Rights Group Hails Video As New Weapon Against Israeli Army
JERUSALEM - Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, yesterday promised an inquiry after video footage showed an Israeli soldier shooting baton rounds at a Palestinian detainee who was blindfolded and cuffed."The Israeli military will investigate the incident, learn its lessons and hold those responsible to account," he told MPs from his Labour party. "Warriors do not behave like this."
The advocate general, Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, is said to have ordered a military police inquiry after he saw the footage released on Sunday by the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. The incident happened on July 7 in Nil'in village. Several other soldiers were present, including a lieutenant colonel who was holding the arm of the Palestinian man.
The man shot, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was treated for an injury to his toe and was then released.
It was the latest incident in which video footage has been used to highlight violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. B'Tselem has been running a project since January last year in which it has given out around 100 video cameras to Palestinians to allow them to film human rights abuses in the West Bank. The Nil'in footage was filmed on a private camera by a 17-year-old girl who lives in the village. B'Tselem has now given her one of its cameras as part of its Shooting Back project.
Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for B'Tselem, said the footage was intended as much for an Israeli audience as for an international one. She said spoken or written testimony from Palestinians involved in such cases was often given little weight in official police or military investigations into apparent abuses, but video footage was much more powerful.
"I see no better way of encouraging accountability among members of the security forces," said Michaeli.
(c) 2008 The Guardian
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
JERUSALEM - Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, yesterday promised an inquiry after video footage showed an Israeli soldier shooting baton rounds at a Palestinian detainee who was blindfolded and cuffed."The Israeli military will investigate the incident, learn its lessons and hold those responsible to account," he told MPs from his Labour party. "Warriors do not behave like this."
The advocate general, Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, is said to have ordered a military police inquiry after he saw the footage released on Sunday by the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. The incident happened on July 7 in Nil'in village. Several other soldiers were present, including a lieutenant colonel who was holding the arm of the Palestinian man.
The man shot, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was treated for an injury to his toe and was then released.
It was the latest incident in which video footage has been used to highlight violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. B'Tselem has been running a project since January last year in which it has given out around 100 video cameras to Palestinians to allow them to film human rights abuses in the West Bank. The Nil'in footage was filmed on a private camera by a 17-year-old girl who lives in the village. B'Tselem has now given her one of its cameras as part of its Shooting Back project.
Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for B'Tselem, said the footage was intended as much for an Israeli audience as for an international one. She said spoken or written testimony from Palestinians involved in such cases was often given little weight in official police or military investigations into apparent abuses, but video footage was much more powerful.
"I see no better way of encouraging accountability among members of the security forces," said Michaeli.
(c) 2008 The Guardian
JERUSALEM - Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, yesterday promised an inquiry after video footage showed an Israeli soldier shooting baton rounds at a Palestinian detainee who was blindfolded and cuffed."The Israeli military will investigate the incident, learn its lessons and hold those responsible to account," he told MPs from his Labour party. "Warriors do not behave like this."
The advocate general, Brigadier General Avichai Mendelblit, is said to have ordered a military police inquiry after he saw the footage released on Sunday by the Israeli human rights group, B'Tselem. The incident happened on July 7 in Nil'in village. Several other soldiers were present, including a lieutenant colonel who was holding the arm of the Palestinian man.
The man shot, Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was treated for an injury to his toe and was then released.
It was the latest incident in which video footage has been used to highlight violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. B'Tselem has been running a project since January last year in which it has given out around 100 video cameras to Palestinians to allow them to film human rights abuses in the West Bank. The Nil'in footage was filmed on a private camera by a 17-year-old girl who lives in the village. B'Tselem has now given her one of its cameras as part of its Shooting Back project.
Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for B'Tselem, said the footage was intended as much for an Israeli audience as for an international one. She said spoken or written testimony from Palestinians involved in such cases was often given little weight in official police or military investigations into apparent abuses, but video footage was much more powerful.
"I see no better way of encouraging accountability among members of the security forces," said Michaeli.
(c) 2008 The Guardian