Jerusalem: Israel has installed robotic weapons that fire tear gas, stun grenades and sponge tips at Palestinian protesters in two sensitive areas of the occupied West Bank.
The weapons use artificial intelligence to track targets as they are located in a crowded Palestinian refugee camp and a sensitive West Bank city.
Israel claims that this technique has saved both Israeli and Palestinian lives. However, cynics see this as just another step towards a dystopian future in which Israel continues to heal its long-term occupation of the Palestinian people while shielding its soldiers from harm.
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The release of the new weapon coincides with increased unrest in the occupied West Bank, where violence has increased significantly during the deadliest year since 2006.
There have been fears of increased violence following the victory of a hard-line coalition led by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes an extreme right-wing party linked to the settler movement.
More recently, two twin turrets were added to a guard tower in the southern West Bank overlooking the Al-Arab refugee camp and each outfitted with an observatory lens and a gun barrel.
According to witnesses, when young Palestinian protesters swarmed the streets and threw firebombs and stones at Israeli soldiers, robotic arms hit them with sponge-tipped bullets or tear gas.
The army also installed robots in the nearby city of Hebron, where troops frequently clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians about a month ago. Regarding its intention to use the system elsewhere in the West Bank, the army declined to comment.
According to Palestinian activist Issa Amro, residents of Hebron worry that the new weapon could be misused or compromised in potentially fatal situations. He continued that people dislike testing weapons on civilians.
He declared, "We are not a training and simulation facility for Israeli businesses. This is a new development that needs to stop."
Robots were also installed by the army a month ago in the nearby city of Hebron, where soldiers frequently clashed with stone-throwing Palestinians.
The army declined to comment on whether it planned to use the system elsewhere in the West Bank. According to Palestinian activist Issa Amro, Hebron's residents are concerned that the new weapon could be misused or compromised without reacting in potentially lethal situations. People dislike what they perceive as weapons testing on civilians, he continued.
He said that we are not a training and simulation center for Israeli businesses. It is important to stop this recent development.
Robotic weapons are becoming more prevalent around the world, with terrorists using drones to carry out deadly attacks from Ethiopia to Ukraine.
The United States used them in Iraq, South Korea used them along its border with North Korea, and various Syrian rebel groups also used them. These remotely controlled weapons are similar to the Israeli system used in the West Bank.
Israel, renowned for its cutting-edge military technology, is one of the top producers of drones that can fire precision-guided missiles. It has built a fence with radar, underground and underwater sensors along its border with the Gaza Strip.
It patrols volatile borders with a robotic vehicle equipped with cameras and machine guns. The military also conducts tests and uses state-of-the-art surveillance equipment such as facial recognition and biometric data collection on Palestinians who counter with business routines such as requesting Israeli travel permits.
Dror Sadot, a spokeswoman for the Israeli rights organization B'Tselem, claimed that "Israel is using technology as a means to control the civilian population." He claimed that even weapons such as sponge bullets, which are considered non-lethal, can cause excruciating pain and can be lethal.
The company Smart Shooter built the Burj in Al-Arab. According to the company, its "fire control system" "significantly increases the accuracy, lethality and situational awareness of small arms." The business contracts with dozens of armed forces around the world, including the US Army.
The gun requires human selection of targets and ammunition, according to chief executive Michal Mor, speaking at the company's headquarters in Kibbutz Yagur in northern Israel. He claimed that a man was always involved in the decision-making process about an appropriate target.
He claimed that the system reduces casualties by removing soldiers from violent situations and restricts collateral damage by improving shot accuracy.
She claimed that soldiers could keep an eye on particular individuals in a crowd and lock the turret onto particular body parts in a densely populated area like Al-Aroub. Only after algorithms evaluate complex factors like wind speed, distance, and velocity does the system start to operate.
According to the military, these protections reduce the risk to soldiers and enhance oversight of their activities. In order to minimise damage and prevent shooting bystanders, it was also stated that technology enables soldiers to aim for "less sensitive" body parts. The system "reduces the possibility of inaccurate fire" in this way, it claimed.
Israel, according to Omar Shakir, the director for Israel and Palestine at Human Rights Watch, is progressing "into the digital dehumanisation of weapons systems." Shakir claimed that Israel is creating "a powder keg for human rights abuse" by using such technologies.
After a wave of Palestinian attacks inside Israel last spring that left 19 people dead, Israel increased its arrest raids, which has resulted in an increase in violence in the West Bank over the past few months. More than 130 Palestinians have been killed in violence this year, and at least 10 more Israelis have also been killed in recent attacks.
Israel claims that the raids aim to destroy militant infrastructure and that it was compelled to act due to the Palestinian security forces' inaction.
For Palestinians, Israel's control over the lands they want for their aspirational state has grown stronger as a result of Israel's nightly incursions into their towns. In the 1967 Middle East conflict, Israel seized control of the West Bank, east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
Residents of Al-Aroub claim that the machines randomly start to fire. Student Kamel Abu Hishesh, who is 19 years old, said, "It is very fast, even faster than the soldiers." He spoke of battles that took place almost every night, with soldiers storming the camp as an automated gun fired tear gas up and down the hill.
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According to Paul Scharre, a former US Army sniper and vice president of the Center for a New American Security in Washington, automated systems may be able to lessen violence by eliminating emotion and improving aim.
However, he argued that it is problematic that there are no global standards for "killer robots." Otherwise, he warned, it won't be long before these automated systems are capable of using lethal force.