Photo essay: Colonialism in the West Bank

Scott Weinstein, The Electronic Intifada, 17 October 2008

The following photo essay from 2003 is by Montreal photographer and community worker Scott Weinstein, who traveled to Palestine to work with the Palestine Red Crescent Society as a registered nurse. His photographs document the contemporary realities of Israeli colonialism and occupation in the West Bank, specifically focusing on settler violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank city of Hebron. As documented by numerous human rights organizations, Israeli settlers have beaten Palestinian civilians and forced many Palestinians to leave the historic city center in Hebron, traditionally an important and vibrant Palestinian center of commerce in the West Bank.

Israel's wall next to Har Homa settlement in the West Bank.


A street in the West Bank city of Hebron, where most Palestinians have been forced out by Israeli settlers. Israeli symbols are painted by settlers as signs of victory. In the background is a new Israeli settler building.


Hebron is continuously being ethnically cleansed of its Palestinian population. Israeli settlers, some seen in the building in the background, are protected by the Israeli military and bolstered by outside donors.


The Palestinian market in Hebron have been taken over by Israeli settlers, who drop trash and rocks on Palestinians below. The Palestinian market in the Old City of Hebron, once a node of the Palestinian economy in the West Bank, is now almost completely shut down.


A Palestinian woman looks out from her window in Hebron onto a street that has been almost completely cleansed of Palestinians. A Star of David has been painted on the wall by the Israeli settlers.

Scott Weinstein has worked in Palestine with the Palestine Red Crescent Society as a registered nurse. Currently, Weinstein is working with Independent Jewish Voices, associated with the Canada-wide Alliance of Concerned Jewish Canadians, a network of progressive Jewish people in Canada opposed to Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.