PURCHASE
From the Holy Land to Palestine (De La Terre Sainte A La Palestine)
Author: 
Serge Nègre
Stéphane Hessel
Wassim Fahim Abdullah
Danielle Autha
Publisher: 
Institute for Palestine Studies
Publication Year: 
2013
Language: 
English
Number of Pages: 
285
Keywords: 
Palestine
history
photography
Abstract

The originality of this book lies in the confrontation between the historical images of nineteenth-century photographer Felix Bonfils and the contemporary images of Serge Negre. In this process of combining images, which Negre calls "chrono-photo-confusion,"  the romantic and aesthetic attraction of historic places that are undeniable witnesses of the past give way to his own more modern approach that focuses on the inhabitants who make up the country today. The comparison of the photographs from the two periods and the way they are intimately linked highlight the historic, social and political continuity of Palestine.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Serge Negre, is a French photographer and founder of the Espace Photographique Arthur Batut. His research specialty is nineteenth-century photography, especially of the Middle East. He has worked on polar expeditions with Dr. Jean-Louis Etienne, as a specialist in satellite communications, and with kite aerial photography. He has been involved in the Middle East since 1972, first as a nurse for refugees in southern Lebanon and since then in Palestine.

Stéphane Hessel is a French diplomat and activist. He fought with the resistance during World War II and subsequently was deported to Buchenwald. He was secretary of the commission that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at the UN, the ideals of which he defends passionately to this day. His commitment to a just and durable solution to the conflict in the Middle East led him to meet Serge Negre, who invited him to Labruguière for an exhibition and conference on Israel/Palestine.

Wassim Fahim Abdullah, who offered his collection of Bonflis photographs for this book, is a Palestinian electronics and telecommunications engineer. He has established numerous TV and radio stations in Palestine and currently serves as the liaison engineer for the International Broadcasting Bureau (Radio SAWA) in the Palestinian Territories. During the course of his participation in various projections aimed at spurring the growth of multimedia and an information-based economy in the West Bank and Gaza, he met and dveloped a close friendship with Serge Negre. Mr Abdullah also worked as an editor and a camera crew member with Visnews during the war in Lebanon and siege of Beirut in 1982.

Danielle Autha has been fascinated by Palestine from a young age. Before the June 1967 war she worked in Palestine as a nurse. She is a book and map lover, and has extensively researched the history of Palestine through historical and archaeological documents and photographs.