“Shooting Back”: A New Lense for the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Nov 23rd, 2009 by Jeremy Withers
This video documents a project initiated by the human rights group B’Tselem titled “Shooting Back”. “We provide Palestinians living in high-conflict areas with video cameras, with the goal of bringing the reality of their lives under occupation to the attention of the Israeli and international public, exposing and seeking redress for violations of human rights” (www.btselem.org). “Shooting back” began as a need to gather evidence of human rights violations in the Occupied Territories of Palestine. The organization explains a key aim was “bridging this gap between what happens in the occupied Palestinian territories and what the Israeli public can see.” “There is a sort of conspiracy of silence surrounding settler violence especially, but also abuses by the IDF [(Israeli Defense Force)].” The project began in January 2007 and has since succeeded in bringing much public and media attention to rights violations through footage collected from almost 100 Palestinians given B’Tselem cameras.
Having travelled to the Palestinian city of Hebron, talked with a number of Palestinians there, and gone through a number of IDF checkpoints (albeit as a tourist), I understand the importance of “Shooting Back”. B’Tselem identifies well the feelings of muteness many Palestinian’s face regarding human rights violations. Although much of the population has a history of attempting to raise their voice on a global stage, many of their accounts are silenced by lack of evidence. Armed with cameras, many Palestinians are more empowered to break this silence.”We want to encourage a mentality to use the cameras. It is the only weapon that the civilians have.”
It is important to recognize that there is an element of sensationalization inherent in a video advocacy project such as “Shooting Back”. The videos that have so far received the most attention are the most violent and visually graphic. I feel, however, that B’Tselem provides a reasonable rebuttal to this critique. “We didn’t give out 100 video cameras to document rotten apples. It was to show there was something systematic happening and it was structural to the occupation.” Ultimately, the project would not have received so much footage of rights violations was there not “something systematic happening”.
“Shooting Back” attempts to communicate to the world in an arena that will be received with sincerity – human rights. As such, it aims to place voices where they will have the most powerful affect, inevitably at the “center”. It does, however, allow individuals to share experiences challenging dominant Israeli government narratives. There has long been a latent discursive formation employed by members of past and present Israeli governments and some media that is rarely internally challenged. This formation operates under the assumption that Israelis are victims to relentless Palestinian terrorism and therefore any actions they take are inherently defensive. “Shooting Back” grants authorship of a new narrative – Palestinians as victims to attacks, not Israelis. In this sense, the projects attempts to open avenues for subaltern voices to commit epistemic violence, raising questions of the ultimate result of occupation.
4 Responses to ““Shooting Back”: A New Lense for the Israel-Palestine Conflict”
This is an excellent post. I believe that if there is ever to be a resolution in the conflict, propaganda and media bias need to be fought with awareness and evidence showing the reality of the situation. By raising international awareness there can be more pressure to stop human rights violations. That is why this NGO is quite empowering and more organizations in the west need to shed light on the issue.
I think it is important to also comment on how effective these cameras can be. In the film there was the footage of the four Israeli settlers attacking the four Palestinian farmers with sticks. Due to the footage evidence, two of the settlers were arrested and charged with assault. This was the first camera evidence that resulted in arrest. This is a video of ‘Inside Story’ explaining the incident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrzxiQFgym8&feature=fvw. The cameras are even being used for security purposes. Many are asking for a camera, even if it is broken just so that settlers would be less likely to attack if they see that they are being filmed.
Other incidents that are occurring are trees are being uprooted, land is being seized, and Palestinians are being evacuated from their homes or there homes are being demolished by bulldozers. These are clear examples of accumulation by dispossession because the same houses that are being taken away from Palestinians are being given to Israeli settlers
This is intended to increase debate in Israel and around the world about settler violence. This footage is normally filmed by journalists or some sort of third person but the fact that this footage is being filmed by Palestinians themselves makes the message more effective. It serves to give them an active role in raising awareness. In an interview with a B’Tselem spokesman, Oren Yakobovich, (http://hub.witness.org/en/Btselem/ShootingBack#tabs_related_content), he talks about how after they give the cameras they come almost weekly, dub the footage, and then give it back to the Palestinians because as he says “in the end it belongs to them”. This shows how they are really trying to work in solidarity with the Palestinians and treating them as equal partners so that they can take an active role in expressing themselves. At the same time, this is an example of using privilege to help others. Since it is a Palestinian filming it is difficult for them to get their footage to the media but B’Tselem gives them a voice by giving them access to resources, such as cameras, as well as the ability to reach western media sources, since the group is based in Israel.
I was going to post up a video from this NGO too haha 🙂
What strikes me most about this is the simplicity of the idea followed by the huge impact it can actually have. It’s one thing to talk about what’s happening in the Israeli-Palestine conflict but seeing what’s going on behind closed doors really brings to light the true nature of the situation.
I think it’s an important point they make that the videos show a kind of systematic violent approach by the IDF and a number of Israelis against the Palestinians. We’ve all seen awful footage of violence in our world, but I think the fact that these videos show targeted, continual violations of human rights makes the conflict stand apart from unpredictable acts of violence.
I bet this tactic of documenting violations of human rights could work as well in other conflicts around the world.
This is really great. I love the idea of “arming” people with video cameras. Instead of retaliating with more violence, it’s a way of deterring attacks with some kind of accountability.
So then what do we, separated from the conflict by an ocean, do with this footage? Sometimes I feel like awareness can be so shallow, when you don’t know what the next step to take is. It’s really hard to not get frustrated by all the overwhelming incoming information from all around the world, when there is no tangible way to respond. These videos are helpful to even out the narrative, like you said, but now what do we do with this narrative?
Do you think there is a way to expand on this project and create a space for positive Israeli-Palestinian conversations to take place? Beyond the sensationalism of all the terrible things that are being done, to something… constructive?
Anyways, I really like this, and who is given the cameras. I mean, young women like Salam Kanaan don’t usually get a chance to have people from all over the world hear about the things she has seen or experienced. (I wonder if they are intentional/strategic about who they are “giving voice” to or if it is at random.)
I too was stroke by the power in this simplistic nature of simply handing a camera to civilians and let them film the continuing oppression. The impact of this form of representation is stronger than speaking for them or the usual act of interviewing them, and often with a translator. This way of creating room for the oppressed to speak allows the subaltern to speak with a universal language (imagery), a language that everyone understands. So here we are, not speaking for nor necessarily struggling for, all that has been done is to hand over tools which will help the oppressed speak for themselves. However, I am not sure of how much editing (or how the video selection) is done before the video is posted. So we might be somehow not getting exactly or all that the subaltern intended to tell us. But this is possibly the best way to “create room” (for lack of a better word) for the subaltern.
This is also another form of “protective accompaniment.” As Imane mentioned, people are less likely to be attacked if there is a camera around.
Though this project empowers the subaltern, I would agree with Sarah, that there also need be a more constructive approach of the situation, lest we might end up “single-sided” and full of anger against the other side hence remain in this mess that we have observed for over four decades.