Video from First Wall Resistance in Bela'in online

At long last, the video I was shooting when I was arrested at Bela'in on December 14 is finally online. I apologize for the delay, but as you know, I was unavoidably detained, and then I had some technical troubles. So it arrives just in time for the new round of demonstrations in the village.

It is very much like a lot of other tape of wall demonstrations, but I think there are a few things that make it unusual. One is that you see really clearly how methodical, or as the Israeli-American friend who translated it for me observed, "casual" the violence from the border police is. It's like, "Well, we don't have anything else to do, might as well do this." And the second is that you see that the kid who they are beating is released at the end, so obviously he was not a "terrorist" or even a "stonethrower," but just someone in the unfortunate position of being on the outside of the crowd.

Some of you, especially Americans, might say, "Well, if he had just gotten up and gone with them, he wouldn't have been beaten so badly." In fact, the experience of most young men in Palestine is that once they are away from the crowd and the cameras, they are beaten much more severely. So for this young man, resisting worked out well: he was beaten once, instead of repeatedly, and instead of being arrested, he was free. If he had gone with them, he would certainly have been threatened, and he might have been tortured for information about others in the village, or coerced to sign a confession to things he did not do. It has happened, to young men his age whom I know.

Since it is not clear from the video, I will tell you that about ten minutes after the Shabak guy asked me for my passport, I was detained; the rest of the footage, the part that's shot from further away, I shot after I was already arrested.

The clip is about 12 minutes. I can provide a high resolution, full screen version on CD or DVD if anyone has a use for it; please feel free to contact me at katrap [at] mindspring.com.

Real Media version (19 MB, recommended): http://www.iwps-pal.org/ftpiwps/videos/belain.rmvb
Windows Media version (15 MB): http://www.iwps-pal.org/ftpiwps/videos/belain.wmv

If you think it is worth seeing, please pass it on.

My thoughts are with those of you who are still out there, struggling to stop the Wall. Hang in there, love,

Kate