Palestinian National Authority, Ramallah

I am not a politician, nor a historian. I’m a photojournalist trying to show people how other people live. But in some places politics and history are by definition connected to reality in the streets. So I have to make choices too.

What defines a country?
This project focuses on street life in the capital of each country in the world. But what defines a country? Most people would argue that the Palestinian Authority does not define as a country, not in the least place by the Palestinians themselves. In their opinion Palestine is their occupied country. But that’s Israel now.

It doesn't mean Palestinians don't exist
The fact that they don’t have a country doesn’t mean that the Palestinians don’t exist. But where can I, for this project, photograph them? I choose to go two ways. A photo of Ramallah, the city on the West Bank, where the Palestinian government seats. And a photo of East-Jerusalem, the Palestinian preferred capital. I realize that opinions on this matter will highly differ. I had to make a choice and this is it.

A 'normal' side of life in Ramallah
Walking through the streets of downtown Ramallah I realized that I have mostly seen images of ‘the Palestinians’ throwing rocks at soldiers. Although that still happens in many places I was actually surprised about the totally other side of this place where life somehow also seems to have a ‘normal’ side to it.

People who care about their business, talking to friends, kids playing, women being quite liberally dressed. A side I hadn’t seen before and a side I though was important to show too. I guess this photo is a rather unexpected one when you think about Ramallah and that is exactly why I like it. It shows the unexpected.  Perhaps making the Palestinians a little more like ‘us’ then we knew they were.