Is the areas crossing a checkpoint between israel and the gaza strip. Close to 2000000 palestinians live on the other side to dispense. Theyve been launching isolated from the rest of the world for more than a decade. The lives of the people who live here a shaped by. The unresolved conflict between israelis and palestinians. Maher winterize he is helping to preserve gazas history. This box contains 1st across from the 1940 s. Through the 1970 s. They pass of a huge collection from the former care home photo studio which was later in the care of to us he and his family. This is a picture of anwar sadat when he was a young officer in gaza these photos were taken back after. And heres a picture of Mohamed Nasheed the 1st president of the arab republic of egypt. Are there to give this a shake of honor when he came to gather in 1959 that he was welcomed by the mayor and some other local dignitaries. Here shame eating some egyptian officers who worked for the military administration. This is the train station not the railroad connected gaza and egypt a station was later toned down. From a one saran see these photos has i treasure trove of gazas history the negatives and prints reflect the culture and identity of the local residents. But only a few of the photographs have survived many were not properly stored and suffered significant damage from oyster some of the negatives will never developed. The date and location of the 1st graphs were not always recorded. The 1st graphs were taken by kay hunchy how young he was born in armenia in the 1915 his mother fled the Armenian Genocide and took her infant son with her to syria how malaysia settled in jerusalem and in the early 1940 s. Moved to gaza where he started working as a photographer. Tell you about castle he started his photography studio of 947. Broken homes are in 148 many palestinians fled to gaza in the west bank. Had experienced a similar situation in armenia. Armenia. He considered gaza his 2nd home and started taking pictures of various events including the war. The archive all of his photos so that future generations could see the. Marwan to ransey is trying to preserve this material because it provides a detailed account of gazas rich and turbulent history with displacement and loss looming large in peoples collective memory. Can come and others took these dramatic pleasure crafts in 1948. After the founding of the state of israel that same year the arab israeli war that followed almost immediately tens of thousands of palestinian sort refuge and. Many were housed in refugee camps in 949 and United Nations agency was created to provide humanitarian aid and economic support for the refugees. Even today many refugees and their descendants still live in refugee camps like all shanty over the years they build houses and corrugated Metal Structures to replace their tents. Sharifs their han knows this area well. Hes a photographer and artist and spent many years working for. These children are full all 5th generation refugees many of the palestinians demand that they be allowed to return to their former homes in what is now israel and the west bank. A long time for. Throwing me. So grants cross. Like many palestinian photographers who came before him sharifs or han believes that its important to put tre everyday life in the stories that dont make the headlines. These crab fisherman congo far out to sea due to restrictions imposed by the israeli navy. See the seal of asia through my photographs are trying to portray the rich diversity of life and address the photography and not of all that most people know about gardens war destruction the blockade of the occupation all of. That all good but there are other sides to the story what is life like on the street and at home the people hold very loved and go to work. I try to counter all those aspects of life from my father. And our mother for the last. In ancient times gaza was an important mediterranean port city it was part of the Ottoman Empire until the end of world war one the british mandate of a palestine including gaza last it until 948. 00 gaza was then administered by egypt until 967 and subsequently occupied by israel following the 6 day war. A form of palestinian selfgovernment was created in 1904 with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 2007 the radical Islamic Group hamas took over the gaza strip israel then stepped up its control of the gaza sea coast space and land brutes citing security concerns that. There have been 3 wars and several smaller conflicts in gaza over the last decade Palestinian Militants sometimes fire rockets at nearby israeli towns and cities israel responds with strikes. Palestinians continue to hope for the creation of their own independent state but there is hope suffocating. The middle east Peace Process is currently store. The new generation of palestinian photographers document the ongoing conflict as possible they were. But sharif sohan also believes that he and his colleagues have an obligation to record the history of his homeland through visual representation. Through the lens of his camera he presents his own perspective on the daily lives of gaza residents and how they see themselves. As stricken less than i was so. I dream a lot of people enjoy looking around the world for the price that they go through family photo albums to find out how their parents or grandparents are going to check or how you are trying to squeeze both important and difficult and its not limited to photographers i feel thats it and thats a task is to document the lives of palestinians today and for the next 100 years. Probably a lot easier today than it was 30 years or 7 years ago see you know seriously i have to. Give how we need to put together an archive for documents the daily lives of palestinians from the beginning of the 20th century had all of that but how should we do that. How do we develop this conscious document where the archive 3 stores that i was the goal is to help people learn about their history through photographs and not just by hearing stories about what i said as a look at em. She reefs are han is a cofounder of the artists collective called shabab baek which means windows in arabic. She. Goes up there because gaza is essentially cut off communication with the outside world is always an issue. Few people visit the strip and only a small number of gazans are able to travel by israel to the west bank or further afield. Theres a link of in the name were on a cluster of us but we cant leave gaza visit museums in london or paris or rome or anywhere else for the photo to be assured of and we can even go to the west bank to see the works of other artists. Laura bush or the can learn how will work at the shabby color do the same good bringing the world to us every month or whenever we can we host events were probably still new and more foreign artists talk to us on skype. We want to promote the exchange of cultures idea use and expertise. Brought around bringing all that palestinian artists. Really for those under the influence the leaders of. Today my one to rozzi is visiting the Traditional Market district. Look tar is one of the oldest commercial streets in gaza city. This is where kanji how yon opened his photo studio in the 1940 s. Marwan tells these older brother maurice began working for him and learning the art of photography in the 1960 s. No. There are. Still water to go to. The circuit. So. This is the im still submerged. In the mean because i was just going to show the muscle what do you need learn. From a lot of bombs all thats been done to one gun the gun in the middle of a shelf shot at the locking the hole in the family. Thousands of kilometers under will the way from gaza. Photographic legacy is also being preserved in southwestern france. And he put time is the oldest daughter in photography. And ajit was born and raised in costa. What would mean what is i have a say its happiness he was very and my mother was very welcomed. She did not know how to speak arabic but she spoke french and a little bit of english that many of the families that is. A fat age she was 20 only they became very good defense together we were very beautiful accepted in mean yes. On the hebrew tongue grew up in gaza in the 1950 s. And sixtys when the area was a very gyptian military Administration Later she studied in egypt she now knows. France with her husband. When she moved to france she brought along photographs of her family she left her other possessions behind in. These pictures of an eye hed taken by her father. I did go up stairs several times in fact to the dark and i would stand there with him. Now that we are talking there is the order of the world these chemicals that are there you know all this. Back it of chemicals its coming to me that i smell a field or that i remember the. And i would sit there with him and i was always amazed seeing pictures appearing you know slowly slowly when after he had been printed and then put in the chemicals and the picture that starts to appear. They thought his studio was a busy place. Only a few people own their own cameras. Many portraits from those days have been preserved for posterity. Everybody went to have their portraits and specially. The middle class and upper middle class and lower class they all went to her portrait everybody was photographed by my father that i think. Is that my father or my uncle or at least. The un relief and works agency for palestine refugees has its own Photo Archive in gaza. Where the photographs document the lives of refugees and their descendants over the last 70 years. Well thats because. Theres often a lot of detective work involved in archiving these photos he says thats particularly true of older where theres little or no information on where they were taken all the people who put trade in them. In the old days they used a different system for archiving it and we do know today of families came to the studio the photographer took pictures and made a file for each family so we marked the negatives with everyones names and stored them in a box because. I like a lot of ordinary negatives were filed without a date or any other information. So let us today photographers keep track of everything. Including the date and the place where the photo was taken that thats not how they used to once. When i 1st found the archives everything was just tossed together. In the last few years the same system for black and white and colorful to us and we write down any of the details on the name of the photographer of the year it was printed the copyright date and the credits. I. Want. To look at. You know how can. You. Together they look for clues as to the protests provenance or. Was this for talkers are documented and preserving problems today and used. For trying to preserve the world yes they are carve their workers are. Documented history at the same time i was on the. Recently much of this archive was digitized since the early 1950 s. U. N. Photographers have been documenting the lives of Palestinian Refugees and their descendants in lebanon syria jordan the west bank and gaza. Time and time again the nights of gaza residents have been impacted by International Events like the suez canal crisis in the 1956 which led to war between egypt and israel. In 56 that was the war that israel stayed about 5 months until until march from. November to tell march but i remember the details of that period as well in fact as we live on the main street we were immediately sent mother and the children all the i mean is of that where they had mostly all that into the back to the house of. They had houses near the Christian Church there the Greek Orthodox we were sent there because twas wide large awards ancient gaza has lots of ancient. Houses but my father did that come because he wanted to stay a tom and and he kept picturing there are lots of pictures of that period i remember i dont have them. He did picture a lot of the coming of the occupied. They found these photographs of dead civilians in one of his archive boxes. Its not known when where the photos were taken by whom. Even before the 956. 00 war they were frequent clashes between israeli troops and palestinian militias along the border there were casualties on all sides including civilians. The war ended in november 1956. Afterwards the un sent peacekeeping troops to patrol both sides of the border between egypt and israel. They stayed there until the 6 day war broke out in june 1967. 57 when the United Nations came in for the protection of gaza thats was you few neath. Became almost the fleas zone. For. Egypt egyptians came to buy from gaza what they did not have so gaza florist enormously enormously in that period that you could feel you could see. In my fathers work became even more fraught icing because he was the agent for. The company. For everything that the graph in the paper of the. Of the films or and he was the distribute for all the other photographers and by then many other young palestinians that were working with or that with with cocoa or with my father that they started the businesses as well and all over the best. Dear. In this time a number of high Profile International visitors travel to girls are including shake of her in june 1959 local newspapers reported that the communist revolution revisited the shotty refugee camp. Hollywood actor youll brinner also visited gaza on behalf of the United Nations to call attention to the plight of refugees in the region. When. And in 1960 indian Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru arrived in gaza to visit indian troops who were part of the Un Peacekeeping force. Gazas landscape has changed considerably over the years. More winter as hes trying to document this transformation. This is the grace ameri mosque the oldest and largest structure of its kind in the gaza strip. The centuries old building was severely damaged in world war one and rebuilt in the 1920 s. But some buildings have fallen into disrepair. Like the former al nasr cinema. Most of gazas movie theaters were shut down in the late 1980 s. Often due to Political Considerations they were seen as having a liberal influence. A number of Historic Buildings that were no longer used have been torn down like the former train station. Here marwan is visiting the signs of the railroad that once operated between gaza and egypt. For them was almost. Forgot it was. Their job on the. Other the other. One is among the largest of the. Last. Youre going to would like to get the money parents in fact. The days of train travel in gaza on long gone over the years restrictions on the movements of local residents have increased only specific groups of people such as those who are ill or are on business can apply for a permit to travel by israel but the application process as long and complicated. The rather Border Crossing between gaza and egypt has been frequently shot down in recent he is usually due to political tensions. Those who want to travel to egypt have to get permits from the hamas authorities and the egyptians. He was shocked when a small local below him of the playfield the english news television. News for. The family by muslim wanting to play or would you put on. The blessings and. Im in their home is a rapper and music producer who collects old shows across of gus a. Few used some of these pics his in a music video he made 0. 03. And lots of people want to leave gaza says im on but hes decided to stay. Though i wouldnt let my friends some great photos of gaza on the internet as well. They show that people in the gaza strip and elsewhere in palestine used to have freedom while the mission was. In the senate and this makes me want to write songs about the miserable conditions that we live in today and how people here used to live a fulfilling all i see is about. The economy in gaza and palestine was growing for cricket all of us who feel they had trains and an airport but theres no airport in gaza today and the solution the above is just ridiculous is that back in the sixtys we had an airport in the gaza strip the conversion. But now in 2020 we dont. Know why. Over half of gazas residents under the age of 30 most of them have never been outside the territory. Im a mere hammy says come to see a friend whos also a musician theyre going to try out a new song. With all. The musicians. And a lot of money. Unemployment is at 60 percent full time jobs are rare and young people do odd jobs just to get by sometimes their families help out with money. Which is. A little. Over the course says get me out of this cough and its not you who decides when i die i want to greet the right now i feel like im buried its my right to experience life travel to laugh and to plan for the future and for high attrition does but here in gaza i cant plan anything i dont know whats going to happen tomorrow well i still be alive how will there be a war i cant plan and i cant see the horizon. Well. There come a as you would that would. You what that would help her look was sick or less it wasnt going to be consoling vote has a new 1000000 enormous issue for the question. And 2nd that it was Good Government was going to. Fall. To the head of it as acute as head of the doctors that lived with that. Big cornelie settlement some other folks have told us that they were happy back then mosul they say they used to travel from gaza to nazareth and other places and there were no restrictions it was a lovely and dick friend but now there are border posts and your problems based on religion and politics. The whole situation has changed you see yes the kind of life that these older people enjoyed just doesnt exist anymore. The finished a moment out of hell emotionally real and now i havent gone to the Border Crossing in a long time about 15 years and im 26 years old so i should have done some traveling by now i want to experience other people are conscious of asking but i havent. Well. Im a mere ham is teaches a rap music coast at a local Breakdown School the project is called does the lives. Rap is not considered part of traditional arab music culture the artists distribute their music by the internet they have to get official permission to perform in public and the authorities usually dont grant i