Behind the Lathmeh

I first came to Gaza in 2012 during the Israeli operation, “Pillar of Defence.” While I was covering the funeral of a leading Palestinian commander, I noticed that the man in front of me - a machine gun-toting Palestinian resistance fighter - had a ring on his hand; he was married of course. That detail allowed me to imagine him in a different light. It forced me to consider him as a husband, a father, a son, a brother -- not only as a fighter or "terrorist," according to Israel and much of the international community.

Behind The Lathmeh is a work about the human side of the Palestinian fighters. The “lathmeh” is the mask used by fighters for anonymity. Behind it, there is a human, but someone whose humanity has been robbed with the designation of “terrorist."

This word evokes more fear than any other type of criminal. A terrorist is something more, it's an almost mythical enemy. In war, this characterization paints the perfect enemy: a properly terrifying and inhuman monster that legitimates any kind of attack.

I began exploring a simple question: what make a person become a fighter? In 2013, I began a long-term project, “Behind the Lathmeh," for which I spent most of 2013 and 2014, including the last war. For this project, I am working with the five major militant groups operating in Gaza in an attempt to document "who" exists behind the masks, what kind of people can become fighters of the Palestinian resistance.

Through my time in Gaza with these militants, I quickly discovered the many challenges that all Gazans face. From this perspective, I came to understand that the explanation should perhaps be reversed: first looking at all of the civilian injustices and then, to arrive to understand who is behind the mask.

From my time in Gaza, I witnessed how, if you are not on the right side of politics, no one will help you. So in the situation of the fighters, I am documenting a condition that is not biological -- but a social condition and environment in which normal people put on masks and take up arms.

Lastly, through my time in Gaza, I discovered a central problem in the Israeli security framing. In their calculus, the “terrorist” designation extends to the fighters’ families. Israel blames the militants for civilian casualties, trumpeting the concept of “human shields.” Yet, working inside Gaza, particularly in these communities, it became clear that this phenomenon of the human shield is less of a strategy of the fighters and more a consequence of the israeli blockade. The civilian and fighter populations are so intertwined and the population so dense that to attack Gaza’s militants is to attack its families.

I have found an approaches photographically to hiding their identities while fully capturing the intimacy of their lives as well.