Updates

We've prepared an interactive version to make the key messages of the report accessible to a wider audience. An interactive map presents four case studies; a short video puts a human face to the barrier's impact in one of these places, the town of Bir Nabala; and an animated short gives a lighthearted treatment to a serious subject: the devastating impact of the permit regime for farmers with land across the barrier.

On 17 July 2012, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) filed an appeal with the State Attorney against the decision by the Department for the Investigation of Police (DIP) to close the investigation into a complaint by Silwan resident who was beaten by Border Police officers on 15 September 2011. In the appeal, ACRI argued that the DIP closed the case without pursuing all possible means to clarify the circumstances of the incident, and demanded that the State Attorney instruct the DIP to conduct a thorough investigation.

In June 2011, B’Tselem and the Guardian produced "East Jerusalem: Six Voices". A project in which six Palestinians and Israelis were given cameras to create video diaries of their lives, under the shadow of the settlement enterprise in occupied East Jerusalem. The diaries offer a glimpse into the impact of the volatile reality on their lives.

To mark International Women’s Day, B'Tselem is issuing a collection of videos filmed by women who volunteer in its camera project. The images provide the viewer with a unique look into these women's daily lives. The women in the project live in a reality in which human rights violations are a daily occurrence. It is a reality most of us prefer not to see, yet the documentation is crucial and also transformative. The women photographers say that the cameras have changed their lives. They provide a tool for personal, social, and popular expression and they make these women effective human rights advocates in a traditional society in which the men usually take center stage.

On 22 Aug. 2011, Israel's High Court of Justice has approved surrounding the built-up area of the Palestinian village of al-Walajah with the Separation Barrier – a concrete wall nine meters high and 700 meters long. The wall will separate the village from hundreds of dunams of villagers' farmland. Only one opening will be left for entering and exiting the village, on the road that connects the village to Beit Jala in the east and reaches the area of Malha in southern Jerusalem. The planned route of the wall in the area will also surround the built-up area of the nearby village of Batir.

In this innovative project, B'Tselem and the Guardian gave six Palestinians and Israelis cameras to create video diaries of their lives in occupied East Jerusalem, under the shadow of the settlement enterprise. The diaries offer a glimpse into the impact of the volatile reality on their lives.

On 4 February 2011, Ha'aretz published an article on the police's handling of central-region youth suspected of drug use. The article indicates that, like the conduct of the police when interrogating minors from Silwan, the parents in central –region Israel were also not allowed to be present in their child's interrogation, and the minors were pressured into incriminating additional youths.

Yesterday, 26 December, the High Court of Justice delayed implementation of the order banning 'Adnan Gheith from Jerusalem for four months. Earlier in the day, the Military's Home Front commander issued the order against Gheith, a resident of Silwan, a neighborhood situated south of Jerusalem's Old City. This is the first time that the military has issued an assigned-residence order against a resident of East Jerusalem. Tomorrow, 29 December, the High Court will hear Gheith's petition objecting to the action.

The Barrier currently under construction runs close to the homes of al-Walajah, in southwest Jerusalem, damaging the ancient agricultural terraces and blocking villagers' access to them. The goal is to leave as much village land as possible west of the Barrier.