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This series of pictures taken by an amateur photographer with a hidden camera provide real, clear evidence of the kind of terror inflicted by the state authorities in Israel. The pictures are disturbing.
Mohammed Saleh, a 23 year old Palestinian is arrested on suspicion of carrying arms.
The suspect is pinned to the floor and strip searched.
Nothing found so what do the state officers do?
Is it any wonder the Palestinians don't sit quietly and "behave"?
Hundreds of incidents like this have been unofficially reported over the past few months throughout the Palestinian territories. These reports have been deliberately ignored not only by the Israeli authorities but also by the world media with such consistency that there appears now to exist no such entity as a "Palestinian Person" or a "Palestinian Civilian". Mention the word Palestinian and the "Terrorist" is automatically triggered. Job done. But this is not a new phenomenon. This process of conditioning has been alive ever since Palestine was first overrun by Jewish migrants following the renege of the British Government over the promise of independence for Palestine more than 50 years ago.
Witness the subtleties in the techniques of the press and media today. Israelis are "massacred in cold blood", Palestinians just "die" or get "killed". Israeli acts of terror are in direct response to Palestinian attacks and ALWAYS aimed at terrorists - be the targets family homes, mosques or refugee camps. Palestinian acts of terror are spontaneous, without reason and inexplicable.
On live television news, a "massacre" of Israelis or the death of a prominent Israeli figure not only gets serious focus and attention but appears to have a direct hit and incapacitates the smiling mechanisms of the newsreading team for the entire evening. When the "death" of Palestinians is reported, rarely a civilian death is covered, this is often followed on by an unrelated story of good news or joy with smiles all round.
So why do we not wish to hear about the tragic realities like Mohammed Saleh? The answer is simple. So far as you and I are concerned, Israelis are the "goodies" and Palestinians are the "badies" and anyone or anything that contradicts this image does not get to see the light of day.
Despite the efforts of Amnesty and others to raise the profile and awareness of the extent and severity of the atrocities suffered by the Palestinian people the presentation of the image has not changed. Such is the truely remarkable power of the media machine.
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