The Bitter Landscapes of Palestine

'The photographs and texts by David Shulman and Margaret Olin of the literally hardscrabble existence of Arab goat herders on lands now claimed and contested by Israeli "settlers" from elsewhere render that dreadful tug-of-war human, all too human. These images bridge the gap between global politics and everyday life in zones of conflict in ways that ordinary reporting cannot hope to achieve. They capture the rhythms, random gestures and hint of the better natures of avowed "enemies" as well as the humble beauty of the animals that graze and thereby truly occupy this ideologically charged territory. In these images a germ of peace survives even as our awareness of continual dispossession and gathering, spasmodic devastation increases.'

'The photographs and texts by David Shulman and Margaret Olin of the literally hardscrabble existence of Arab goat herders on lands now claimed and contested by Israeli "settlers" from elsewhere render that dreadful tug-of-war human, all too human. These images bridge the gap between global politics and everyday life in zones of conflict in ways that ordinary reporting cannot hope to achieve. They capture the rhythms, random gestures and hint of the better natures of avowed "enemies" as well as the humble beauty of the animals that graze and thereby truly occupy this ideologically charged territory. In these images a germ of peace survives even as our awareness of continual dispossession and gathering, spasmodic devastation increases.'

Margaret Olin, born Chicago, 1948, is Senior Lecturer Emerita, Yale University. She specializes in visual culture and theory, and is also a photographer active in the Israeli-Palestinian peace movement.

David Shulman, born Waterloo Iowa, 1949, is a Professor Emeritus, Hebrew University Jerusalem. He is scholar of South Asian language and literature, and veteran activist in the Israeli-Palestinian peace movement.