WATCH: B’Tselem 2011 West Bank video summary

Mairav Zonszein By Mairav Zonszein January 4, 2012 | Edit

Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem may be best known for is its camera  project, which started in 2007 when the organization began distributing video cameras to Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza. These cameras are often the only object Palestinians can “arm” themselves with in the face of discrimination, oppression and violence waged against them.

In 2011, volunteers in B’Tselem’s camera project filmed over 500 hours of footage in the West Bank. These are two minutes they collected and edited from it, depicting life under occupation and military rule, as a way to sum up the year that passed.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEukvh_Ajv4[/youtube]

From B’Tselem’s Facebook page, regarding the video:

Some of the incidents documented in this video are indeed a result of official policy (which we oppose) but in some of the cases the soldiers went against army orders and in at least two incidents, investigations were opened by the army’s Criminal Investigation Division and Police Investigation Unit as well as at least two by Israeli police in the West Bank – such that there are even incidents that are illegal according to the army’s own policies. Actually, the army and its various mechanisms of law enforcement actually utilize our video footage often in order to investigate incidents in the occupied territories.

 

Mairav Zonszein

Mairav Zonszein is a journalist and editor who writes about Israel-Palestine and its role in U.S. politics. Her publications include The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Review of Books, The Intercept, VICE News, Foreign Policy and many more.

<p>End of article module for Members</p>

TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence.    We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies.   This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza.   We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives.   Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

Make a Donation