Return to al-Ma’in

The Palestinian historian Salman Abu Sitta worked for several years with Forensic Architecture to reconstruct his vanished birthplace as a 3D model—al-Ma’in village in the northern Negev desert.

Following its occupation by Israeli troops in 1948, the young Salman was expelled from al-Ma’in, along with the other villagers. Zionist militias carried out multiple coordinated attacks on Palestinian towns and villages, displacing over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. The Israeli army then set up a chain of militarized agricultural settlements, reducing the Gaza Strip’s territory.

Forensic Architecture discovered that on 7 October 2023, the Israeli army reopened the old route from al-Ma’in—along with a dozen other roads—and has been using it to carry out attacks on Gaza. Many of these routes were once traveled by the original inhabitants, including Salman, who still remembers many details of al-Ma’in—the well, the tree, and the place where he loved to hide in the fields of grain.