students enjoy a field trip on the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Gaza, where a ten-minute boat ride is the epitome of freedom. Gazans are not allowed to travel outside of the enclave due to the siege, including limiting fishermen and all boats to (aproximately) six nautical miles off the coast.
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  • After grueling traffic at the Qalandia checkpoint, a young man enjoys a cigarette in his car as traffic finally clears on the last evening of Ramadan. He is bringing home a sheep for the upcoming Eid celebration.
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  • Two furniture makers take a break in the open air on a pair of plush armchairs, of their own creation, in Hizma in the West Bank. Israel's 26-foot high Separation Wall stretches behind them.
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  • A woman plays with two baby lion cubs born in the Rafah Zoo in Gaza.  Gazan Zoo keepers are renowned for creativity, faced with limited options; having famously painted a donkey as a zebra, smuggling in animals through the tunnels, and stuffing them once they are dead, as animals are difficult to replace.
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  • Hayat (left) teaches yoga to the residents of her village, Zataara,  on the outskirts of Bethlehem in the West Bank. The women are increasing in number each week.
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  • A Palestinian youth from Hebron enjoys a swim in Ein Farha, considered to be one of the most beautiful nature spots in the entire West Bank. It, like many other nature reserves and heritage sites, is occupied by the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority. Palestinian tourist enterprises are not allowed.
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  • A young girl plays on the beach in the party dress she wore the night before at a wedding, at the Deir al-balah Refugee camp in Gaza.
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  • Students from the Al-Quds University javelin team wrap up the last practice before summer vacation in the West Bank city of Abu Dis, next to the Israeli Separation Wall.
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  • Man walks through West Bank village wrapped in celebratory tinsel. No one knew why .
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  • Young girl visits a "tropical" studio in Jericho's Banana Land fun park. The studio is equipped with fantasy backdrops, a parrot and a snake. It is a popular spot for both children’s portraits as well as engagement pictures.
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  • First time models relax backstage at Palestinian designer Nadya Hazboun’s fashion show in Bethlehem.
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  • Gazan body builders jovially strike poses after a workout.
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  • Young women, fully dressed in “jilbab,” exercise in a gym in Gaza. The women say they cover at the gym because they have no privacy in the public sphere due to limited economic options.  They say they cannot afford private gyms and they’re tired of being stuck at home.
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  • Toy delivery van on Gaza Beach Highway.
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  • The Palestinian Girl Scouts of Ramallah at band practice.<br />
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Faiza (cymbols) and her family left Gaza after Israeli military incursions of last summer. Her family said 'enough'.  Founded in 1912, the scouts are a long respected Palestinian institution and their charter “accepts all diversity of Palestinians, to promote values  in creating a better world.” The girls joked they were on cusp of making their own rock and roll all girl band.
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  • A coffee seller in traditional dress takes a break for a smoke, in Abwein on the West Bank.
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  • An English literature student at the Islamic University in Gaza takes a break with fellow students. She is eager to apply her English skills and says that her dream is to travel the world. The siege on Gaza makes travel near impossible for the vast majority of Gazans.
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  • Youth play cards on a roof top in the Dheisheh refugee camp. The camp is overbuilt and the roof provides a breeze and space to breath.
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  • Khalid Zir and his five daughters take a break beside the ruins of their demolished home, in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan.
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  • An elderly man waits in his son’s new business enterprise, a wedding hall called “Bliss Life.” He talks endlessly of his village he was forced to leave in 1948 as a young boy, just a few kilometers away across Israel’s Erez border crossing. He was never able to return. It no longer exists. Gaza.
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  • Ramallah, West Bank....high school students try on dresses for a school dance.
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  • Father, baby, bottle and uncle go for a motorcycle ride on the Gaza Beach Highway.
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  • Women enjoy a family picnic, cooling off in the stream at Ein Farha, considered to be one of the most beautiful nature spots in the West Bank. It, like many other nature reserves and heritage sites in the West Bank, is occupied by the Israeli Nature and Parks Authority. Palestinian tourist enterprises are not allowed.
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  • A young fiancee goes wedding dress shopping in Gaza. Her future husband is working in Libya, where she hopes to join him. Since the Israeli siege, many Gazans say that girls are marrying younger as there are now fewer possibilities for both work and travel. Most young girls say they hope to find a husband who is based outside or will find work that will take them away from the confines of Gaza.
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Tanya Habjouqa

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