Nadav Neuhaus

Between a rock and a hard place....Hani and his family are victims of circumstance. As the last home in the Palestinian village of Mescha, near Kalkila city, their house became the bordering property between Mescha and the Israeli settlement of Alkna, which sprung up next door. Two months ago, as the controversial ?security barrier? began to wind its way towards Mescha and Alkna, residents of Alkna complained that they did not want the wall built so close to the settlement. The result was a decision to bring the fence some 50 metres forward ? ultimately engulfing Hani?s property...Israel has defended the barrier as a necessary tool in fighting terrorism, but the building of the wall has its own victims. Locked between the settlement fence and the newly built security wall, Hani?s family property has been reduced to half a hectare of land surrounded in its entirety by concrete and wire fence ? an absurd no man?s land more akin to a zoo than a family home. ..Two months ago, it took Hani 15 minutes to walk to work and only a few minutes to visit his family living in the village. The route of the security fence has changed all of this. It takes Hani some two hours to make his way to work, and another two hours to return home, where his wife Mounira spends most of her day in dismal isolation. Entertaining is out of the question, as no one is allowed to cross the wall to visit the family. The couple must unlock an electronic gate to access their village or see their friends and family...In the garden, Gadad, their son, peers from behind the wire mesh fence at Israeli soldiers. A small remnant of the road cut off by the wall serves as a play area, where he rides his bike, but he does so alone...