my personal selections from the b'tselem video archive: July 2010

click on the link below for the full audio recording of the presentation i made with my personal selections from the btselem video archive, at the interart graduate college of the freie university, berlin:

http://www.afava.org/ergun/btselem_talk_january2010_fu.mp3

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These are my personal selections from the video archives of the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem. It does not in any way represent the organization, nor the footage is produced by me.

B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories was founded in 1989 for monitoring, documenting and advocating to improve human rights in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Since 2007 as part of the The Camera Distribution Project B’tselem has distributed over 150 cameras to Palestinian families living in high-conflict areas. Families are trained by specialists to document daily cases of human rights violations committed by violent settlers or soldiers. Resulting video footage is collected by B’tselem field workers and used primarily as evidence when B’tselem submits the case to the legal authorities. Certain footage is also distributed to the international news media.

I have searched through B’tselem’s video archive and selected footage that is not direct documentations of such violence or conflict, but more of personal and unexpected moments. This selection is shown in the form of presentations and discussions to which I invite other artists and academics, in different parts of the world.

The selected footage is not edited. The duration of the clips is exactly that which was recorded from the moment the start button was pressed until it was closed by the camera holder.

hebron

Most of the selected footage comes from the city of Hebron. Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank.Occupied since 1967 and divided between the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli army, it is the only West Bank city with Israeli settlements at its heart, amidst Palestinian homes. Following the outbreak of the 2^ndIntifada, and to protect the 600 settlers living within, the Israeli army has placed crippling restrictions on the Arab population of the Israeli-controlled sector, closing their shops; forbidding them from using the main streets; and subjecting them to frequent checkpoints and house searches. This sector is referred to as ‘H2’ by the Israeli army, and is composed of the burial grounds of Abraham - biblical patriarch of the Jews (and Christians) and prophet in the Muslim tradition, the main market street of the city as well as surrounding houses, mostly inhabited by Palestinians.

Most of the inhabitants of these houses have left Hebron after the Intifada and this once vibrant market area is now a ghost town, which is only accessible to Israeli citizens and internationals. Those Palestinian families who stayed are only allowed to use certain streets in this area to reach their homes, or pass from roof to roof. Most families have installed iron fences in front of their windows to protect themselves from the stones regularly thrown by settlers.

my personal selections from the b'tselem video archive

Monday, July 19, 2010

AUDIO RECORDING OF PRESENTATION AT THE FREIE UNIVERSITY, BERLIN, 26.01.2010

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hebron

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