Israel

Israel: 50 Years celebrates the climactic forging of the Jewish state with images by the Magnum photographers who were there to record the daily life, joys, and sorrows of the Jews, Arabs, and Christians living in Palestine at the time of Israel's founding in 1948. Many of these memorable images alerted the world to the unfolding drama of a new nation as it began; others, taken as recently as yesterday, capture the youth of contemporary Israel, members of a new generation who want to move beyond old conflicts. From its tenuous beginnings to the present day, Israel has been a special assignment for Magnum. Founding members Robert Capa and David Seymour were themselves Jewish emigres from central Europe who shared enormous enthusiasm for the struggle of the new arrivals and covered their story with deep affection, while fellow founding member George Rodger documented the Arab exiles on Israel's borders, questioning the price of Jewish victory.