In Palestine, digital technologies are everywhere. In 2017, more than a million Palestinian citizens of Israel and three million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza used the internet, making 60,5 % of Palestinians computer-literate. Just like in Germany, Facebook and WhatsApp - closely followed by Instagram and YouTube - are the most widely used social media platforms. But Palestinians not only use these technologies as a source of entertainment. Social media has become an important tool to mobilize, to comment on political developments, to document Human Rights violations and to convey narratives that are often overlooked by mainstream media. In a highly fragmented context like the Palestinian one the internet is the only space where people from different geographic entities can connect. Palestinians from Gaza, the West Bank, Israel, and the diaspora use the internet to ´meet and exchange experiences. Our partner organization “Build Palestine” has even implemented a crowdfunding campaign through which people all over the world can support Palestinian start-ups and their project. In this way, digital technologies became an important tool for Palestinians to engage with the international community despite limitations to their freedom of movement.
More and more Palestinians are using smartphones to share their stories
Acknowledging the potential digital media has for Palestinians, our partners from 7amleh, the Arab Center for the Advancement of Social media and Build Palestine organized the third round of the Palestinian Digital Activism Forum in January 2019. The three-day conference offered a unique platform for individuals, NGOs, media makers and representatives of digital networks such as Google and Facebook to come together and to address the struggle for digital rights in Palestine. After a kicked-off with panel-discussions in Ramallah, workshops were held in Haifa, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Gaza, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem. International and Palestinian participants from diverse backgrounds came together to explore issues like gender-based violence, digital security, filming for Human Rights activism and digital storytelling. ForumZFD Jerusalem participated in a workshop on Mobile Journalism in Jenin, where we learned how to use our smartphones to share insights into our projects and activities.
The Digital Activism Forum offered activities in 9 different cities
The Digital Divide and Shrinking Cyberspace
The Digital Activism Forum not only empowered Palestinians to use digital media to its full potential, it also highlighted threats to the digital rights of Palestinians. Digital rights are an extension of Human Rights and were affirmed by the UN Human Rights Council: “the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online”.
Just like human rights, digital rights are often disregarded in times of conflict. While most Palestinians do have access to technology and the internet, that does not guarantee them the same freedoms that Israelis and foreign citizens living next to them enjoy. According to the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association “Addameer”, around 300 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem are arrested on the grounds of Facebook posts every year. In 2017, MADA, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms, counted 530 violations against media freedoms of Palestinians, committed by both, Israeli and Palestinian Authorities.
Many Palestinians feel spaces where they can express themselves are shrinking, both online and offline. Our partners are working hard to combat this development and to bring violations to the digital rights of Palestinians into the spotlight. After all, digital technologies are neither inevitably good or inevitably evil. Just like any other tool, their power for conflict transformation depends on who uses them, and with which intention. Together with its partners ForumZFD will continue to advocate for digital rights and to explore how digital technologies can offer space for participation, self-representation and the plurality of voices.