Teacher Ibrahim Makhlouf, who filmed the incident, lives by the brush scorched in the clashes on the village’s edge, beneath the gaze of the prefabricated suburbs of Yitzhar, which lie outside the official settlement boundary.

“We want the whole world to see what Israel and the settlers do to us. They steal our land and they attack us, and the world said we were the terrorists and criminals,” he said.

“Now we can make it clear who’s the aggressor and who’s attacking whom. The truth contradicts their claims about our situation.”

The Israeli Defence Force has ordered an investigation and confirmed that live fire was used during the confrontation. “That said, it appears that the video in question does not reflect the incident in its entirety,” it said in a statement.

A spokesman for the settlers said the violence flared when they were pelted with stones as they tried to put out a scrub fire allegedly started by the Palestinians.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, provided the cameras used to document the event, as part of a program started in 2007 whereby it has distributed around 150 camcorders to “citizen journalists” throughout the West Bank.

The group aims to use social media to bring alleged violations by settlers and the military into public view.

“The importance of our work is that we show what is being done in (Israel’s) name in the West Bank by our soldiers and by organs of our government,” said Sarit Michaeli, B’Tselem’s spokesperson.

“The media might just show one minute, but anyone who’s interested can watch this whole playlist and make up their own mind,” she said, referring to numerous videos showing the shootings uploaded to YouTube.

[…]

Circulated among army personnel, an internal memorandum obtained by Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in the wake of the Eisner affair underscored mounting concern by the Israeli leadership over the influence of video on the media narrative.

“Remember it takes only 10 seconds out of hours of video footage to cause irreparable damage to the image of the soldiers, the army and the state,” the memo said.

“The media does not reflect reality as a mirror, but rather shapes and influences it. The Palestinians make good use of this tool. It’s important to be the one leading and not the one being led,” it continued, reflecting the fact that Israeli soldiers now often film incidents of unrest in order to advance their version of events.

IDF officers say their primary task in the West Bank is to defend settlers from Palestinian attacks.

In villages and at demonstrations throughout the West Bank, cameras now accompany stones and tear gas as an increasingly permanent fixture.

“Our impact is excellent if you consider that Nabi Saleh is a village of less than 600 people,” said Bilal Tamimi, an activist and wielder of a B’Tselem camera from a flashpoint area near an Israeli settlement and military base in the West Bank.

“People from around the world have learned what happens here through this distinct medium,” he said.

theatlantic:

Robert Wright on Newsweek and Foreign Policy

Actually, the only clash here is over which part of the woman should be covered in black and which part should be exposed—and on this issue the two magazines are completely at odds. They are in broad agreement about how to get people to pay attention to your magazine.

I wonder how these covers affect how the cover stories—Newsweek’s by Katie Roiphe and FP’s by Mona Eltahawy—are being received. Eltahawy’s is a particularly interesting case. Her piece is a passionate indictment of the way women are treated in Arab countries. And I would imagine that some of the people in those countries who most resist her message might try to use the cover to discredit it. (Though it’s hard to tell in this thumbnail image, the woman is covered only by paint, and the lower part of her breast is visible.) Then again, there’s an Arabic edition of FP, and it wouldn’t shock me if its cover has a different look. 

[Images: Newsweek, Foreign Policy]

Yeah

I really don’t think all these

• academic
• quasi-academic
• journalist

approaches can be really responsible for these actually serious issues. There can be much more simple and transparent - and responsible ways to represent problems, voices, and also display solutions-at-work. 

And Robert Wright and Atlantic is taking a cheap shot on this. 

Under ‘Entertainment’ directory/classification.

I tend to feel there is this (strong) ‘America’ thing underlying.

Sensationalize, always talk and think and write and inform and influence from partisan stance. 

You can see it in the URL. The Atlantic’s post is under ‘Entertainment’ Directory.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/04/newsweek-fp-magazine-clash-over-editorial-philosophy/256279/

[…] Shadid could hear the story. 

He could feel it in the tips of his fingers.  He could do what may be impossible.  He could make war subtle.

This is what I mean.  During the often overlooked, ferociously dangerous 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, reporters in southern Lebanon generally rushed to the bombing sites.  The faster we got there, the fresher and more compelling our stories and pictures would be.  And there were incredibility compelling stories.  In the first three weeks of the conflict, Israel dropped as much tonnage of explosives on southern Lebanon as it used in the 1973 Mideast war. […]

Anthony covered it differently. He’d go out in the morning and find some tiny village, tucked away on a hillside, where none of us thought to go. He’d find his story in the details, not the fireballs. It takes a sensitive ear to do that. War is a loud place, full of emotions, explosions, gore, fatigue, pity, outrage and rage. But Anthony managed to pick out the quiet notes, and hear the melody playing sotto voce under the cacophony.