Lower thirds:
00:02 Report by Tania Krämer
00:34 Issa Amro | Human rights activist
02:17 Issa Amro | Human rights activist
02:52 Issa Amro | Human rights activist

Script:
Issa Amro is a Palestinian human rights activist who lives in Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.  
 
To get home every day, he has to cross Israeli military checkpoints within the city. 
 
00:14 +++ATMO SOUND inside the checkpoint+++ 
Today, he’s briefly detained – the army says we have filmed at the checkpoint, which is not allowed - according to them.  
 
Issa is allowed to go, but only after we delete a clip.  
 
Even without our presence, this is part of his daily life: 
 
00:33 +++Issa Amro, human rights activist, EN+++  
“I have to go to one checkpoint, two checkpoints, and sometimes three checkpoints to reach my house and even to leave my house. This is the reality. Our life is so restricted. We are dehumanized.” 
With more western countries now saying they will recognize the State of Palestine, how would things change here, if at all?  
00:54 +++Issa Amro, human rights activist, EN+++  
“Recognizing Palestine as a state will (he means ‘should’) prevent this soldier to do whatever he wants to me. And recognizing us as a human being and as a nation means the international community recognizing the Palestinian right for self-determination, for peace, for justice, for accountability. Because after recognition, we need accountability for the occupiers.” 
 
Hebron is often described as the microcosm of the conflict and the Israeli occupation.  

It was divided in the 1990’s into two areas: 
H2, where Israeli settlers live inside the city, is solely under Israeli military control and H1 under Palestinian civil control. 
Since October 7, however, all access to the city has been severely restricted by the Israeli military.  
 
Issa cannot freely move around his own city. Like here on Shuhada Street, which is controlled by the Israeli army.  
 
01:54 +++ Upsound Issa Amro, EN+++ 
“Look, you live in a ghost town, not in a normal life.” 
 
Once the bustling city centre, the Israeli military shut down its Palestinian-owned stores years ago. Settlers can drive here, Issa can only walk, but  only up to a certain point. 
 
02:16 +++ATMO- upsound : Issa talking to soldier++ PLEASE SLIGHTY BLUR SOLDIERS FACE
“We are not moving. We are not crossing. Yeah. So. Yeah. So, as you know, I'm not allowed to continue more. You can explain to her. 
 
02:26 +++Issa Amro, human rights activist, EN+++ 
“I have less rights than other people. I have less rights than you. In my own city and my own streets, where I was born, where I was raised, where I used to play as a child here.  
 
He hopes that recognition will provide a legal framework for change, but says recognition alone isn't enough.
 
02:51 +++Issa Amro, human rights activist, EN+++  
After we we get the recognition, we will ask them to intervene according to the international law mechanism to make peace here. So it's an obligation after they recognize us as a as a state here. // CUT// And it's so important emotionally for us. You know, we want to feel recognized. We want to feel that we exist because here they say Palestinians never exist and never will.” 
  
In response to recognition, the Israeli government has repeated its threat to annex the West Bank. 

But Issa says, a de facto annexation is already happening in the West Bank. He shows us a brand-new settler outpost guarded by the Israeli army right in a Palestinian neighborhood. 
 
03:38 +++Issa Amro, Human rights activist +++ 
“The Israeli government is creating more and more facts in the ground. As this new outpost, we have now tens of outposts and illegal settlements and military posts, military checkpoints, closure, settler violence. So the situation in the West Bank is really, escalating toward violence.” 
 
Without accountability, recognition may remain largely symbolic. However, for many people here, this is still a - small – but important step in the right direction.  
 
04:12 END