This article was originally published by Palestine News Network and is republished with permission.

A Palestinian photographer argues with Israeli soldiers during a military operation in the West Bank city of Ramallah. (Fadi Tanas, Maan Images)

Jamal Alaruri risks his life every time he goes to work. He is a Palestinian journalist, a man with a camera, and for that is subject to injury, arrest and death. Despite the reality, Alaruri made his career choice early in life. "Since childhood I saw the world as if through a lens, the landscape was a painting unfolding before my eyes."

He took his passion to the professional at the beginning of the first Intifada. "I photographed for the Agence France Presse and I couldn't put down the camera."

"Photography gives me the ability to transfer the Palestinian tragedy to the world, a picture of the movement of suffering. Transparently documented moments of killing and destruction are embodied in this medium."

Alaruri told PNN, "This is my resistance, my contribution to the Palestinian cause."

Colleague Abdel Rahim Qusini agrees. "For me photography is part of the campaign for us, for reality to speak for itself. The suffering that has become part of daily life is shown on the faces that are at once jovial, fatigued and bitter."

The Reuters photographer in the West Bank says, "Images of death and blood are alarming and are the reality that we live, the tragedy of every individual in our society. There are things that I cannot get out of my memory. Nablus is the city in which I live and have faced such difficult moments with my colleagues when the Israeli army comes and the we are surrounded by guns in the air and on the ground."

Qusini said, "The city had lived without electricity for days and I was going between the hospital and the Women's Union and my home. That is 60 kilometers that I ran and dodged the Israeli army so that I could send pictures of the sweep, the images that I took out the windows of the house and the hospital. Through everything that happened I took pictures."

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Qusini's colleague was killed right next to him, his camera being that which documented the death, the blood. He said, "It was one of the most difficult periods of my life."

Alaruri was also shot at last week's nonviolent demonstration against the Wall and settlements in western Ramallah's Bil'in Village. "I've been targeted numerous times, arrested and shot at. Most recently in Bil'in the two went hand in hand. I was taking pictures at the bullets were hitting just meters from me, aiming at the demonstrators until they were turned toward me. The bullet hit the lens and the impact shattered the camera into three parts. Fortunately it was mounted and acted as a protector this time."

He said, "They target us because of the images we capture. The scenes of children, or the pregnant woman at a checkpoint sticks with me. She is begging and the soldiers are screaming."

A Palestinian photographer with the Israeli daily Ha'aretz said, "The Israeli army has consistently prevented us from conveying the truth either through arrests or by detaining us for hours. They have confiscated cameras and film during our coverage of repressive practices."

Qusini added, "A Palestinian is subject to investigation, interrogation and detention, his movement and travel are banned. He is not immune because of his profession."

Alaruri said, "The Israeli press can move freely in all regions. We must stay in a small closed security area and are not allowed to leave because the soldiers say we are a danger to them. The Zionists play a major role in controlling the international media and falsifying the facts. They select the scenes, set the debate. But we have the truth on our side."