The Living Archive is an invitation to get to know the South Hebron Hills, an area in the occupied West Bank. We use photographs, videos, oral history recordings, and other methods to give a glimpse of what it means to live as a Palestinian in the South Hebron Hills. The idea of the Living Archive is to act against the drive to make Palestinian life in the South Hebron Hills area invisible and forgotten and instead to protect, promote, and share the residents’ present lives and future aspirations.
We are a small team from the South Hebron Hills together with friends from the region and further afield. We welcome visitors and supporters, as well as those who wish to collaborate with us in our artistic and political endeavours; please see support for more information.
The South Hebron Hills is located in ‘Area C’ in the occupied West Bank, as agreed in the 1990s Oslo Accords, and is thus under Israeli civil and military control. Many of the Palestinian villages in the region are threatened with demolition and expulsion by the Israeli authorities, particularly (but not only) in the ‘918 Firing Zone’ – an area of 30 square miles that was declared a military firing zone in the late 1970s. In that area Palestinian villagers have been expelled, had their homes demolished, and have struggled against the perpetual threat of further action since the late 1990s. Most of the villages are unrecognized, dispersed, and hard to reach physically. Homes are either made in caves, tents, or temporary structures, and residents are often cut off from contact with people from outside the villages.