2020 Winner
A chronicle of a love story set in one of the longest and most complicated contemporary conflicts, the Israeli-Palestinian war.
Antonio Faccilongo
Book Award Years
Finalists
HABIBI is the winner of the 2020 FotoEvidence Book Award with World Press Photo. The Book Award is given each year to a photographer whose work demonstrates courage and commitment in the pursuit of human rights. The project was selected to be published as a book by an international jury. HABIBI, is a chronicle of a love story set in one of the longest and most complicated contemporary conflicts, the Israeli-Palestinian war. It follows families in Palestine with men serving long sentences in Israeli jails, who smuggle sperm and use in-vitro fertilization to have children. Most media depict Palestine as a war zone. HABIBI takes a purely humanistic approach to one non-violent response to oppression.
Photo: Antonio Faccilongo Tulkarem, Palestine
Amma Elian is the wife of Anwa. He was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to life imprisonment. They have twins conceived through IVF. Initially, Palestinian families were afraid to declare that they had done IVF. But, in 2017, The Palestinian Supreme Fatwa Council issued an edict permitting it for men with long sentences. Now, a greater degree of openness exists for those who have had children by IVF.