Activities 2014 16

7amleh was founded by a group of Palestinian activists in 2013. Recognizing the potential of social media to facilitate the exchange of ideas and contributing to real political change, 7amlehthe Arab centre for social media advancement aims to strengthen the ability of Palestinian communities and civil society to use social media to challenge the discrimination and dispossession that they face on a daily basis.

In the period 2014-2016 7amleh has participated in, and supported, various projects, campaigns and initiatives that further these goals.

In the period 2014-16 7amleh has participated in and initiated numerous campaigns using various social media platforms to bring the message of the campaign to as wide an audience as possible.

In association with Baladna and the feminist organization Kayan, 7amleh participated in a campaign to foster a debate amongst young people about the phenomenon of ‘honour’-killings and violence against women in Palestine. 7amleh’s contribution to this campaign was creating the Facebook page “Challenging the ‘Honour’ Killing of Men” and the production of five short films that were published on the Facebook page.

The online campaign orchestrated by 7amleh reached thousands of people. The Facebook page currently has more than 6400 likes and the five videos have more than 81 000 views.

The Facebook page and videos created by 7amleh can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/khalas6

In partnership with Sikkuy, 7amleh launched a social media campaign highlighting the absence of Arabic in the Israeli public transport system. Despite Arabic being an official language in Israel many bus companies refuse to use Arabic for signage or announcements. As part of this campaign 7amleh produced an animated video to promote the use of Arabic on Israeli public transport.

The video produced by 7amleh for this campaign can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSEExW_jMsA

Dahmash is a village situated in the district of Lod where Israeli police illegally demolished three homes on 15th April 2015. In an effort to highlight the struggle of the people of Dahmash 7amleh organized a tour for bloggers, journalists and photojournalists to the village. Providing the participants with continuous access to WiFi and using the hashtag Dahmash facilitated a coordinated campaign on social media in several languages. The tour highlighted the ongoing difficulties the Palestinians face in gaining legal and social equality and countering Jewish only privileges in land rights.

More information on the #Dahmash project is located on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/36

The village of Um al Hiran has been slated for demolition to make room for the Jewish settlement of Hiran, the population of Um al Hiran will be subjected to forcible displacement. To bring attention to the ongoing struggle against the policy of privileging Jews in the question of land rights, 7amleh organized a tour to the village for bloggers and citizen journalists. Using the Hashtag #UmAlHiran they were able to bring the eviction of the villagers and demolition of the village to a wide audience on a variety of platforms and networks. As part of the campaign to document the ongoing dispossession of the people of Um al Hiran 7amleh produced a short animated video.

More information on the #UmAlHiran campaign can be found on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/41 The video produced by 7amleh can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r-AIm9ELAM

Situated in the Galilee, Ramiah is another Palestinian village where the inhabitants are threatened with dispossession and house demolitions. Emulating the success of the other campaigns oriented towards journalists, bloggers and photojournalists 7amleh facilitated a trip to the village to bear witness to the ongoing struggles of the inhabitants.

More information on the tour to Ramiah is available on 7amleh’s website (Arabic): http://www.7amleh.org/ar/article/60

In cooperation with Adalah, 7amleh organized a campaign to mark the 15th anniversary of the killing of 13 Palestinian civilians by the Israeli police force. 7amleh created an image-based campaign of young Palestinians holding pictures of those who had been killed, and bearing the slogan “we carry the memory�, which was also used as a hashtag for the campaign. The campaign highlighted the struggle to obtain justice for those who were killed, as well as the ongoing racial discrimination that Palestinians suffer at the hands of Israeli police forces and the Israeli judiciary.

More information on this campaign is available on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/49

Together with professional photographer Mohamed Badarneh, 7amleh convened a tour for photographers to the district of Wadi Saleeb in Haifa. The attendees were invited to use photography and imagery to capture the unique Palestinian character and architecture of the area, that has come under serious threat from Haifa municipality which seeks to remove its Palestinian character and history.

More information on this campaign is available on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/57

In November 2015 7amleh produced and released a music-video that criticized the attempts by the Israeli State to recruit young Christians and Druze to the Israeli military. This was a part of a wider campaign against the expansion of recruitment to Christian communities and the introduction of a new “Christian-Aramaic� ethnic group by the state.

The music video currently has more than 38 000 views on YouTube and can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=fkKcvVFHQ84

We will not be silent is a campaign organized by Adalah, Baladna Youth and 7amleh to promote the freedom of expression of Arab Palestinian youth in Israel. Together the organizations convened an event which covered the legal aspects of freedom of expression, in addition to hosting speakers who themselves have been arrested or experienced violence at the hands of Israeli police forces. There was also a talk on the role of photography in activism, and the use of photography in story-telling.

The campaign was accompanied by the release of an online photo-gallery that can be accessed here: http://www.7amleh.org/ WeWillNotBeSilent/

7amleh has had sever successful workshops over the past two years. They have covered several different topics, from amplifying the Palestinian voice, to building a campaign on social media platforms.

Al Mkhzan (the storehouse) is a project initated by 7amleh based in the unrecognized village of Khashem Zeneh, bringing together photographers from the Galilee in order to develop their ability to use photography as a tool for raising awareness and contributing politically to the Palestinian struggle. Participants were educated in the political context of the dispossession of Palestinians in the Naqab as well as practical training in documentary photography.

More information about Al Mkhzan is available on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/14

The workshop centered on how to use Wikipedia as a toll to raise the profile of Palestinian issues online. Two local web activists, Farah Mustaklim and Rami Shenewai, taught the necessary skills for Wikipedia editing, outlined editorial policy issues, and discussed strategies for maximizing productivity and online presence.

The Wikimedia representative for the MENA region, Samir Sharabaty also addressed the participants.

More information about the Wikipedia workshop can be found on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/ article/50

The workshop was held in Dheisheh, a camp for Palestinian refugees in Bethlehem and took place in cooperation with Ibda’a.

The 4 workshops were attended by 14-15 yr old boys and girls and were taught digital expression through social media sites. They focused their work on the people in their camp and telling their stories.

A full report on the Digital Community Activism Workshop can be found on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/43

Held in co-operation with Palestine Vision, the course consisted of 4 weekly meetings and was attended by civil society activists in Nablus. Social media issues such as how to build popular digital campaigns, how to use Facebook for advocacy, and digital storytelling through blogging. The culmination was a digital campaign.

A full report on the Social Media Marketing for Campaigns Workshop can be found here: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/31

Held at the Shatil offices, the 4 workshops concentrated on using social media platforms as a tool for advocacy, expression, and storytelling. The goal is to raise the local and international awareness of the day to day lives of Palestinians and to give them a place where they can tell their stories.

More information on the Palestinian Activist Training Network can be found on 7amleh’s website: http:// www.7amleh.org/en/article/25

These workshops focused on social media and how it can be used to awareness-raising and advocacy activities in the field of civil action. The session was held in Haifa and consisted of 6 intensive meetings during one week, a total of 24hrs of training.

More information about the New Media Training Sessions is available on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/16

7amleh has convened roundtable discussions on several topics for experts and activists over the last two years. These roundtable meetings enable different sections of politically active people to share their knowledge and experience with one another.

This roundtable was hosted by experts in visual communication to share their expertise on how visual and social media can affect change, especially related to human rights campaigns. There was also a lecture on the development in Palestinian political posters.

It was followed by a discussion amongst those present.

A full report on The Picture in Social Media roundtable can be seen on 7amleh’s website : http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/21

Three talks were given to those present on how to strengthen the Palestinian presence on Wikipedia and how Wikipedia functions politically. There was also a practical introduction to the basics of Wikipedia editing. The discussion afterwards focused on how the participants of the discussion could implement what had been discussed and how to recruit more Palestinian wikipedians.

More information on the Wikipedia roundtable can be found on 7amleh’s website: http://www.7amleh.org/en/article/23

7amleh has produced one very comprehensive study and analysis of social media in Palestine during the period in question.

7amleh compiled a report on the use of social media amongst the Palestinian population in all of historic Palestine in 2015. The report included statistical analysis of computer, internet and social media use amongst the Palestinian population as well as in-depth analysis about the most widespread and important campaigns on Palestinian social media throughout 2015. Combining the two forms of analysis allowed 7amleh to develop the organization’s understanding of how social media and political action feed into each other. The report also covered the violations of Palestinians’ freedom of expression online, detailing arrests and detainments of Palestinians made

by Israel, The Palestinian Authority and Hamas due to posts on social media.

The report can be read in its entirety here: http://www.7amleh.org/ en/article/62

7amleh extends its thanks to our partners, donors and volunteers.

7amleh’s supporters are: MECA The European Union The Wikimedia Foundation Sparkplug

7amleh’s partners in 2014-16 have been: Palvision Adalah Ibadaa Centre Kayan Baladna Tashreen