The story behind the viral apartheid photo

 A. (right) is arrested by Border Police, while the Jewish boy who accused A. of assaulting him, Jerusalem’s Old City, July 25, 2015. (photo: Mahmoud Illean)
 Recently, a photograph made waves for its apparent depiction of the disparities in the treatment of Israeli and Palestinian minors. This is what happened to the boys in the photo, with a strange twist involving an Israeli soldier lost in a Palestinian village. 
By Avi Blecherman (translated by Hadas Leonov)
The following story is going to make your jaw drop, as it demonstrates the absurdity of this place, a reality beyond any imagination — especially if you are a Palestinian. This is a story about a family in Jerusalem who encounters the police three times in the span of a few days. Each encounter is its own adventure.
You probably remember the powerful photo shared across social media outlets from a few weeks back. Well, not the exact one, but rather its twin that was sold to one of the big news agencies. This one is very close to the original:
 It was taken a few Sundays ago during Tisha B’Av (a Jewish day of fasting which commemorates the destruction of both the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem) in the Muslim Quarter market not far from Damascus Gate. In the photo we see a Palestinian teen being arrested by two Israeli Border Policemen, looking nervous as his hands are folded behind his back. To his left is a Jewish boy, most likely a resident of the Muslim Quarter. A policeman accompanies him, only that the former gently puts his hand on the boy’s shoulder, as if he is strolling with his younger brother. He is even suppressing a tiny smile.
 In the original photo the Jewish boy is seen talking to the policeman, and it is clear he feels comfortable with him. One might guess that the reason they are there together is related to something that happened a moment earlier, though it is impossible to know from the photo. The difference in body language between the two boys — and between them and the policemen — is well pronounced, giving the photo its power. They illustrate better than any description what occupation and apartheid look like: a regime based on total separation between two groups that are treated in a very different manner by the government.
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