al-Haram al-Sharif

The Wailing Wall

Israeli soldiers congregate at the Western Wall in East Jerusalem.

Sunset at the Dead Sea

Big Skies

Dusk and dust settle over Amman as viewed from the Citadel

The Kite Sitter

A boy waits for his friend to pass him the kite on a windless Saturday at the Citadel.

A tale of 2 Abdouns

Just a stones throw from the fancy gym (above), coffeeshops and restaurants of Abdoun, where the well-heeled and ostentatiously rich of west Amman come to enjoy their leasure time, lies a very different neigbourhood - a small impoverished community where residents continue to eek out a living breeding chickens and goats. Dead dogs rot away in the street and children run around with no shoes.

Abdoun village, as this neighbourhood was known, was the first community in the area, that up until the 1990s was just farmland. Then came the second Gulf war and the expulsion of Palestinians from Kuwait and other Gulf sates following the PLOs support for Saddam Hussein. Many of those returning bought up land at cheap prices and built their huge mansions in the area surrounding this small village, in turn attracting the embassies, businesses and other leisure facilities that now dominate this upmarket yet rather souless area of the capital.

View from the Vi

Two worlds collide. The running track of the swanky Vi Gymn in Abdoun overlooks a cow shed on the edge of the run-down community.

Ya Amu Sawarna!!

Three young children from the same family are only to happy to pose for a pic as they play barefoot outside their home.

Dead Dogs and Flies

This unfortunate creature lays rotting at the side of the road. Another one was located within 20 yards but there was too much of a fly party going on to get close enough for another grisly shot. It seems like the municipality's road sweepers - who it has to be said do a great job of making Amman by far the cleanest city in region - do not venture here.

Young Nayef passes the day playing on an improvised swing which acts as the childrens'only play area. In the background are the million dollar plus villas which chatacterise much of this district.