Activestills: Photography as Protest in Palestine/Israel edited by Vered Maimon and Shiraz Grinbaum (Pluto Press)

“The role of the camera was important in many things. For example, there were instances when Palestinians were accused by the army of striking soldiers, and that was a lie, and they were released after five or six days in prison because of the documentation. Also international and Israeli activists, after being falsely accused by the Israelis, were helped through our photography. I think that it will be possible to benefit from these photographs in claims to the International Criminal Court in The Hague about human rights violations that took place here.” Those are the words of Nariman Tamimi, one of the leaders of the protest movement against land confiscation in the village of Nabi Saleh. One-third of the illegal adjacent settlement of Halamish occupies privately-owned Palestinian land. During the second intifada, the IDF declared additional farming lands and the main spring belonging to Nabi Saleh a closed military zone. While Palestinians were denied access to their lands, the settlers were permitted to take over their fields. After two and a half years of weekly demonstrations, the villagers of Nabi Saleh were finally able to reach their fields and spring. The victory was short-lived, however, as the IDF expelled them once again just a few hours later. The entire affair was documented by the  photographers network Activestills. Photographs alone cannot efface discriminatory power or end the injustices of the occupation, but they create an archive that offers the potential for righting wrongs. This is the story of Activestills that’s presented in several photoessays in this inspiring eponymous book that’s part legacy and part blueprint for the ongoing struggle.