Photographs by Wallace Karbe

Mid-Eastern women have given the finger to politics. They've nailed style in a most unusual way.

Nail-Art is a fashion which is sweeping Israel/Palestine, from stylish secular Arab women to Israeli teens, mums and even grandmums.

Following our story, this writer and photographer started out in a town called Ramle.

This is inhabited predominantly by Arabs and Sephardic Jews. We had been told that Ramle has several nail salons.

Ramle is something of a crumbling and colorful town. It has all sorts of higgledy-piggledy buildings, a deliciously inviting market, and lots of mosques with ancient, skinny minarets. Toppled urns here and there contrive to suggest ancient archaeological findings. Balconies accommodate, chaotically, chairs, umbrellas, plants, bicycles, prams.

We find a couple of salons; they are graced by beautiful and extraordinarily exotic young assistants. The owners are not present and so the assistants are not at liberty to give us access to a story.

Ah, here is a salon where the owner is present. She is upstairs. Chatting to an elderly and young woman downstairs, they both show me their nails. These are utterly decorative, ornamental and striking. The women are proud of their nails, justifiably so, and not afraid to show it.

Some would call it kitsch, many would say divine as in, ''divine, doll''. Here, with 

this particular fashion, there is no reticence. Anything that can fit onto the expanse of a nail, goes. Or should I say talons, because talons, truthfully, is what they more frequently are.

 A darling swarthy little boy, sporting the most magnificent Afro, dashes upstairs to call the owner. She scowls at the suggestion of being observed at her craft. What's in it for her, she conveys, free photographs?  No, she is not interested.

We then see a faded advertisement for another nail salon. “Angelique”, says the poster, temptingly, accompanied by a cell number.  The photographer gets it into his head that “Angelique” is the key to this story. Intuition tells me otherwise. More of this later.

We carry on with our quest in Ramle.  I spot an attractive young woman with the coveted nails. It's now a case of stalking. Discreetly.

Grabbing what is hopefully a good moment, I fall into step with her and express an interest in her nails. They sport a rainbow-type motif. We need a picture of her nails, she needs to use my cellphone. A good bit of Mid-Eastern bartering attends to both of our needs.

''Angelique?'' I enquire tremulously, when I finally get the aforementioned on the cellphone. At the continued insistence of the photographer, I splutter out my request to observe her at her craft - and she will have a non-faded photograph at the end of it.

 ''Not interested,'' she says, unceremoniously.

 We have to look, now, in a different area.

We make our way to Beit Shemesh, a town south of Jerusalem. It has very becoming aspects to it: beautiful bougainvilleas in every hue climb up the golden Jerusalem stone. Calming traffic circles boast well maintained flower beds.  Rolling forests can be seen from differing vantage points. Old Beit Shemesh is inhabited largely by blue collar Sephardic Jews. It is not unusual to see huge delivery trucks in front of some of these homes. These trucks belong to the home owners and are part of their working lives. Some of the houses have conquered the desert and have attractive little gardens using stones, pebbles and pot-plants. We also saw some surprisingly large homes.  

Newer Beit Shemesh has an extremely religious and large Anglo population.

Apparently in the industrial section, we are told, there is a spanking new beauty salon

Indeed, here in a dusty, harsh area, full of scrub, sand and huge boulders, is a brand new shopping center.

Aviva is the owner and main practitioner. She is a lovely, warm and approachable woman in her thirties. She tells me that this 'Nail Art' originated in America about 35 years ago. It came to the East some 20 years ago.

She's presently painting daisies onto the pinkie and finger next to it on both hands of a young woman.  The petals are painted a sensuous creamy white color. In the middle of each flower is a 'diamond'.

The young woman's boyfriend (there's no wedding ring) is standing by solicitously. He's got the money, honey, and this is no cheap thrill. With enormous skill and concentration, Aviva is painting the petals with just the right amount of fullness.

A full set of nails costs 300 shekels. Aviva tells me that no matter the financial status of her clients, when it comes to beauty treatments such as this, somehow the money is found.

Smells emanate from all the products and procedures. We are now in the thick of that

particular type of beauty salon intimacy. Women doing things to and for other women.

Bottles of nail polish gleam, each one boasting its particular color appeal. The women all have set, determined looks on their faces; each one knows, both practitioner and client, exactly what she wants.

The second client takes the chair. She is a charming and open-mannered first time mum.  Her gorgeous baby, dressed in the latest gym gear, is being minded by a young relative.

Aviva applies a piece of transparent plastic onto the nail and glues it down. She then shapes this. The current preference is long and square. And now, the artistry begins.  A celestial scene begins to emerge onto this tiny “canvas” (each fingernail), using acrylic or oil-based paints. Then an inviting compartmentalized container is produced, full of adornments: beads, sequins, stones, crystals – even of the Swarovski variety.

Right in the middle of this delicate, painstaking procedure, a “freicha” bursts into the room. This means a bit of a skanky middle-aged kugel – mutton dressed as shish kebab.  The client very good-naturedly allows Aviva to attend to this woman – she needs a quick touch up. As this happens, the gym clad infant almost falls on her head due to the inattention of the child minder. Peacefulness resumes when the the woman leaves.

Now Aviva is applying the final touches to her work – she is coating the nails with an extremely hard resin. This coating has certain elasticity properties to prevent chipping and brittleness. The work is completed and the client is utterly delighted.

''What if this Nail Art goes out of fashion?” I ask.

''That cannot be... Heaven forbid, I love my work too much,'' says Aviva.