UPDATE. Outrage after video shows female Palestinian prisoner humiliated. 2 articles
Reageer (0)Al Jazeera
Humiliating Israeli video condemned
5-10-2010
Clip of an Israeli soldier dancing around a female prisoner called illustrative of "sick mentality of occupier".
A video of a male Israeli soldier bellydancing around a bound and blindfolded female prisoner has been received with disgust among Palestinians and in the Middle East.
The video provoked an angry response from the Palestinians on Tuesday.
The clip, which came to light after it was screened on Israel's private Channel 10 television late on Monday, shows a soldier gyrating to rhythmic drumbeat of an Arabic track as the woman, who is wearing a headscarf, huddles against a wall, her hands bound in front of her and her eyes bound with a white cloth.
The soldier, who is wearing sunglasses and smiling broadly, repeatedly brushes up close to the woman who has a Hebrew speech bubble coming out of her mouth reading "Allahu Akbar" - Arabic for "God is greatest".
Crudely captioned "Israeli soldier catch Arab terrorist (he dance on her) funny", the clip lasts just over a minute.
The video was immediately condemned by the Palestinian Authority (PA) as "deeply offensive to the dignity of women".
"This is a disgusting illustration of the sick mentality of the occupier. This is not an isolated incident," a statement from the office of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian prime minister, said.
Israeli response
In its response, the Israeli military condemned the clip and said the military police had opened an investigation into what it described as an "isolated" incident.
"The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) denounces actions such as those depicted in the videos," it said referring to an unspecified number of video clips.
"The videos are isolated cases that do not represent the IDF as a whole."
The statement said that from now on, a military police investigation would become "standard practice in cases in which similar behaviour is alleged".
Exposure of the video came just seven weeks after an Israeli soldier sparked widespread outrage by posting pictures of herself smiling and larking around next to blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners.
The army denounced the pictures as "shameful" while the PA described them as humiliating, but the former soldier, Eden Abergil, claimed she could not understand why the images had caused such offence.
Objects not humans?
Rights groups said at the time that photographs were clear evidence of a culture within the military that treated Palestinians as objects rather than human beings - a sentiment which was echoed by Fayyad's office on Tuesday.
“With the advent of easy-to-use media like YouTube, the truth is coming to light about a culture of humiliation of the Palestinians," it said.
"The soldiers are fed by a wider Israeli policy that behaves (as if it were) above the law and human rights values."
Israeli blogger Dimi Reider, who first exposed the Eden Abergil photographs in August, said the video flew in the face of Israel's claims to have one of the most moral armies in the world.
"This video finally debunks one of the most persistent Israeli myths - that ours is the only occupying army in history that does not sexually abuse the women of the occupied nation," he wrote in his blog, Dimi's Notes.
"Second, it is about as stark proof as it gets that the IDF cannot and should not monitor itself (if it could, the soldiers would be in prison, de-ranked and de-mobbed before the video even hit the web)."
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Gulf News
Video clip showing Israeli soldier belly dancing close to a female Palestinian prisoner sparks outrage
By Nasouh Nazzal
YouTube clip shows an Israeli soldier dancing in front of and harassing a Palestinian woman prisoner, to impress his fellow soldiers. (YouTube)
5-10-2010
Ramallah: A video clip showing an Israeli soldier dancing in close proximity to a female Palestinian prisoner, who has been handcuffed and had her eyes bound, has sparked outrage amongst Palestinians and led to calls for the protection of prisoners rights.
The clip, uploaded on YouTube, shows an Israeli soldier dancing in front of and harassing a Palestinian woman prisoner, to impress his fellow soldiers.
Israeli Channel 10 aired the footage on TV, which has led the Internal Investigation Department to order an investigation into the incident.
Qadoura Fares, who heads the Palestinian Prisoner Club told Gulf News that the video clip illustrates that the Israeli Army is lacking principles and a code of conduct.
He added that despite efforts, nobody has managed to identify the woman.
The Palestinian authorities are also making attempts, he said, to find the soldier responsible, but he did not hold out much hope of this happening and he emphasised that the Israeli army would likely be loathe to punish him.
The incident has been reported to a number of international human rights organisations.
Randa Siniora, the Executive Director of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights says Palestinian women in general suffer just as much as their male countrymen and many are sexually harassed in prison. She points out that the Israeli Army takes advantage of their conservative attitudes.
"The Israelis believe that the threat of physical harassment will subdue the women," she said. "But Palestinian women remain focused on the struggle and they have become even more involved in the cause."
Although the Israeli Government investigates such incidents, she says, it does not punish the soldiers involved and yet it claims to be a democratic state.
In the case of the video clip, she is sure the Israeli Army will accept no blame for the incident. "I fear only the negative attitude of conservative Palestinian society, although we are sure that this Israeli strategy has proved a failure," she said.
Meanwhile Eisa Qaraqe, the Palestinian Minister of Detainees’ Affairs, made reference to the fascist qualities of the Israeli army. "The Israeli Army is one of the most fascist armies in the world and the government of Israel is a government of pirates and gangsters," he said.
"The Israeli Army violates all humanitarian principles and codes of conduct, with Palestinian prisoners. This army should be tried and punished for their brutal and barbaric actions. I officially accuse Israel of being a state of criminals, which should be tried on an international level," he said, adding that he hopes the entire world has seen the clip of the Israeli soldier belly dancing and harassing a Palestinian woman prisoner.
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