Children play in the narrow streets of Al-Amary refugee camp.
Young girls with doll. Jalazone refugee camp.
A cobbler in his shop. Hebron.
A Palestinian unity rally stretches into the night. Ramallah.
A view of the old city of Hebron from inside a vacant Israeli guard tower.
A Palestinian boy taunts a young Israeli soldier. Hebron.
A dispute over ownership. Hebron.
Palestinian women walk through a once bustling marketplace now closed by the Israeli army. Hebron.
Palestinian children linger in front of the Israeli military guarded Beit Romano settlement. Hebron.
A young man takes cover from Israeli gunfire behind a rock wall. Bil'in.
A Palestinian man tries to break through a group of Israeli border police. Bil'in.
Demonstrators burn an American flag in protest to a U.S. veto at The United Nations denouncing Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Ramallah.
A young man kicks a tear gas canister during a demonstration. Bil'in.
A Palestinian youth hurls a stone with a sling at Israeli forces. Bil'in.
A Palestinian man throws a tear gas grenade back at Israeli Forces. Bil'in.
A boy runs from incoming fire. Bil'in.
A defiant Palestinian waves flags while being hit with a foul smelling chemical sprayed from an Israeli water cannon. Bil'in.
The effects of tear gas on a demonstrator. Bil'in.
A international activist near the barrier fence. Bil'in.
Villagers decorate a fence with used tear gas containers. Nabi Saleh.
Calf's blood is used on the hands of children to bless a home in Al-Amary refugee camp.
A camel is led to slaughter in Al-Arob refugee camp.
An Israeli activist is arrested by Israeli forces, triggering mayhem in the village of Nabi Saleh.
International activists are pepper sprayed and arrested. Nabi Saleh.
The female activist is placed in a military vehicle and taken away.
The view from the home of Mitri Awad Ghnam. The Israeli Government confiscated several acres of his land and built a wall through his front yard in the neighborhood of Beit Jala near Bethlehem.
A boy tends a makeshift goal that has been spray painted on a wall in Jalazone refugee camp.
- © Gabriel Romero
In March of 2011, I entered the West Bank to witness and photograph the 63-year conflict between the Palestinians and Israelis. In visiting this region, it was my hope to gain an understanding for this complex issue, and tell a small piece of a large story.
I discovered one thing that both unites, and divides, the people who live there today, and whose ancestors have lived there for millennia: struggle. Whether Palestinian or Israeli, whether Muslim, Jew or Christian, whether soldier or civilian, their stories are all, in some degree, about struggle. Struggling for a better life. Struggling for peace. Struggling for justice.
For what I found is that this conflict isn’t about, in a daily sense, religion or politics. It is about land and identity. It is about family and the people’s desire to have a future for themselves and their children.
This work is dedicated to all the people of Palestine and Israel.
May they find peace.



























