End of Hebron Road
End of Hebron Road
In the series End of Hebron Road, Gaston Zvi Ickowicz tells the story of the thousands of Palestinian laborers who cross from the West Bank into Israel each morning through Checkpoint 300 (Rachel Crossing). Rather than focusing on the workers, the checkpoint, or the soldiers, Ickowicz spends several years—sometimes shooting day after day—capturing a makeshift structure repeatedly built by one worker, Hamed Ahmed Saab Arhim Tura. The structure, constructed over and over again, is constantly dismantled by Israeli authorities, who prohibit construction in the area and the transfer of objects from the West Bank into Israel. Hamed arrives at the checkpoint around 2:30 AM to avoid the congestion and delays that follow. After crossing, he waits for hours until he is picked up for work in the morning. The structure serves as a temporary refuge during these long hours of waiting.
Like Hamed, who tirelessly rebuilds the temporary structure, Ickowicz returns again and again to photograph the same scene, capturing the structure after the workers have left the area. By choosing not to photograph the soldiers, workers, or the bustling checkpoint with its turnstiles and fences, Ickowicz shifts his focus away from the permanent elements of the checkpoint’s daily routine. Instead, he directs his gaze toward their reflections in the ever-changing images of the temporary structure, leaning against an olive tree.
The work was framed by a sound installation, a recording of Hamed’s monologue presenting his story in his own voice, describing his daily routine, arriving from his village to the tree.
״Listen, I leave my house at 2:00, 2:30. By 3:00, 2:45, I'm already in the car. The car takes me from my house to here. Sometimes the road flows completely without any issues, and sometimes... sometimes there are heavy traffic jams. Sometimes we encounter a checkpoint, and they do inspections on us and let us through without any problems.
But where's the problem? The problem is at the crossing. We get here, to the crossing, early in the morning, sometimes it flows completely, and sometimes it's closed. When the crossing is closed, the workers start fighting. One breaks his arm, another breaks his ribs. Sometimes they close the gates, and then the problem arises. When the gate [where the workers enter] is left open, no problems occur at all. The workers pass through, and everything is fine. But where do we encounter the problem? We encounter the problem when they close the gate of the crossing.
When they close the gate of the crossing, the workers—and I'm talking about 100,000 workers, 50,000 workers, 60,000, 70,000, I don't know exactly how many—enter, and a large crowd forms, and they start pushing each other. Then the workers create... create the chaos. The gate closure is the cause of the problem. We arrive here early, by 3:00 – 3:30, I'm already here, to avoid issues at the crossing. By 3:00 – 3:30, the crossing flows completely.
Now, as I said earlier, we come here to do a little... so we can provide for the children, [so we can] get by. That's our problem. Only the workers. Do you understand? Now we... when we enter from here... from here, the drive from my house to here takes between 40 to 50 minutes by car. Sometimes an hour, sometimes 30 minutes. It depends on the road situation.
After we leave the crossing, from here, we start on the way to work. We go down to [Begin Road], and from there, the boss's cars pick us up and take us to work. We usually work until 3:00 or 3:30. After 3:30, the boss picks us up from work and drops us off at the checkpoint here. Now, in the morning, at 3:30, he picks us up from here. At 4:00 or 5:00, he picks us up from here to work. We work until 3:00 – 3:30, and then we go back home.״ - Hamed Ahmed Saab
In the series End of Hebron Road, Gaston Zvi Ickowicz tells the story of the thousands of Palestinian laborers who cross from the West Bank into Israel each morning through Checkpoint 300 (Rachel Crossing). Rather than focusing on the workers, the checkpoint, or the soldiers, Ickowicz spends several years—sometimes shooting day after day—capturing a makeshift structure repeatedly built by one worker, Hamed Ahmed Saab Arhim Tura. The structure, constructed over and over again, is constantly dismantled by Israeli authorities, who prohibit construction in the area and the transfer of objects from the West Bank into Israel. Hamed arrives at the checkpoint around 2:30 AM to avoid the congestion and delays that follow. After crossing, he waits for hours until he is picked up for work in the morning. The structure serves as a temporary refuge during these long hours of waiting.
Like Hamed, who tirelessly rebuilds the temporary structure, Ickowicz returns again and again to photograph the same scene, capturing the structure after the workers have left the area. By choosing not to photograph the soldiers, workers, or the bustling checkpoint with its turnstiles and fences, Ickowicz shifts his focus away from the permanent elements of the checkpoint’s daily routine. Instead, he directs his gaze toward their reflections in the ever-changing images of the temporary structure, leaning against an olive tree.
The work was framed by a sound installation, a recording of Hamed’s monologue presenting his story in his own voice, describing his daily routine, arriving from his village to the tree.
״Listen, I leave my house at 2:00, 2:30. By 3:00, 2:45, I'm already in the car. The car takes me from my house to here. Sometimes the road flows completely without any issues, and sometimes... sometimes there are heavy traffic jams. Sometimes we encounter a checkpoint, and they do inspections on us and let us through without any problems.
But where's the problem? The problem is at the crossing. We get here, to the crossing, early in the morning, sometimes it flows completely, and sometimes it's closed. When the crossing is closed, the workers start fighting. One breaks his arm, another breaks his ribs. Sometimes they close the gates, and then the problem arises. When the gate [where the workers enter] is left open, no problems occur at all. The workers pass through, and everything is fine. But where do we encounter the problem? We encounter the problem when they close the gate of the crossing.
When they close the gate of the crossing, the workers—and I'm talking about 100,000 workers, 50,000 workers, 60,000, 70,000, I don't know exactly how many—enter, and a large crowd forms, and they start pushing each other. Then the workers create... create the chaos. The gate closure is the cause of the problem. We arrive here early, by 3:00 – 3:30, I'm already here, to avoid issues at the crossing. By 3:00 – 3:30, the crossing flows completely.
Now, as I said earlier, we come here to do a little... so we can provide for the children, [so we can] get by. That's our problem. Only the workers. Do you understand? Now we... when we enter from here... from here, the drive from my house to here takes between 40 to 50 minutes by car. Sometimes an hour, sometimes 30 minutes. It depends on the road situation.
After we leave the crossing, from here, we start on the way to work. We go down to [Begin Road], and from there, the boss's cars pick us up and take us to work. We usually work until 3:00 or 3:30. After 3:30, the boss picks us up from work and drops us off at the checkpoint here. Now, in the morning, at 3:30, he picks us up from here. At 4:00 or 5:00, he picks us up from here to work. We work until 3:00 – 3:30, and then we go back home.״ - Hamed Ahmed Saab
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