I started this project with questions about my personal identity and about the place—the village of Beit Hanoun. Very quickly I realized that the answers to my questions can be found among the roots of the carob tree, which represents my family, the Abu el-Ela family. In Beit Hanoun, an unrecognized village, I found a carob tree that was burned to the ground but whose trunk did not break, just as the village’s refugees did not break.

As I was exploring the village mysterious signs appeared before me, such as an arrow, a red mark on the tree, which I perceived as divine signals revealed also in the rocks. When I followed these signs, they led me to an unknown place in Beit Hanoun. I photographed the signs I found on my way, and used a graphics editor (Photoshop) to turn them into meaningful graphic symbols.

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