The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem decided to do something about getting them out, especially to an Israeli audience. Months ago it distributed video cameras to 18 young people in Gaza and set them up with an instructor and Web guidance. The assignment: tell us about your lives.

“The idea was to help people there communicate their struggles to Israelis, to combat the fear and stereotypes,” said Sarit Michaeli, spokeswoman for B’Tselem. “They are an hour’s drive from Tel Aviv but so much farther for most Israelis.”

The result is a series of short subtitled videos on a variety of topics: working in the smuggling tunnels from the Egyptian Sinai, how the wounded are doing, a profile of a girls’ soccer team.

Israel’s biggest news Web site, Ynet, which belongs to the Yediot Aharonot newspaper group, has just posted five of the videos under the headline “Gaza: An inside look.” Because so little from Gaza makes it into the Israeli news media — Israeli journalists, like all Israelis, have been barred by their government from entering for more than three years — this is something of a new frontier.

They even quoted one of the nasty talkbackers from Ynet!

Also of note, Nelson Mandela was still on the US terrorist watch list as of last year.

link to cnn.com

Fancy that.

“If you need the other side to have a Gandhi, then you’re fighting for the wrong side.”

It is because Israeli oppression is worse than the British Raj