The seemingly unending violence between Jews & Palestinians seems to characterize the entirety of what is presented by the media to the Western World. As such, much of the information is heavily politicized and the world sees Israel as a “land of conflict”, fueling divisional views on both sides. But there is much more to Israel than simply the "situation". People on both sides of the divide carry on day-to-day activities that characterize all peoples. What I have tried to do here is to capture the essence of both Jews & Arabs in Israel through the medium of black & white street-portrait photography. In the Middle East life is lived in the streets and markets and it is not difficult to find subjects. The challenge is to convince them to become willing subjects. Photographing a subject outside the context of media coverage is an invasive activity by definition. Thus, by necessity, intimate relationships, however momentary in time, were established with characters I met on the street, often over a cup of tea, a cigarette or even simply a willful glance. This is in essence a celebration of the common man. It is my hope that in looking at these photos the viewer would loose the ability to differentiate between Jew and Arab. This would then go some distance in breaking the stereotypic images many hold of each. As it is said, “from one father two sons…”.