Official Blog
Broadcast Yourself
YouTube in the Palestinian Territories
Thursday, July 7, 2011
There are few areas in the world where the ubiquity of the web means more than in the Palestinian territories. In a place where conflict is a part of daily life, and land disputes prevent the kind of geographical freedom most of us take for granted, it’s platforms like YouTube that are allowing people to broadcast their ideas to the rest of the world—and to tell stories that aren’t being told by other media outlets.
A few weeks ago, as part of our efforts to broaden YouTube’s news content partnerships, I spent a week with some other Googlers in Gaza and the West Bank. I met with news organizations, bloggers, local officials, and young people—all of whom were eager to tell their stories on video. In the last month, over 16,000 videos have been uploaded to YouTube from the Palestinian territories, despite low access to 3G networks and broadband Internet. And of the more than 75,000 videos uploaded from the territories this year, 5,000+ were tagged as news and politics videos:
Sleepless in Gaza
is an innovative 90-part (!) reality show on YouTube featuring six women who travel in the Palestinian territories and document their experiences. It drew such a following on YouTube that it’s now being optioned for TV series in the U.S.
The
Maan News Agency
, the top online Palestinian news site, has begun uploading its video reports to YouTube to share with the world.
Videos covering the March 15
demonstrations
(which were held to demand unity between competing Palestinian political parties, Hamas and Fatah) saw many views on YouTube as conflict broke out between demonstrators and Hamas.
The
United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) has a YouTube channel they use to tell the stories of Gazans they work with in schools and other projects.
The
Global Citizen Corps
, a group of young bloggers organized by the international NGO Mercy Corps to do community service and media training, has a robust YouTube channel with videos made by young people telling the story of Gaza through their eyes.
The
Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation
, once the state media outlet of President Abbas’ Fatah, has recently decided to hire an independent board of directors and produce content outside the influence of the government (on a model that might end up quite like PBS).
Meeting with bloggers in Ramallah
Meeting with bloggers in Gaza
It’s in Gaza (the part of the Palestinian territories that are run by Hamas) where media freedoms have a ways to go. Journalists told us they’d been jailed for writing articles critical of Hamas, and one news organization had their office broken into and computers stolen when their pages held criticism of the government. And, after growing to 1,200 members, the Global Citizen Corps caught the attention of the government and was disbanded by the organizers for a while to protect members.
But the people of the Palestinian territories want desperately to tell a story of the region that gets beyond stereotypes. The images we see in Western media, of a place fraught with conflict and despair, doesn’t tell the real story of the territories, they told us. Some Palestinian entrepreneurs even created a new
travel website
, highlighting the best there is to see in the region.
It’s been said before, but it’s true: it’s the young people in the Middle East who will make change. Seventy percent of the people in Gaza are under 30. In Israel, 30 percent of the population is under 14. Several bloggers told us they had relationships with Israeli youth on the Internet; their hope is that YouTube and other platforms will help them communicate beyond the seemingly intractable political battles between their leaders and start conversations that will lead to new opportunities for peace.
Steve Grove, Head of YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “
Sleepless in Gaza, part 1
.”
Labels
3D
4k
accessibility
account info
activism
ads
africa
annotations
arts
awards
benefit
betas
bizblog
blogs
bulletins
buzz
captions
celebrity playlists
channels
chrome
citizen journalism
citizen reporting
citizentube
comedy
comments
community
community guidelines
contests
creator's corner
creators
curators
customization
dance
design
discovery
doodle
editor
education
embeds
entertainment
events
facebook
film
flagging
gaming
gmail
google
google tv
government
grants
groups
guidelines
hd
help center
holidays
homepage
howto
inspiration
investment
jobs
journalism
life in a day
live stream
marketing
meetups
mobile
moderator
movies
music
musicians wanted
news
nonprofits
open-source
partners
playlists
policy
politics
privacy
product update
quicklist
ratings
rentals
research
safety
science and technology
screening room
search
sharing
shows
social networks
sports
staff
stats and data
store
subscriptions
tags
test tube
travel
trends
tv
twitter
upload
vevo
video editing
video production
video volunteers
viral video
youtube api
youtube direct
Archive
2017
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2016
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2007
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2006
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2005
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Feed
YouTube
on
Follow @youtube
Follow
Learn more in the
YouTube Help Center
.
Follow