Kent Klich

During my first travels to Gaza I would photograph signs of protests, demonstrations, funerals and architecture which were marked by violence and illustrated the conflict between Israel and Palestine. After collaborating with PCHR, Palestinian Center for Human Rights. I started to work in Khan Younis on a project about Bahar street, Bahar meaning the sea. The street starts at the city centre and is lined with shops, grocery stores and soccer fields and goes all the way to the shore. There is also a hospital, a market, and UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), where they distributed food at the adjacent refugee camp. Near the camp there was an area of destroyed houses and, at the time, there was an Israeli settlement on the other side. The men and women in Khan Younis were close enough to watch the sea, but could not walk down to it because of the settlement. If they wanted to access the beach they had to travel inland and go through other Israeli checkpoints.