More Than 1000 Words

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Sometimes I can't sleep

thinking about tomorrow.

If I could never sleep,

it would be perfect for me.

I'm always in sleep deficit.

I'm so full of energy

when I go to bed.

Just thinking about tomorrow

makes it hard to fall asleep.

I don't make a

living from my work

in the Palestinian territories.

Money is not what drives me.

In one day of commercial

work I make more than

in two months

in the territories.

I don't need these risks

to make a living.

I often cancel commercial

jobs not to miss the action.

I want to be there.

Do you know when

this obsession started?

When I realized...

that there are

fewer and fewer

consumers for the

materials that I shoot.

In most cases people

don't really want to know.

They...

They'd rather know less.

They don't want to know what

happens in the territories.

They don't really

want to know about

the people's hardships

if we talk about the conflict,

but also in our country

people don't want to see

the ugly face of poverty

or what a car accident with

young people torn to pieces

really looks like.

People just don't

want to know.

I can easily prove to you

that in the last decade

all the news magazines

have been in decline,

and all the lifestyle and economy

magazines have been rising.

And it's exactly these two

things, lifestyle and economy

that motivate the individual.

Ziv works very hard.

Ziv is addicted to his work.

He doesn't admit it,

but he's addicted.

In a way...

I started to enjoy his work...

the moment I stopped

competing with it.

I got married at 25

because my dream was

to have a husband and children.

So I have a husband,

and I have a daughter.

Shira, are you ready?

We have to go now.

I remember a few years ago

Ziv would tell me that

they really like journalists

over there because the

Palestinians really

like to be photographed,

and they like

to be interviewed.

I remember just

shortly after our wedding

my mother was

listening to the radio.

Suddenly she

called to tell me,

"A news photographer was shot."

It's one of those situations where

you never know how you'll react.

Suddenly, I was sure it was him,

and I totally lost it.

Kesem Junction please.

Daddy, but how will

you get back from there?

Until I finally

got hold of him...

Please stop at the

kindergarten.

He said, "Galit, I'm OK. They hit

the photographer next to me."

As if...

he thought it could

still never happen to him.

Although the bullet was

only inches away from him.

And now we've learned

that even journalists

are not immune

in the territories anymore.

The difference between

photojournalism and other

types of photography

is that photojournalism

is a way of life, not just a job.

If I compare it for example

to fashion photography,

a fashion photographer knows

a week or two in advance

what he'll shoot.

With news, I never know when

my day begins or where it ends.

The uncertainty

changes every aspect of life.

For example, I carry my camera

bag 24 hours a day with me

because I have to react fast.

If something happens,

I need to be the first to know

and the first to

arrive at the scene.

Which is why I always

have my bag, batteries,

film, memory cards, lenses,

cameras, flash, etc.

cigarettes and my

passport with me.

The work in the territories is

fundamentally different.

I can divide it into before and

after the current Intifada.

It was never like

a walk in the park.

Now it's even

more dangerous.

I obviously don't have

anything in Hebrew on me.

As few electronic

devices as possible.

Usually I take

off my sunglasses.

From their standpoint,

if you wear sunglasses

and have a shaved head,

you are Israeli Intelligence.

This is Bethlehem in

the beginning of the Intifada.

I'm at Rachel's tomb, and I'm

walking towards three soldiers

standing there on the street.

When I'm just 4 or 5 meters away,

a shot is fired,

and a soldier catches

a bullet in the neck from

a sniper and falls to the ground.

A sniper battle ensues.

We don't even know

where it's coming from.

I lie on the ground

with my hands over my head

and my cameras strewn

across the pavement.

I get a message on my beeper:

The soldier died

on the way to hospital.

I drive from Bethlehem to

the center of Jerusalem.

It's maybe 3 or 4

minutes, not more.

I get to Hillel St., and the

bizarre thing here is that people

are sitting around the coffee

shops, it's Friday afternoon,

they're drinking espresso,

reading the newspaper.

It's insane;

it's not like I landed from Africa.

I came from 3 kilometers away,

I was in the middle of a war zone;

people died before my eyes.

It's such a mad contrast.

It's insane.

You can't then go home,

put down the briefcase,

and life returns to normal.

There are scars, traumas,

smells, sounds and sights

that are engraved

in your memory,

and you carry them

for the rest of your life.

Are you awake?

Can we talk?

Yes.

The army just killed

[Hamas' leader] Ahmed Yassin.

Yes, I heard.

J.P., OK listen,

it's still early in the morning.

There's a complete closure

on the West-Bank and Gaza.

If anything happens,

I'll definitely let you know.

A total closure has been

placed on the West-Bank and Gaza.

All checkpoints are

closed to Palestinians.

The Israeli Police are on high alert,

following Yassin's liquidation.

Government spokesmen

say, "This is just the beginning,"

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