What's next for the West Bank? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast where. we go behind the headlines. I'm Valerie. Sanderson. Today, we're bringing you a. story of the human cost of the. Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the. Middle East. The West Bank is crucial. So, what of its future? It's been. occupied by Israel since 1967, has a. population of more than 500,000 Israeli. settlers, and roughly 3 million. Palestinians. One of those Palestinians, a boy called Jad, was killed in November.

last year. Well, to tell us more, I'm joined by. Joel Gunter. So, Joel, tell us about. this boy, this 14-year-old Jad. I should. say before I start that this is a. distressing story, um, that some people. may find some of the details. distressing. Jad was a 14-year-old boy. who lived in a Palestinian refugee camp. in the occupied West Bank known as, uh, Al-Fara. Back in November, Israeli. forces, the Israeli military, were. conducting an operation there.

And Jad and his friends, and and one of. his friends who was with him in those. critical moments, told us, uh, about. what happened. They said that they had. seen on a messaging group that the. Israeli forces were leaving the camp. And Jad and two of his friends, um, went. down the alley in the telling of his. family and and and one of these friends. who spoke to us in detail, essentially to go and see that they'd. left. And this is where the CCTV footage that.

we've got picks up, essentially. And you. see Jad and his two friends on the. corner. of these two alleys in the camp. And. they're peeking to their right around. the corner. Then what you see is two of. the boys look to their left. And that is them noticing that four. Israeli soldiers had actually stayed. behind. And unknown to the boys, were. tucked behind a wall just a few meters,

less than 3 meters away from them. We see those two boys start running back. up the alley. Then Jad turns. And then he sees them. And it appears from the footage that. we've analyzed like this is the moment. that he is shot. And where the CCTV leaves off. bystander footage picks up that was. filmed discreetly by a resident in the. camp. And that shows us that Jad lay on the.

ground for a significant amount of time. And this is using a combination of the. footage and eyewitness testimony, but we. believe that it was at least 45 minutes. that he lay there. trying to get the soldiers' attention. The Israeli military told us that they. gave him some initial medical treatment. But they refused when asked to elaborate. on that or give any further details.

We don't really see them doing that in. the footage. We see them appearing to. ignore repeated attempts to get their. attention. We know that they blocked two. Palestinian ambulances from reaching. Jad. Ambulances that arrived on the scene. very, very quickly and were in his. sightline. Um and very tragically. Jad. died sometime later. Did they say why he. was shot? They accused Jad initially.

accused Jad of throwing uh a rock, essentially, or a piece of concrete. This is a very, very common uh. accusation leveled against Palestinians, including children, Palestinians under. the age of 18. There is, indeed, stone throwing. in these types of Palestinian refugee. camps and Palestinian areas where the. Israeli military conducts operations,

it is not uncommon for them to have. stones thrown at them. According to their rules of engagement, that can permit them to respond with. lethal force if if that if they believe. that it poses an immediate threat to the. life of some of the soldiers. Did we see. Jad throw a rock? We did not. There is. no video footage that we have. of him throwing something. Now, that doesn't mean that that footage.

doesn't exist, >> [snorts]. >> but it has not surfaced. The Israeli military has not provided. any footage of him doing that. Um so, we just don't know. That was their initial accusation. When we went to them to ask them about. this, >> [snorts]. >> they actually didn't make that. accusation explicitly uh at that point. They merely said that Jad was a.

terrorist. who had, quote, attempted to attack the. force. There is a a troubling sequence in the. footage that shows one of the Israeli. soldiers in this group that stood around. Jad for an extended period while he was. wounded. The soldier enters the frame. from behind a wall, drops something next to Jad. This is. after he's been shot and he's lying on. the floor.

The object appears to be heavy. based on the way that he drops it and. the way that it falls. >> [snorts]. >> The soldier then takes out either a. camera or a phone and appears to take a. picture of the object lying next to Jad. Now, Jad's parents have watched this. sequence over and over again. We showed it to the Israeli human rights. organization B'Tselem. Both said that it appears to show the. soldier attempting to plant an item, an.

object, next to Jad. The family say that. they believe that that was some kind of. rock, and that the intention of the Israeli. soldier was essentially to to frame him. What does Israel see as the future of. the West Bank? The Israeli government. has pushed forward a series of measures, very controversial measures, being driven for the most part by. hardline members of Israel.

Israel's government, sort of far-right. hardline members, which critics say are essentially. attempts to annex the West Bank. On their face, these can seem like quite. dull-sounding and administrative. measures. They have to do with property. registration, how easy it is to find out who owns. certain parts of land, how easy it is to. register and prove that you own land in. the West Bank,

as well as who. has authority and responsibility over. certain. administrative functions, environmental. things, in the West Bank. But, these measures have been very, very. roundly criticized both by. Arab nations in the region, as well as. the European Union, the UN. They say they are attempts by Israel to. tighten its grip on the West Bank,

particularly a very significant portion. of the West Bank known as Area C, which is about 60% of the West Bank, and. is controlled by Israel, security. control of Area C it is with Israel. But about 300,000 Palestinians live. there. You've obviously talked to many. Palestinians. What do they want to. happen to to this area? Well, Palestinians very much see this. region as key to the dream of a future.

independent Palestinian state. The occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza. are seen by Palestinians as the. territory that they would want for that. future independent Palestinian state. So, to have these measures which people say. are an attempt to to make it more. difficult for Palestinians to live. there, to own land, to have control and.

rights over the area, um is a very difficult thing, of course, for for Palestinians. And it is being. seen as yet another roadblock. to the dream of that of that future. state. It's the US that has been driving the. peace process in Gaza separately. How. involved do you think President Trump is. in what happens in the West Bank? Not very involved uh. from the way that things appear. He has.

talked about it. He has sort of tried it. Israel in a way recently. He said. publicly that he opposed annexation of. the West Bank. When the measures were passed by Israel. security cabinet recently, uh that uh according to critics are an. attempt to tighten its grip on the West. Bank, there was this. outpouring of criticism from uh Israel's. neighbors, from the from the EU, from. from the UN.

Trump was effectively silent when that. happened. Uh he did not make a public. statement. We didn't get a public. statement from the US about those. measures. So, he has been very focused on Gaza. He. has been very focused on his board of. peace. Of course, at the moment, he is. very focused on Iran. Uh it does seem as though what's. happening in the West Bank, which can seem a little bit. administrative, it can seem hard to. understand, but is seen as very, very important for.

Palestinians. It does seem as though. that issue is sort of distantly behind. what's happening in Gaza, what's. happening in Iran, etc. Thanks, Joel. That was Joel Gunter. If. you liked this episode, please subscribe. to us here on YouTube. And if there's. another story you want us to cover, please tell us in the comments below. There'll be more international news on. our global news podcast. Find it. wherever you get your podcasts. But, that's it from this edition of the.

global news podcast here on YouTube. Thanks for watching. Thanks for. listening. See you next time.