39. Abu Yad in the Wilderness
Judean Desert, West Bank - Palestine
2016
Giclée print on Hahnemühle photo rag paper
42 x 30 cm
$300
4/5 edition (+ AP)
"It's what you make, habibi"
Abu Yad is one of the most lovely people I have ever met in my life. He is from the Ta'amra region, a fiercely resistant Bedouin community to the East of Bethlehem which proved a thorn in the side of the British during the Mandate era. He is a taxi driver in the Bethlehem area but was once a high ranking police officer in the Palestinian Authority. He has been arrested numerous times by the Israeli military and interrogated violently - beaten so badly his teeth are missing. Despite this, he would often talk about how the "Jews and Arabs are cousins" and how corrupt politicians on both sides manipulate and stoke the conflict for their own benefits.
He always kept candy and a thermos of hot kawa (Arabic coffee) in his car at all times to share. He would often invite us to his house for dinner in the Ta'amra countryside. Abu Yad had an uncanny knack for delivering food to your plate unnoticed when your stomach was almost bursting from fullness.
In 2017, he came seriously ill. I have no knowledge of his current condition.