As Antony Loewenstein explains, Palestine has been a testing ground for repressive technologies exported around the world, from spy software to killer drones. For more than seven decades, Israel has occupied parts of historic Palestine, making it the longest ongoing occupation in modern history. This occupation has caused severe physical, mental, and economic hardship as Palestinian civilians have been subject to military detention, restrictions on movement, demolition of homes, and violence, all of which have been enabled by the exclusive use of high-tech surveillance and weapons systems.
Israel, with the support of the United States and other international powers, has repeatedly used the occupied territories of the Palestinian people as a ground for experimenting with various types of highly technological weapons and surveillance systems. This includes unmarked military drones, motion sensors, facial recognition technology, and spy software, among other items. This technology, according to a 2019 report, is increasingly available and exported around the world for military and security purposes, leaving behind a legacy of immense suffering for the local Palestinian population.
For Palestinians living in the occupied territories, the experience of technology-enabled violence has been devastating. In the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli forces regularly employ drones and other military weapons to monitor, disrupt, and incapacitate individuals and communities. Over the past decade, the number of sniper shootings, airstrikes, house raids, and extrajudicial assassinations has dramatically increased and Palestinians have suffered immense trauma as a direct result of these activities.
Moreover, the damage to life and property often goes unreported and the chances of accountability for military personnel who implement these systems is slim. The Israeli military has almost unlimited access to weapons and technologies that facilitate brutal policing and violations of human rights, and these systems often remain unused and unaccounted for, even among allies.
High-tech surveillance and weapons systems have become deeply entrenched in the Israeli security apparatus and have facilitated the entrenchment of wide-ranging discriminatory policies. Since the onset of the occupation, technology has been used to manage and control the lives of Palestinians. It has enabled the mass surveillance of the population, detailed profiling of individuals and private data, and a myriad of significant restrictions on Palestinian civil society.
The use of high-tech surveillance and weapons systems has had a long-term effect on the mental and physical health of Palestinians, whose lives and livelihoods are impacted each day by the specter of violence. Palestinian youth are especially vulnerable, facing harassment, physical abuse, and arrest at the hands of Israeli forces.
Given the international arms trade, the systems used in Palestine today will undoubtedly repeat themselves in other parts of the world in the near future. Governments that acquire such equipment, and the private military companies that produce it, must recognize their human rights responsibilities and ensure that these systems are not used to oppress vulnerable populations.
It is essential that Palestinian suffering is not repeated in other places, as it has been in Palestine. International organizations, governments, and civil society must work together to demand real freedom, security, and justice for all people, regardless of nationality, faith, race, or ethnicity. It is only then that technology will be employed to safeguard the rights of each and every individual.
