Visualizing a Society on the Brink: Gaza and Hebron

Abstract

This article begins with Operation Protective Edge, the Israeli military operation against Gaza during the summer months of 2014. This article examines the Israeli use of language and the emphasis on terror, trauma and victimhood as vehicles upon which to mobilize and justify its multi-narrative, collective punishment of the Palestinian. I will identify how this use of language helps to frame Israel’s actions as democratic by acting in defence, a process articulated throughout previous military operations. Such a process is implicit within the dominant political imaginary that constitutes much of the popular discourse that shapes the Israeli relationship with the Palestinian. Thereafter, I will highlight how a number of documentary photographers have sought to challenge the political visibilities related to the Israeli Palestine conflict by attempting to visualize the ongoing ‘catastrophization of Gaza’ before switching my attention to Hebron and the work of the photography collective, Activestills.