“In 1948, the establishment of the state of Israel triggered the first Arab-Israeli war and the departure of around 700,000 Palestinians to the neighboring countries. What remains today of the depopulated villages? I went to Israel in order to answer this question, to find and photograph the phantom villages remaining from this time. This photographic work is a journey back to the past in the places where Palestinian exile began sixty years ago. The landscapes I photographed are the silent witnesses of the genesis of this conflict, the starting point of the refugee issue. These demolished houses and villages are the last visual signs of the beginning of the dispute between the two peoples.”
Bruno Fert
