OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel is stepping up its
monitoring of Palestinians by installing a massive network of cameras
throughout the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. It’s believed to
be using facial recognition technology to track some people’s
movements. This comes on the heels of revelations that Palestinian
activists’ and diplomats’ phones were hacked using Pegasus spyware.
اضافة اعلان
In an explosive report by the Washington Post, Israeli
forces are accused of conducting a massive surveillance operation in the
occupied West Bank, allegedly using advanced facial recognition technology
and a complex network of cameras and smart devices to monitor Palestinians.
Nadim Nashif, the director of 7amleh, a
non-profit civil rights organization, told
Jordan News that this a “big violation of the Palestinians privacy and digital
rights”.
Nashif added that Israel, for the past few decades, has been treating
Palestinian territory as a “big laboratory to expand on and test its
surveillance industry”.
He said that Israel
has also increased both its overt security presence and covert monitoring in occupied
East Jerusalem.
“Palestinians are ... suffering from
surveillance in various ways, including facial recognition, tapping, and wiring
the whole mobile phone system.”
One way it does this, he said, is through the
use of the Blue Wolf initiative, which sees the use of facial recognition
technology by Israeli forces at checkpoints.
“Basically (they process) the pictures using a
mix between security classification and facial recognition systems,” Nashif
said. The photos are matched to those in a database and “matched with certain
security classifications”.
But the surveillance of Palestinians isn't
limited to soldiers and CCTV cameras.
In recent weeks, reports of Israel
spying on at least six activists using the NSO Group’s Pegasus
spyware drew widespread international criticism.
Rights activist Issa Amro told
Jordan News he
was alarmed by the prevalence of these monitoring devices, and said he and
his neighbors in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood in
Hebron feel exposed and violated.
“I don’t feel safe in my house, in the streets,
because they follow me, and they violate my privacy.”
Amro, who has been detained by Israeli forces
several times, said these surveillance methods are not installed to benefit
Palestinians living in the area.
“The cameras are not
to protect me. The cameras are to follow me, know my location, and attack me
sometimes.”
“Usually, you want to feel a little secure and safe in your
neighborhood, in your yard. That’s not the case, always we feel everything is
filmed, everything is observed by the Israeli settlers and Israeli soldiers.
They don’t care about your privacy,” Amro said, adding that relatives are
reluctant to visit them.
Hamed Abu
Eisheh, whose family has lived in Tel Rumeida for
generations, told
Jordan News that Israeli forces installed two cameras on his
house without permission.
“They can watch us in our homes; they watch
when we come and go, what we take with us.” And they’re not alone.
Palestinians say numerous cameras have been set
up to cover just this small area. It is part of the Israeli military's growing
surveillance network targeting Palestinians in their homes.
Yaser Abu Markhyah, a father of four, says his
80-year-old mother who lives with him doesn’t feel at
ease sitting on their front porch anymore.
“Of course these cameras affect us, we don’t
move around as much. We’re not comfortable socializing because someone is
always filming us.”
Amro, meanwhile, says Israel’s motive is
clear.
“The Israeli occupation is working to make the
lives of the Palestinians in this area harder, in order to force them from
their homes. They don’t evict you, but they make it impossible for you to
stay,” he said.
“Palestinians are being dehumanized by the Israeli
occupation and this is just another step of that,” said Nashif, whose organization
has been monitoring these surveillance activities for years,
says Israel’s methods violate Palestinians basic human
rights.
Pressure is mounting on Israel. The US
government blacklisted NSO earlier this month, restricting exports from US
firms, forcing the tech company’s newly appointed chief executive to resign. Activists
hope their ongoing campaign against the surveillance of Palestinians will force
Israel to stand down.
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