Jenin, Jenin

In 2006 I visited Jenin, a sizeable city in the West Bank, known for—among other reasons—its highly productive soil. I worked with the American Friends Service Committee photographing their Popular Achievement Youth program. This visit offered me the opportunity to meet young Palestinians attempting to enrich their lives and the life of the community. In early July 2023 Israel once again attacked this center of armed and cultural resistance, killing 12, injuring hundreds of others, and destroying much of the refugee camp. The youth I photographed in 2006 would in this year, 2023, 17 years later, be now in their mid 30s and quite possibly among the recent dead and injured—or the fighters, whether armed or cultural. Jenin is the home of the legendary Freedom Theater.