'The soldier from the indicent above walked free on Tuesday.'
As I lead a delegation of UK students around the West Bank, I thought about how the trip was to benefit the Palestinian people. When they spend money, they help the Palestinian economy, their solidarity helps boost morale and when they record incidents of abuse they help give legitimacy to Palestinian claims of oppression.
The power that international qualifications of abuse give to Palestinians was shown by the release, earlier this week, of a video showing the shooting of a Palestinian youth. The video shows a soldier grabbing the young man and dragging him to his feet. He is blindfolded and handcuffed and looking unstable as he stands, the senior officer holding him instructs a nearby soldier to shoot him in the leg. The soldier raises his gun and shoots, at which point the photographer drops her camera in surprise and by the time the camera returns to him, the victim is on the ground in what appears to be quite a fair amount of pain.
When coming to respond to this incident, the usual IDF trick of denying any knowledge wouldn’t fly, unfortunately for them it had been caught on film. The brief suggestion by the IDF that the moment where the camera was out of focus represented a sinister editing trick was also quickly dropped for fear of embarrassment. In the end there was nothing to do but begrudgingly apologise and try as hard as possible to suggest that the incident was a one-off. The incident, claimed Ehud Barak “was a grave and wrong one and is not indicative of the IDF’s normsâ€, “Warriors do not behave like this”, he concluded philosophically.
It would seem safe to assume that Ehud Barak, in his long and brutal career would have, whilst not abided by one, at least heard of such a thing as a human rights report. This novel type of document normally contains within it an assessment of what is taking place in a certain area of the world and compares how well the actions of groups in that area correlate or fail to correlate with norms established in international human rights agreements. For somebody who had never read such a report on Palestine, seeing a video of a Palestinian man being shot for no immediate reason would indeed be surprising.
For an Israeli minister however, there can be no excuses. B’Tselem, the Israeli human rights group, reports frequently on abuses that take place and concludes that, “Both the army and the Border Police have yet to make it unequivocally clear to security forces serving in the Occupied Territories that it is absolutely forbidden to abuse and beat Palestiniansâ€. Their attempts thus far are deemed by B’Tselem to be “more lip service than a frank and honest attempt to uproot the phenomenon once and for allâ€
Amnesty International’s report into how soldiers treat Palestinians is also worth quoting at length: “impunity remained widespread for Israeli soldiers and settlers responsible for unlawful killings, ill-treatment and other abuses of human rights of Palestinians and attacks against their property. Investigations and prosecutions relating to such abuses were rare and usually only occurred when the abuses were exposed by human rights organizations and the media.”
Similar reports by Human Rights Watch, Al-Haq, Physicians for Human Rights, Breaking the Silence and many, many others paint a similar picture; that on top of the systematic abuse legitimized by the Apartheid regime in the West Bank, individual soldiers consistently violate, with impunity, the thin legal protection that is afforded to Palestinians. For anybody who took the time to google ‘human rights’ and ‘Israel’ the brutality of the situation faced by Palestinians would be readily evident and they would see that the incident in the video, instead of being a singular freakish occurrence, is actually wholly indicative of the way that Israeli ‘warriors’ behave.
Why then was there such an outpouring of anger and sorrow for the case of this one individual caught on camera?
There is definitely something to be said for the power of photography. A photo often does, paint a thousand words and seeing very often is believing. But beyond the clichés there is a deeper more sinister reason why despite mountains of evidence on other cases, it is only this one that will get the attention, if not the justice which it deserves.
The prevalent attitude that leads to Palestinian claims being ignored are evident in all facets of the history and politics of Palestine. Benny Morris, one of Israel’s most frank historians come political commentators managed to write an entire book about the greatest crime committed against Palestinians, the Nakba, using precious little first hand evidence from Palestinian witnesses. The reason? Because according to Morris, Palestinians (or Arabs as he calls them) have a “penchant for exaggeration†therefore they cannot be considered credible sources. Arabs, he tells us, are simply unable to tell the truth.
Edward Said wrote 30 years ago about the West’s orientalist attitude in its dealing with the Arab world. He argued that Arabs were represented as ‘the noble savage’, ruthless, merciless and untrustworthy. When one looks today at the occupation of Palestine and the way in which Palestinian claims of abuse are ignored, one can’t help but thinking that orientalism is alive and well.
As our delegation heard time and time again of beatings, torture and daily harrassment, one of them felt compelled to ask me “if there are so many incidents of abuse and so many first hand accounts of it, then why isn’t action being taken?”. One man who they met explained how his mother was shot on the front step of their house. He took us to her grave, he showed us the injuries that he suffered during her murder and the bullet holes on the nearby walls. Why was he still waiting for justice and why was his case to be ignored?
Another B’Tselem report explains that when Palestinians come to complain about their abuse, they are faced with “a system which tends not to believe them, and which tends to protect rather than prosecute those who injured themâ€. In most cases where a crime has been committed, procedure is to take an account of events from all those concerned, and use them, along any evidence at the scene to form a picture of what happened and thereby dish out justice accordingly. The fact that Palestinian complaints are ignored so out of hand suggests that Palestinians are not deemed human enough to be considered serious winesses.
Part of the statement by Barak is very revealing in this regard. Amongst the stream of empty words and crocodile tears of sorrow, he committed to “exact the full extent of the law in this case”. ‘Only in this case’ because no Palestinian, with their deceptive lying ways, would ever be able to prove to the world that the abuse that they had suffered was real and even if they could, unless the crime they suffered was as blatant as the incident caught of film, then a suitable lie can be fabricated to explain it away.
Even when a crime is caught on film, however, it is not sufficient evidence for a conviction and as the criminal soldier from the incident above walked free on Tuesday, Palestinians will be wondering what they need to do to for the world to take seriously the daily attacks that they face. Because in Palestine, it would seem, even the camera lies.
Biography
Akram Salhab is a Palestinian from Jerusalem who is currently studying an undergraduate degree in Politics at the University of Leeds. He is active with the UK student movement, Action Palestine, as well as being the national student coordinator for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. He works with these organisations on campaigns to raise awareness of the plight of Palestinians and to give momentum to the BDS movement to end Apartheid.
Right to education campaign of An-Najah National University
our RESPONSE to uMSu motion ‘peace through education’
Our concerns
We at the Right to Education Campaign of An-Najah National University (ANU) are concerned that students of the University of Manchester are being asked to vote on a motion that is defamatory and unrepresentative of the actual situation. We urge the University of Manchester Student Union to remove it from the agenda of the General Meeting on 14th November 2007.
Introduction to An-Najah National University
The motion ‘Peace Through Education’ is defamatory because it repeatedly implies that ANU and its Student Council promotes, facilitates or has links with terrorism. ANU is a non-governmental public university governed by a board of Trustees located in the West Bank city of Nablus. With over 16,500 students enrolled in its 19 faculties and two colleges, it is the largest university in the West Bank. ANU has been active in the service of the Palestinian community at the local and national levels and it is an integral part of local community development in almost all fields. ANU has become a cradle and an incubator for a plethora of social and civic activities. Each year the university hosts tens of activities for local and national NGOs: lectures, workshops, conferences, exhibitions, and artistic performances.
Moreover, ANU is the only university in the West Bank that has a full-fledged FM Radio Station that offers a multitude of educational, cultural, and news programs. The FM station is being utilized to enhance the interaction between the university and the local community and has a wide listenership in the Governorate of Nablus and throughout the Northern West Bank.
Likewise, ANU main library has a video conference facility that is open for the use of students and community organizations to conduct seminars and workshops with other students and organizations in other parts of Palestine and around the world thus sharing valuable experiences gained in different localities and districts in several fields and build bridges between communities in Palestine and around the globe (see www.najah.edu). Each year, a student council is voted in by the student population. Neither the University nor its Student Council is a terrorist organisation, and the implication that they are is insulting.
Occupation
The motion ‘Peace Through Education’ fails to be representative of the actual situation because it omits any reference to the occupation. The West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem (named the Occupied Palestinian Territories) are under military occupation by Israel. Regardless of UN resolutions deeming the occupation illegal and demanding Israel’s withdrawal, and the International Court of Justice’s July 2004 finding that the Separation Wall is illegal, 8th June this year marked the occupation’s 40th anniversary. Israel, as an occupying power, has the responsibility under international humanitarian law to protect its occupied population and to not allow its citizens to settle on occupied land.
Yet, the following statistics accumulated since September 2000 indicate Israel’s flagrant disregard for the law, human life and dignity, and clearly show the high human cost of the Israeli military occupation:
4,345 Palestinians killed by Israelis (1,027 Israelis killed by Palestinians)
971 Palestinian children killed by Israelis (119 Israeli children killed by Palestinians)
31,531 Palestinians injured by Israelis (7,633 Israelis injured by Palestinians)
4,170 Palestinian homes demolished (0 Israeli homes demolished)
40% Palestinian unemployment (9% Israeli unemployment)
223 ‘Jewish-only’ settlements and outposts built on Palestinian land
65 UN resolutions issued to Israel, none to OPT.
(Sources: If Americans Knew – www.ifamericansknew.org, B’Tselem, the Israeli Human Rights Information Center – www.btselem.org, Peace Now – www.peacenow.org.il)
The above figures place side by side Palestinian and Israeli deaths and injuries to show the disproportionate use of force against the Palestinian population. All deaths and injuries are to be regretted, indeed no single death or injury is any less devastating than another, but Palestinian casualties often go under-reported or not reported at all.
Education under occupation
The motion ‘Peace Through Education’ is additionally unrepresentative of the situation because it speaks merely of ‘students being regularly disrupted on their way to university by Israeli checkpoints’, education ‘being infringed upon’ and ‘hindered’. The impact of the Israeli military occupation on higher education can be measured in many ways, all of which defy this mild description. Here is a brief summary of the ways in which the educational process is obstructed at An-Najah as a direct consequence of the occupation:
56 students killed as a result of the occupation; 1 lecturer, Professor Khaled Salah, and his son (16) shot dead in their home by Israeli military;
According to today’s estimates, over 100 students and six members of staff are in prison, some held without charge;
Approximately 10,000 students daily or weekly subjected to degrading and humiliating treatment at checkpoints;
Thousands of hours lost waiting at checkpoints; Approximately 30 students of Palestinian origin living in Israeli with Israeli identity cards having to enter Nablus illegally to study (Israeli ID holders are not permitted to enter Nablus); Prevention of students from Gaza from studying at An-Najah, which is the only West Bank or Gazan university to offer some subjects such as Optometry; Denial of visas to foreign students and lecturers and Palestinian lecturers with foreign nationalities to take up teaching posts or places on courses; Barring of the importation of educational equipment and material.
The accusations of radicalism against ANU and its students show total ignorance of the real situation and belittle the unbearable suffering endured by Palestinian society under the yoke of the Israeli military occupation. ANU students and staff regularly express their condemnation of the atrocities committed by the Israeli military occupation authorities and they have the right to do so. Many students and employees lost family members, or have family members in Israeli jails. Many of our students and staff members have been injured themselves, tortured, and are humiliated on a daily basis on checkpoints. The expressions of condemnation are not the source of violence but are a direct result of the violence practiced on Palestinian society. The Israeli military occupation is the ultimate manifestation of violence and terrorism against an unarmed, defenceless, civilian population.
We urge the proposers of the motion ‘Peace Through Education’ to inform themselves more about the impact of the occupation upon the Occupied Palestinian Territories by reading, for example: the UN’s ‘The Humanitarian Impact on Palestinians of Israeli Settlements and Other Infrastructure in the West Bank’ -
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/TheHumanitarianImpactOfIsraeliInfrastructureTheWestBank_full.pdf), or Amnesty International’s 2007 report ‘Enduring occupation: Palestinians under Siege in the West Bank‘ – (http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_17772.pdf) or
B’Tselem’s 2007 report ‘Ground to a Halt: Denial of Palestinian’s Freedom of Movement in the West Bank’ -
http://www.btselem.org/english/publications/summaries/20070807_ground_to_a_halt.asp
Additionally, we urge the University of Manchester Student Union to withdraw the motion ‘Peace Through Education’ because it is unrepresentative and defamatory.
Right to Education Campaign
An-Najah National University
Nablus
11th November 2007