CHO Jinsub, Photographer based in Seoul, South KOREA

Israel was established on land which, according to the Old Testament, God had promised to the people chosen by Him. Great Britain supported establishing a “national home for the Jewish people” through the Balfour Declaration in 1917, and Israel was founded on May 14, 1948. The violent conflict between Palestine and Israel then began and has become the Earth’s most volatile region. The two sides briefly reached a peace agreement with the Oslo Accords in 1993, but a series of assassinations of key political figures on both sides broke the fragile peace process. An on-going conflict continues today.
To make things worse, the decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem and declaring the city as Israel’s capital by the U.S. president Trump in 2017 struck a big blow to the peace process. This caused a global outcry and the Palestinians protested violently. The Israeli government is expanding, rather than withdrawing, illegally defined settlements under the 4th Geneva Convention, which prohibits occupying countries from relocating or residing in the occupied lands. Under the guise of protecting its own nationals, a large wall is under construction while Israel allocates military force and police within the settlement. The settlers arm themselves for safety.
Israel was established on land which, according to the Old Testament, God had promised to the people chosen by Him. Great Britain supported establishing a “national home for the Jewish people” through the Balfour Declaration in 1917, and Israel was founded on May 14, 1948. The violent conflict between Palestine and Israel then began and has become the Earth’s most volatile region. The two sides briefly reached a peace agreement with the Oslo Accords in 1993, but a series of assassinations of key political figures on both sides broke the fragile peace process. An on-going conflict continues today.
To make things worse, the decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem and declaring the city as Israel’s capital by the U.S. president Trump in 2017 struck a big blow to the peace process. This caused a global outcry and the Palestinians protested violently. The Israeli government is expanding, rather than withdrawing, illegally defined settlements under the 4th Geneva Convention, which prohibits occupying countries from relocating or residing in the occupied lands. Under the guise of protecting its own nationals, a large wall is under construction while Israel allocates military force and police within the settlement. The settlers arm themselves for safety.
Referring to the region of Palestine, Zionist Movement leader Theodor Herzl said that a nation should be established because it is “a land without a people for a people without a land.” However, people had already been living on that land. Hakam and his family live between the wall and the settlement, and Khwise lives in the Bedouin village, ‘Khan Al Ahmar,’ surrounded by the illegal settlements.

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In July 2018, the Israeli Parliament approved a bill defining Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. The Trump Administration cut aid to the UNRWA while canceling support for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network. The Promised Land doesn’t seem so tolerant toward the Palestinians. Israel’s Judaic god is merciless to those believing in another god.