From Russia, of all places

American media have produced some outstanding stories over the years but when it comes to Israel and the occupation, the silence is deafening.

So it's ironic that RT, the Russian satellite TV service in English, has produced an excellent overview of the situation in the occupied territories of Palestine. Featuring some of the Israeli human rights groups that I have dedicated this blog to, such as Machsom Watch and Breaking the Silence, in two parts the viewer will be given an excellent if incomplete picture of the daily oppression suffered by the Palestinians. I say incomplete because there is nothing in this video about the lack of civil law, the theft of resources, the total control of imports and exports and the constant surveillance by drones that the Palestinians know so well.

But for what is covered, the story is well told. If you can only watch one of the two parts, watch the second since it shows the worst situation - that of Hebron - where a tiny number of Israeli settlers torment the overwhelming number of Palestinians protected by the might of the Israeli armed forces - screaming and shouting insults as the soldiers stand idly by.






Thanks to the blog Jews sans frontieres for making me aware of this video.

Palestinian crossing point tutorial

You know I am a fan of the series of videos called Sleepless in Gaza and Jerusalem. There are eighty-nine 25 minute episodes that I know of and I am working my way through them one at a time finding it like a personal visit to the occupied territories. When I discover an exceptional episode, I present it to you. One follows below.

Episode 36 is simple - Ashira, a Palestinian and a regular host of "Sleepless", goes to see how a checkpoint works at the seam zone. The seam zone was created when the Wall was erected because the Wall is built on Palestinian land. The area caught between the border of Israel and the Wall is called the seam zone and it's a tragedy for many Palestinians because it puts the Wall between them and their property. In some cases, as at the town of Bi'lin, the wall runs right through the town...hence the demonstrations opposing it there.

Take a look at where this video takes place so you will understand a bit about what you are viewing. I've placed a red rectangle on this map of the entire West Bank to highlight the area that I zoom to in the next picture.


In the detail below, the white oval centers on the locale of the video - RED is the separation wall, GREEN is Israel's border. Note how the wall snakes around far into Palestinian territory. That territory is the seam zone. The video takes place on the road that connects Ras A-tira to Ras 'Atiya, both Palestinian towns but with the wall in between. Notice the short purple section of wall - a proposed change to get rid of the problem this video shows. Nice idea but it has never been implemented as the map was made in 2008 and the video was made earlier this year (2010).



Thus prepared, you are ready to watch. I apologize for the distorted (though understandable) audio, that's the way it was recorded. The two Israeli women that accompany Ashira on her adventure are from the praiseworthy Israeli group Machsom Watch.