“I didn’t have an easy time doing war. I remember being in Beirut one day and my timing was wrong. I photographed a woman who came out of this huge tragedy. There was a block of flats that had been bombed by the Israelis and it had collapsed like a club sandwich. I didn’t know that inside was her family. She saw me taking the picture and came rushing and started punching me. I had to take those blows because it was my fault for (a) intruding on her, (b) not getting her consent, which she wasn’t going to give anyway. She, was in deep grief. I just turned my back and took these tremendous blows. Then a Palestinian came up with a nine millimetre pistol and demanded my camera. He was pointing the pistol right between my eyes and pulling my arm, which had been broken in another recent war.
When I look back, I could have died for not giving him that camera. I should have said, ‘OK, take it.’ I’d committed a crime, in a way, because of bad judgement. I managed to keep my camera and I went back to the hotel because the crowds were so hostile. I was in a very nervous state and I ordered a cup of coffee. A man came in and said, ‘You know that woman who just attacked you?’ I said, ‘I don’t want to hear about it.’ He said, ‘she’s just been killed. Another car bomb went off just when you left and killed her.’
So I came back from that experience in Beirut and I made up my mind. I wasn’t going to go to war again, even though I did.”
Posted 2 years ago
