WINTER 2025
ISSUE 1

(Image 1) Northern entrance to the city of Jericho in the Occupied Palestine territories. 35 Analog photography. November 2023.

Highway 60, stretching from Nazareth to Beersheba, passing through Hebron, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus, and Jenin, is said to have biblical origins. Biblical scholars regard this route as sacred, believing it to be the path once frequently travelled by patriarchs like Isaac, Jacob, and Abraham. According to tradition, they journeyed along this very road, moving between cities and villages in central Palestine.

(Image 2) An illegal Israeli settlement. 35 Analog photography. October 2023. (Image 3) A concrete military watchtower—both constructed along Highway 60 in the occupied Palestinian territories. 35 Analog photography. October 2023.

I often travel Highway 60, mainly between Ramallah and Nablus. Sometimes, I find myself wondering—did Isaac, Jacob, and Abraham, who once travelled these roads, also have to pass through checkpoints? Or did they take bypass roads? I remember my uncle once telling me that there was a time when he could have breakfast in Jaffa, lunch in Damascus, and dinner in Beirut, then return home to Nablus by nightfall. Perhaps he was exaggerating, but the point was clear: never try taking the bypass road in a small car like mine.

(Image 4) Kryat Netafim settlement as seen from the window of the car. 35 Analog photography. October 2023.

Since October 7th, Israel reintroduced checkpoints to the West Bank, yet the infrastructure for them had never been dismantled. The concrete outposts, signs, cement blocks—unused for years—remained in place, unmanned, with few exceptions. Then, in a single day, the occupation reinstated and manned all these checkpoints. Amidst this, the only sense of safety I find on these streets comes from the yellow transit buses of Palestinian intercity drivers. They navigate these roads like they’ve mastered every twist and turn, knowing the shortest distance between two points. I often find myself blindly following their lead, trusting their route through uncertainty.

(Image 5) A bus stop for settlers near Salfit city. 35 Analog photography. October 2023. (Image 6) The beginning of Al Muarajat Road leading to the Jordan Valley. 35 Analog photography. November 2023.

In November 2023, after over a month of being unable to visit my family in Nablus, my brother, sister-in-law, and I decided to drive from Ramallah. For the first time in years, I found myself in the back seat. When I first arrived in Palestine in 2008, I travelled between Nablus and Ramallah on public transport. More than a decade later, I saw how the infrastructure on both sides of the road had evolved under occupation. During that trip, I realized something: the death of the two-state solution, made clear by the landscape before me.

(Image 7) Toward the Dead Sea. 35 Analog photography. November 2023.

The high-quality infrastructure built by the Israeli occupation in the West Bank has always left me questioning its purpose. Why invest so much in well-built roads, bridges, and facilities if they plan to hand over the land for a future Palestinian state? I’ve often wondered: Is this an attempt to prepare an already functioning state for us, or does it signal an intention to never leave? The sleek highways and modern buildings seem almost too permanent, as if designed not for a future, but for an unchanging present.