Tuesday 6 January 2015

The year we just put to bed

A new year has begun and with it I include some statistics for the year we just put to bed. When analysed together, in some way they help to clarify the complex rut in which this country finds itself.

50
The number of Palestinian youth killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2014. That's almost one per week.

2,310
The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza from Operation Protective Edge. This figure has been newly revised following the discovery of bodies under the rubble, and deaths of wounded.

785
The number of Israelis who renounced their citizenship. This is a 60 per cent increase on the previous year.

4 million
Shekels (nearly £1 million GBP) budget approved by the Foreign Ministry to pay a nonprofit company called 'Faces of Israel' to host overseas visitors 'with influence' and explain the legitimacy of Zionism and the State of Israel as a nation of Jewish people.

It's no surprise, when you consider the first two - that Israelis are both leaving the country, and having to work hard on their global image against such a backdrop.

Is it often they who claim the greatest strength who seek to shield a greater weakness?


In December I made a short film for Save the Children using stills images and an edited audio interview with an 8 year old girl, Nawal, from Qabalan, near Nablus, in the West Bank.

Nawal's house was shelled, shot at and all but demolished by Israeli forces in August, and Save the Children has provided counselling for her and all other members of the family, who survived the attack against many odds. The counsellor asked me not to ask questions about the night itself, since it had taken about 4 months of regular sessions with the eight year old, to reach this point of relative stability.

It may provide some fabric to the framework of statistics.


https://vimeo.com/114777637






1 comment:

  1. Impressive anti-Semitic rant. You forgot to mention a few other things - like the 3 month old Jewish baby girl and a teenager who were run down by a "Palestinian" terrorist, or the scores of Israelis stabbed or shot who died or were wounded by "Palestinian" terrorists this year. Or the 66 Israeli soldiers who died in a heroic defense of their coubtry against the "Palestinian" terrorists in Gaza WHO STARTED THE WAR But hell, as long as the layout of the post is catchy with all these numbers as headlines, who cares about the actual facts?

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