The Observers observed

United Nations (UN) peacekeepers at the UN Observation post, OP 73, Golan Heights, looking towards Mt. Herman. The area depicted, looking towards the Israeli Early Warning Listening Stations, was one of the most sensitive areas in the Golan Heights. The Mt. Herman base is mainly composed of large geodesic domes. Gittoes accompanied the Australian peacekeeper Lt. Col. Tony Miles into this UNTSO region. In addition to Australia peacekeepers, Gittoes has depicted Israeli IDF members. The text accompanying this work notes; 'Apparently the Syrians captured these high tech bases during the last war and transported the top secret American equipment to Russia where it was carefully analaysed. The UNTSO officers live with the assumption that the Israelis on Mt. Herman can see and photograph the print in the letters they type... for the detail in this drawing I sketched the installation through a pair of rarely used binoculars into my note book... the large highly accurate binoculars are the Japanese government's contribution to UNTSO'. This drawing is the result of the Australian Army's sponsorship of Gittoes' travel to Western Sahara, Egypt, Israel, Jordon, Lebanon and Syria from January to March 1994 to cover peacekeeping activities and operations in these countries. Australian peacekeepers in Israel were involved in the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) operation.