Israel

Tel Aviv was laid out on sand dunes north of Jaffa in 1909 and Jerusalem has been built on top of itself for three thousand years, and I spent my time there walking both of them. In Tel Aviv it is all recent and already worn: stucco coming off in sheets, a demolition lot fenced off beside a block of flats, fly-posters layered up a corner until the paper is thicker than the paint. Jerusalem does the same thing more slowly and in stone, in the covered markets with the stalls shuttered, the stepped lanes hollowed out by everyone who has ever climbed them, the walls of the quarters that are named for who holds them. Every surface in both cities has been claimed, lost, and claimed again.

The Dead Sea, at the end of the same short road, is where this runs out. There is a settlement at Kalia built in 1929 for the workers at the potash plant, abandoned in 1948, held as an army camp until 1967, opened as a beach resort, and left derelict, and it stands now on a salt flat with the water kilometers away and going further every year, drawn off by the same industry that put it there. I photographed the Salton Sea as a place undone by water arriving. This is the same account with the water running the other way. These are photographs of what each claim left behind.

Bare twisted tree on a salt-crusted stony shore beside flat hazy water under heavy cloud — Deadsea 2 Israel / Jordan / West Bank

Unpaved road curving in a tight hairpin around a scrub-dotted desert hillside above receding arid ridges — Desert Road 2

Abandoned flat-roofed concrete building with open colonnade, dry weeds and low kerbing overtaking its paved forecourt — Kalia 1 Kalia, West Bank

Free-standing concrete pillar with hooked crumbling top beside a derelict single-storey block of empty windows in sand — Kalia 2 Kalia, West Bank

Wedge-shaped concrete shell with dark doorways, buried to its base in piled pale rubble under grey cloud — Kalia 3 Kalia, West Bank

Small tree in an egg-shaped stone pot suspended by cables above an empty courtyard beside an arched stone building — Hanging Tree Tel Aviv, Israel

Corner of a weathered stone warehouse with shuttered arched doors, tangled overhead cables and a bare metal canopy frame — Street 1

Stone apartment block with balconies beside a fenced-off demolition site and a lit streetlamp at dusk — Street 2

Peeling stucco wall with fanlight and boarded door facing a gutted arched stone ruin behind hoardings — Street 3

Lone office chair on wet flagstones before an arcaded stone market building hung with souvenir stalls at dusk — Christian Chair Jerusalem, Israel

Deserted covered market aisle of empty stone counters and shuttered stalls under a fabric canopy roof — Market Jerusalem, Israel

Narrow stone alley at night ending at a carved arched wooden door lit by wall lamps — Synagogue 2

Empty stepped stone lane between tall walls, a grilled arched window at right and vaulted arch beyond — Jewish District 1

View through a stone arch to worn steps rising past an ironwork door under receding vaulted arches — Jewish District 2

Narrow stone stairway climbing through a dim vaulted passage towards a brightly lit wall at the top — Jewish District 3

Vaulted covered bazaar at night, shutters closed except one lit shop stacked with brass and ceramic vessels — Muslim District 1

Vaulted stone bazaar lane at night, shuttered shopfronts, strung bulbs and Arabic signs, distant figures and a cat — Muslim District 2

Narrow limestone alley opening onto an old stone building with satellite dish, dome and arched niche; two men rest below — Pathtowesternwall Jerusalem, Israel

Dented corrugated hoarding beside a graffitied shed, apartment blocks and a construction crane rising behind at night — City View 2

Balcony view down onto a parked car lot ringed by peeling apartment blocks, a round tower beyond, Hebrew shop signs — City View 3

Moon above weathered street corner buildings at night, layered fly-posters, graffitied shutters and a wrought-iron balcony — City View 4

Squat whitewashed corner building with rooftop frame and graffiti walls, laundry strung on a taller house behind, at night — Najara Street Tel Aviv, Israel

Roughly built stone wall with sagging tin roof and tarpaulin, rubble ground, streaked cloud in a long-exposure sky — Inbetween

Tangle of overhead cables on a leaning utility pole above a wet market alley at night, bicycle and abandoned sofa — Market 5

Bare spreading tree lit from below over an empty paved square, curved corner building and glowing streetlamps at night — Tree