It turned out not to be a story, but it is and is not what it seems – a group of lethargic people on a lazy day. Technical aspects of photography come up in conversation. For a court case, someone explains, there is no need for high-resolution video. Better to use low resolution and save storage space.

Feeling self-indulgent, I distract myself with my camera, set at high resolution.

The military authority gets the word,

and stops by the Ta’ayush volunteers for a photo op

In the background small boys try to get into their house.

I recall a photo from the day recorded in my first blog

The  farmer and his beads:

Throughout our time with him, the beads never ceased their steady rotation through his fingers. Were they a distraction like my camera? Or were they his way to stay calm as soldiers argue with him and around him and over his head and keep him from his field while he and his tractor stand idle?

He does not repeat this ritual every week. A farmer can devote only limited time and emotional energy to a drama of injustice and redemption, even for the sake of possibly reclaiming his land in some distant future.

And this: Is it a picnic?

No; the afternoon was always about this outpost, barely visible, with the Israeli flag:

The one in the background. Can you see it yet?Settlers built it on the edge of the settlement adjoining Palestinian property. Palestinians dare to build an outpost on their own property within sight of it. Just barely.

Or more likely they don’t dare.

The photographs stand for something that cannot be seen in them:

time

and patience.

© 2014 Margaret Olin.

text and photographs © 2014 Margaret Olin

About Ta’ayush: http://www.taayush.org/