This work is a composite made from two different photographs. The majority of the image shows stacked petrol drums filled with concrete (see also, Barriers to Statehood, 1992) that the IDF would use to block the narrow alleyways in Gaza city, making through passage impossible. Such barriers could be rapidly installed, using bulldozers to stack three or four rows of barrels on top of each other. These dead ends were then used to entrap escaping youths seen throwing stones at IDF soldiers. Anyone with stones driven into these ‘cages’ was either killed or arrested. I always found it ironic that oil barrels, the basic unit of measure for the commodity most responsible for promoting western interference in middle eastern affairs, should be deployed against the indigenous people of the place. Ironic, that is, yet, symbolically speaking, somehow entirely appropriate!

The second image is of an historic archway found in an old street in the souk, or clothes market. This place dates back to the 4th century, to the time when Gaza was under Byzantine rule. Called the Al-Qaysariyya market, in Arabic, the area is adjacent to the Al-Omari Mosque. The name indicates its links to the Roman ‘Caesar’ of those times, Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor of Rome. This souk is also the commodities market of Gaza, where all the jewellers and sellers of gold, silver and jade have their businesses. Whenever things got heated in Gaza city and there were clashes between locals and the IDF, the Israelis would close down the Qaysariyya by decree, forcing all the businesses to stay locked and shuttered, as seen in this image. Since it was easier for me to photograph the streets in the absence of market crowds, I actually took this picture on a Friday, a day of rest. Looking back now, I cannot be sure whether the Qaysariyya was simply observing the holiday or had actually been locked down, for political reasons, at the time. However, for me, this image has a strong flavour of Gaza during the First Intifada, because things were so often closed “until further notice.” This happened all the time, causing huge inconvenience to everyone. Shops and businesses were closed irrespective of how important such places were to the smooth running and maintenance of the local economy.

In 1994, following the Oslo Accords, the notion of a passage that wasn’t in fact a passage - a way out that didn’t lead anywhere - or a promised economic stimulus that never manifested, were uppermost in everyone’s mind.

© October Gallery, London, 2021