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.