A project that aims to empower and protect Palestinians by giving them camcorders to record abuses has already garnered international attention, writes Yousef Eldin.
IT BEGINS WITH a long lens shot of four men, masked and armed with bats, walking towards the camera from over the horizon. The shot is almost like a stylish attempt at a gangster home movie, but the footage is far more disturbing than anything by Tarantino or Scorsese. The masked men proceed to beat Palestinian Khalil Nawajah (61) and his 57-year-old wife.
The footage, recorded last month by the niece of the Nawajahs, has led to the arrest of one of the masked Israeli settlers, and demonstrates the success of a new initiative in quelling such attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
The Nawajahs received their Sony DV handicam as part of the "Shooting Back" project started by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem more than a year ago. In the past month, the group has expanded the project by distributing a further 100 cameras to new locations, including Nablus and Hebron, two of the most volatile flashpoints between Palestinians and the Israeli army and settlers.
The idea is that the documentation of these attacks becomes a form of protection, adapting the idea of "citizen journalism" in a new way for the entrenched Israeli-Arab conflict.
The cameras often look incongruous in some of the regions where they have been distributed. The Nawajahs are a shepherd family based in the inhospitable South Hebron hills. On one side of the hilltop where they live is a small structure, half concrete and half tent. Outside hangs a single washing line. A couple of fenced-in goats pick over dry mud. To the left are three large permanent tents, home to eight members of the extended family. There is no running water or electricity, and there are no neighbours for miles. The camera has to be brought to the nearest town, 15km away, to be charged.
BUT THE FAMILY'S remote location has not prevented dozens of alleged attacks. "We've been attacked many times but we've never had evidence," claims Khalil. "Many times that we've been attacked we go to the police to make a complaint and we find ourselves being put under investigation against the settlers who say we've attacked them. It's not a question of feeling more secure, but now I have evidence that I really have been attacked."
Oren Yakobovich, the project co-ordinator of "Shooting Back" for the Jerusalem-based B'Tselem group, believes that the initiative does more than draw short-term international attention to violent assaults. "It really helps police and the army in day-to-day life in the West Bank; having the camera helps ensure things like the openings of gates are operated properly."
B'Tselem also offers a legal and media support network as well as on-the-ground training in the communities receiving the cameras.
In the same way that the internet has democratised news dissemination and encouraged the spread of citizen journalism, "Shooting Back" is an empowering tool for communities that are often too poor or ill-equipped to defend themselves otherwise.
"It aims to change these Palestinians from victims to activists in a form of non-violent resistance," claims Yakobovich.
Ezra Nawi, a Jewish activist living in Israel, believes it is working.
"People living in this country don't want to see these pictures, and now suddenly you can see them, you can see what the settlers do, what the army does and all the people in this country are supporting these actions, even as a passive support, like me for example, as someone who pays taxes. Suddenly you can't say I didn't see it or it does not exist. And you are part of it."
IN THE MONTH since the assault on the Nawajahs, two other incidents have made front-page international news because of released footage. One, filmed by a 14-year-old Palestinian girl from Ni'ilin, captured an Israeli soldier firing a rubber-coated steel bullet at close range into the leg of a blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian man, while another officer holds him still.
In the other incident, a bystander filmed a Palestinian man called Mithad Abu Kirish, who was tied to a pole in the Assael settlement earlier this month and kicked by settlers in front of army officers for two hours before the police eventually turned up and took him away for interrogation.
"Its helping but it's not the solution. Definitely it is reducing [problems], without the camera they can do whatever they like," explains Mithad, who has since contacted B'Tselem to get hold of his own camera. "But it's difficult if I have to bring a camera with me everywhere I go, simple things like if I want go to my fields, I will have to bring a camera."
Nasr (24) is a local volunteer for the project and helps to provide training in using the cameras for both older and younger members. "They encourage us to use the camera for everything, to get used to the camera. For nature, family events like weddings, to enjoy it. But the purpose is to document problems, when there is a problem," explains Nasr, who recently used the camera to record his own wedding.
He hopes that one day the cameras might only be used to document family life, providing a very different record of life in the West Bank. For the moment, he hopes that those operating the cameras will not become the first targets for future attacks. "The army respect us more, they treat us better, less violently because they know everything is being recorded," explains Nasr. "The best thing that can come out of the project is forcing the police to be police."