프로그램 노트

Program Note​

Since 1948, Palestine has remained under illegal Israeli occupation. Even now, the region is the site of relentless bombings that continue to claim the lives of hundreds of civilians. And yet, for many Koreans, Palestine feels like a distant issue—something that surfaces briefly in our timelines only when news of a major attack breaks.

But Israel's apartheid against Palestinians is not confined to the spectacle of airstrikes. It is a violence that has persisted every single day for the past 77 years. Even now, in the region of Masafer Yatta, Palestinians are being subjected to ethnic cleansing. Homes that have been passed down since the days of their grandparents are being reduced to rubble by bulldozers. Families who have lived by farming olive trees are forcibly displaced, and Israeli settlements are built in their place. Under international law, these acts are clear violations, yet they continue unabated.

In the space of this grotesque violence—where Palestinian homes are demolished to make way for Israeli settlements—there is a familiar logo affixed to the heavy machinery. It belongs to HD Hyundai, one of South Korea's largest conglomerates. Suddenly, what once felt like a distant geopolitical issue jump-cuts into our lives—right to our doorstep.

“Corporations can’t be held responsible for how their equipment is used,” goes the logic of capital—a logic we’ve internalized, often without even realizing it. It is the silence and indifference of ordinary people like me that have allowed Israel to continue its campaign of ethnic cleansing in Palestine for 77 years, even as the international community has repeatedly denounced these actions as war crimes. We, too, are part of the system that enables this unfathomable violence to persist. (LEE Youngju)