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Ayada refugee camp, Occupied West Bank, Summer 2007.

The key in Palestine is the symbol of the memory of catastrophe and the right of return to homes that Palestinians were expelled from in 1948.

In 1947 the United Nations passed Resolution 181—a plan to partition Palestine into two states. A Jewish state was to be formed on 56% of Palestine and a Palestinian state on the remaining 44% of the land. The day the partition plan was passed the Jewish community owned only 5.8% of the land in Palestine and constituted just over a third of the territory’s total population. In the proposed Jewish state, the Arab and Jewish populations were nearly equal. This fact, created a demographic dilemma for the Jewish Agency in Palestine.

“The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as war.”

~David Ben-Gurion 1937

“There are 40% non-Jews in the areas allocated to the Jewish state. This composition is not a solid basis for a Jewish state. And we have to face this new reality with all its severity and distinctness. Such a demofraphic balance wuestionas our ability to maintain Jewish sovereignty…only a state with at least 80% Jews is a viable and stable state.”

~David Ben-Gurion, 1947

Nikon D200
Nikkor 35mm f/2