Since Israel conquered the region in 1967, its military has forbidden nearly every form of protest, even things as small as gathering more than 10 people for a political conversation or simply waving the Palestinian flag.
The simplest acts of defiance can be seen as a threat: Amro once organized and videotaped an effort by a Palestinian man to pass through an Israeli checkpoint while balancing on his shoulder a large watermelon — a longtime symbol of Palestinian nationalism because its colors are those of the Palestinian flag.
In the video, soldiers confiscate the watermelon and, as the camera zooms in, eye it warily as though it might explode.
He has repeatedly filmed Israeli soldiers at close range and been beaten and grabbed by the throat when he refused to stop.
Amro himself lives in one such home, surrounded by some of the West Bank’s most violent settlers.
Persons:
—, Mohandas K, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr, “ He’s, ” Yehuda Shaul, ”
Organizations:
Amro, United Nations, West Bank
Locations:
Palestinian, Israel