It often seems that Israel can get away with anything under the banner of self-defense. And why not? Their greatest friend and ally, the Untied States, proclaims on a regular basis that Israeli security is paramount. The international community and the United Nations, in spite of criticizing Israel on little matters like settlements and blockades, reiterate this concern as well. However, how Israel can justify making an unarmed man in a flimsy jacket sit in the freezing rain for twenty minutes, in the name of self-defense, is beyond me.
The film Checkpoint was a grisly look into the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli guards. And we weren’t even watching the worst parts! Never mind women forced to give birth in the open because they are refused passage, or Palestinian civilians fired upon in disputes. The segments we watched, even though they are nothing but the mundane, day-to-day routines endured by all Palestinians in the occupied territories, were disgusting. For a nation obsessed with racism and constantly ready to pull the anti-Semitism card, the Israeli border guards featured on the film displayed some of the most shocking examples of racism I have ever seen. They called the Palestinians animals, claiming they had to be kept “locked up.” They sexually harassed young girls and women attempting to pass through. They arbitrarily tormented men by interrogating them as to their activities, often denying passage or forcing them to wait for hours on end. Wives were humiliated in front of their husbands, and vice versa.
The checkpoints are not used so much in self-defense as for a tool of subjugation. They are a means of reiterating Israeli power to a rebellious and resentful people. They are an unrelenting sign of Israeli occupation and a power trip for Israeli youth desperate to prove the legitimacy and supremacy of their nation and race. Representative of a fundamental lack of respect, and a total disregard of human rights, the checkpoints illustrate the apartheid-like regime that Israel has imposed upon the Palestinian people.
This is a film that will hopefully open eyes to the dehumanization of Palestinians. The purpose of these checkpoints is not to maintain security. The purpose of these checkpoints is to maintain Israeli superiority. It is obvious that the masses of pregnant women, schoolchildren, old men, sick individuals-normal civilians- do not pose a threat to the safety of Israel.
But Israel is obsessed with security. They have become so paranoid that the country lives in a perpetual state of militarization. I have witnessed this firsthand. There are armed soldiers on every public bus, although they would be better described as 17 year-old kids with semi-automatic weapons. I had a conversation with one of these soldiers who said his whole motivation in life was to serve Israel, and more importantly to him, to avenge the deaths of his father and his sister who were killed in suicide attacks. He stated that he was going to try to “kill as many of them as I can for what they did.” I do not believe that this soldier could carry out his military obligation with impartiality. His intense hatred is not aimed at those actually accountable for the deaths of his family. His hatred is aimed towards an entire people group. This is just one individual in a whole system of industrialized racism.
We see in the film these soldiers who have no regard for the humanity across the gate from them. Why is this so? I believe it is due to the deeply-ingrained paranoia for safety. Also, it is due to rampant hatred. Moreover, Israel is a country that holds tightly to the belief that they are “the chosen people.” This ethnocentrism fuels their paranoia. The “chosen people”, the “more human-humanity” is sacrosanct. They then are deserving of protection because they are special by definition, regardless of outside threats.
What is hard to fathom is how a nation who knows firsthand the effects of dehumanization (recall the dehumanizing campaigns against Jews in Europe during the 1930’s and 40’s) can so quickly forget, and turn around and promote a similar campaign against another people.
Israel's ability to maintain control of movement in the occupied territories with the numerous checkpoints with armed soldiers is surprising in a sense. The treatment of the Palestinian people day in and day out can only be described as inhumane. It is as if the Israeli government uses cruel and unusual punishment as a regular daily tactic to maintain security. The way the Israeli government portrays the checkpoints to the world is astonishing because they are able to mask the true behavior, the governmental sanctioned behavior of their occupying forces in West Bank. It seems almost a shame how much some of the country has confused nationalism with the faith of Judaism. Even to the point where they raise and socialize their children to have such disdain for their neighbors which is contrary to Jewish beliefs and values.
The need for security of Israel is extremely important, enough so that drastic defense measures must be taken. However the installation of checkpoints at random points in the West Bank solely to cut off transportation for Palestinian people within their own land which is occupied by a foreign power does not serve the purpose of "security."
I find it hard for myself to make these statements because I am a Jew and I have traveled to Israel recently and needless to say but they didn't really tell us what was going on in the region. I had no idea how extremely terrible the situation is with the Palestinians and Israeli's. Videos such as "Checkpoint" are important for documentation of these inhumane acts.
The worst part is the enjoyment shown on the Israeli soldiers faces when they terrorize other humans for what seemed to be no reason. These soldiers looked no more than 20 or 21 years of age and they are granted the most sought after thing in human history, power. They hold complete control over the lives of thousands of people everyday. At an age where moral compasses can be easily skewed, the Israeli government trains and provides automatic weapons to the youth of Israel. Their conduct speaks volumes in this film as you witness the sexual harassment of multiple Palestinian women and some that even might be considered young girls. The Israeli military needs to have their priorities and guidelines seriously reconstructed.
Israeli military intelligence is superb. Israeli military censorship of media coverage of national security issues is pervasive and iron-clad. So one can assume that allowing the film Checkpoint to be made and released was with official approval or with an off-the-record wink. Why?
Why would a quasi-documentary that would be evidence in a criminal trial in most countries be circulating for public consumption?
Arrogant, inhumane policy-makers obviously want to psychologically strip Palestinians of their will to fight a superior force. While Israeli political leaders profess official peace policy, they allow (knowingly)for brutal and criminal violations of human rights to be regular tactics of uniformed soldiers, border guards and checkpoint guards.
As we watched Checkpoint in class I realized whatever we saw was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg...and that me angry, frustrated and literally, physically ill. To watch guards grab a Palestinian man and repeatedly crash a heavy rock down on his arm to break it in several places was intellectually and morally repugnant. To understand that this criminal behavior was frequent activity at Israeli checkpoints and was officially condoned was truly disturbing.
Israeli guards stood under shelters as cold rain poured down on detained or delayed Palestinians and I wondered how people who constantly remind the world of the Holocaust can so cruelly treat other human beings.
This film did not make me sympathetic to Zionism. In fact, it challenged me to speak outagainst these state condoned atrocities.
This documentary opened my eyes with a major problem the Palestinians face. I believed the checkpoints were simple, show your identification card and move on. I did not realize how much they interrogate the Palestinians. The checkpoint soldiers treat all the Palestinians as terrorists. The part of the documentary in which the crowd of Palestinians was turned away to cross the border was so dehumanizing. It seems as if the Palestinians are treated like animals. The way they also treat Palestinian women is inhumane. They would not dare treat Israeli women that way.
What was most disturbing was when the border official talked to the camera about how much he hated the Palestinians and believed what Israel was doing was right. This overt prejudice should not be tolerated. Prejudice is not something one is born with, it is learned. There are probably many Israelis that have the same view. The Israelis need to be educated on becoming more open-minded and fair. If Israel was willing to make concessions, there would not be a need for the Palestinian rebel groups. They would not see suicide bombers or rockets launched into the cities. They have enough land already. Let the Palestinians receive their sovereignty.
There are two things to consider when viewing this film. The first is that Israelis are terribly sensitive to the death (or the capture) of even one of their citizens. This is why the state is willing to offer the release of several hundred Palestinian captives, including the five-time terrorist murderer Marwan Barghouti, in exchange for the release of Gilead Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was abducted near Gaza. I truly do not understand this Israeli sensitivity, except that possibly it is a hold-over response from the Holocaust during which Jewish lives were worth nothing to those who killed them and to those who refused them admittance into their own nations as refugees. Whatever the reason, though, there it is.
Secondly, when some Palestinians use women and even children to carry suicide bombs into Israel, Israelis must behave as if every Palestinian is a terrorist bomber. They must check everyone, just as we try at least to do in our airports in the U.S. That said, though, it must be also said that whenever men in uniform are given responsibility over others, brutality will happen. We have seen this in experiments such as Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s prison experiments with his college students as well as in Abu Ghraib where U.S. soldiers proved capable of unbelievable atrocities towards their captives.
So what is to be done? It could be helpful to use metal scanners that Palestinians could walk through, if bombs are even made of metal. It could be helpful to provide Israeli soldiers with more time away from the checkpoints to reconnect with those they do not fear. It certainly would be helpful to dismantle Israeli settlements on the West Bank so soldiers could focus on guarding Israel’s actual borders instead of having the focus diverted to guarding so many scattered settlements. But mostly, it would be helpful if Israel were to admit that some of its soldiers have a problem and try to address that problem head on.
I found it interesting how this documentary was filmed. It was simply just observing Israeli soldiers and Palestinian and Israeli people going through the checkpoints. This observation offered true insight into the daily struggles of the Palestinian people.
The segregation between the Palestinians and Israelis is highly noticeable in just observing how each group is treated at the checkpoints. To go through one checkpoint can take hours; Palestinians may not even get home until the next day while the Israelis can go straight through. This is unfair treatment. Israel is a democratic society and everyone should be treated equal.
In addition, how the soldiers spoke to women, did not matter their ethnicity, was also appalling. It must be horrible to have to deal with soldiers flirting and saying disrespectful things. The soldiers knew they were being filmed therefore they must have been on their best behavior. I am curious to know how many degrees worse they act when they know they are not on camera.
It is a great injustice to anyone to be treated unfairly because of their ethnicity. The majority of Palestinians are innocent people with intent to attack Israelis yet they are all treated as terrorists. I am going on a trip to Israel in about two weeks for birthright and I feel that I am going to hear one side of this controversy, and know that I have learned about both sides of the struggles of these two ethnicities. It will be an experience like no other, and films such as “Checkpoint” have allowed me to see the positions of both parties at a clearer level.
This movie is very much of a movie for the Palestinian people. In honest documentary, we see the ways in which Israeli power can be used to frighten, humiliate, abuse, and violate Palestinians as they try to go about their daily business. Most of the heavily armed soldiers seem to enjoy the opportunity to subject Palestinians to abuse. Again and again, men and women, young and old are questioned about who they are and where they are going. The real atrocities occur when the Palestinians intimidate, humiliate, and sexually abuse Palestinian women. The blockades are hardly significant with regards to tactical power. The checkpoints are low-tech, authoritarian disasters, that any bomber could sneak around if they wanted. These blockades are more than a physical boundary, but a constant reminder to the Palestinians of Israeli supremacy. We see the soldiers follow their hunches, stopping dark scruffy looking men while giving women and youngsters a pass
This documentary is affective in simply observing the situation at the checkpoints. The film demonstrates how these hostilities occur on a daily basis and then are simply forgotten. The treatment at the checkpoints are a good example of why the conflict continues. A policy that gets results a few times out of a thousand does not make it affective. And that violence such as assassinations can simply provoke and strengthen the other side. As far as the implication that Israeli's believe they have a right to act in this overprotective way due to the past Holocaust is not valid. The Palestinians (and all other Arabs) living today are a different generation of those who lived during the Holocaust. For Palestinians to commit acts similar to those inflicted on the ancestors is extremely irresponsible.
Check Point is a documentary that was directed by Yoav Shamir. It focuses on checkpoints in different areas that Palestinians must go through to get to certain towns and greater Israel. From a personal standpoint seeing those that are treated indifferently at times is very difficult to watch as the people just want to get to their appointments. Jobs, visit loved one’s or visit their Holy sights. An example of this is the constant interrogation of a man with his family who wanted to go to Nablus because his son was sick, even the young son questioned relentlessly. The young son also witness the harassment and tearing down of the fathers dignity and because of this children grow up and have some cause for terrorist actions.
It is bothersome to see so many people wait lengthy periods of time even for which the elderly or those that have to turn back are not even granted access to go through simply because the Israeli soldier said so. Even for the guy that stood up to the Israeli soldier to get through with his truck, the Israeli soldier would not back down. I felt the Israeli soldier was on a power trip as it was his decision alone to decide the fate of this guy. I thought it was good the guy was standing up for himself and his rights as a human being. The superior officer listened to the needs of the man and let them through, as they needed to do work for their livelihood. It took a lot of effort to get through that checkpoint, it is an unfortunate thing for those that need to pass especially when it affects them economically.
To watch this seems unfair and is unfair but because of Intifadas and the Oslo peace process the cutting into lines of borders that are Palestinian are what most Palestinians have to suffer for because of the crimes of others.
When people are questioned constantly, they even question the truth about a visit to a dead husband of an elderly mans sister who got through but only after he said he would be back. The lines that form in the cold, rainy and snowy conditions in which they stand for hours just to be turned away is appalling. And if you are trying to get to work you can talk to a supervisor and get through but if you start confronting the soldiers you can also be put to the side along with many others.
Checkpoints, is an unfair advantage to Palestinians that have the ability to help along the suffering of the people along with the distress that it causes on a humanistic level as well as the suffering of the economic downturn that also takes place when imports are cut off or people cannot get to their jobs. This overall seems like power trip of Israeli authority to oppress people of their dignity and basic human rights.
The footage of the Israeli soldiers' treatment of the Palestinians at checkpoint in "Check Point" is unnerving and frankly disgusting. The IDF soldiers man the checkpoints in the Palestinian territories for the stated purpose of the security of Israel, however the real purpose seems to be the degradation and humiliation of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian people have no freedom of movement within the Palestinian territories with the armed checkpoints of Israel soldiers. "Check Point" documents many inhumane actions of the soldiers, amazingly with the permission of the soldiers and Israel government. The Israeli soldiers boast of treating the Palestinian like apes, harass young women at the checkpoints, force the Palestinian to wait for long intervals in the rain and snow, and shooting around Palestinian civilians. If the footage is the "best" behavior of the Israeli soldiers, I cannot imagine what they do when the cameras are not rolling.
The checkpoints in the Palestinian territory reiterates the reality of Israeli control of the fate of the Palestinian people. What better way for the Israelis to remind the Palestinians of their second-class status then to humiliate them on regular basis. I hope more Israelis refuse to man these checkpoints and that world bear witness to the suffering of the Palestinian people.
‘Checkpoint’ is a documentary film by Yoav Shamir that follows Israeli guards at Israel/Palestine border checkpoints in several different real-life scenarios. Surprisingly, the director manages to get several scenes that are strikingly blunt and realistic, and it appears that the Israeli soldiers were not told to hold back with the camera present. What’s shown is a compilation of subjugation, mistrust, and frustration through course of action.
For Palestinians, basic daily activities (going to work, seeing the doctor) are completely reliant on the goodwill of a young Israeli guard with a gun. To me this seems problematic and counterproductive: the lives of thousands of people are subjugated to a single 19 year-old with a gun. Add to the fact that often these guards have some pre-existing racial prejudice against Palestinians and it becomes apparent that the imposed system accomplishes very little, and if anything fosters more anger against Israel. In one scene a frustrated Israeli guard dismisses Palestinians who have been waiting for hours to cross the checkpoint as animals. At several points the frustration escalates to near conflict as older Palestinians cross the border, taunting the guards, ‘Shoot me’. One wonders how long this current imposition can last before the anger does boil over and the next inevitable conflict occurs.
One wonders what Israeli “security” has to do with a woman being sexually harassed or men waiting for hours to see a doctor. It’s scary that these young men with rifles are trusted and allowed to police the everyday lives of the Palestinian people. It is the definition of subjugation and humiliation, and thousands of young Palestinians have these images engrained into their minds every day. Without substantial change to these current circumstances, the outlook for a serious peace in the region appears bleak.
The movie Checkpoint should come as a reality check for those who think that the Israeli government does not do any harm to the Palestinians. The Palestinians are treated just like animals. They have no rights nor do they have a say in anything. This film is not “pro-Palestine” or “anti-Israel” , there was no music or great editing involved, it portrays exactly what these people have to deal with on a day to day basis. Yoav Shamir does a great job showing the checkpoint conditions. The mistreatment brought me to tears, I sincerely have an issue when people exploit their power to humiliate and degrade others. Many of the soldiers are very young and have no respect or regard for human rights. The old man that was attempting to explain to the soldier that he needed to get to his wife for Christmas dinner absolutely broke my heart, the soldiers thought it was funny and were taunting him. Making people stand out in the rain while the soldiers enjoy their snacks have nothing to do with security, how is this protecting Israel? Their purpose seems to attempt to put down the Palestinians in any way. There were at times when the soldiers would not let people return home even after they showed their permits and IDs, without giving them a valid reason!
I thought it was interesting because many of the soldiers completely disregarded the camera and were acting normal. I thought that they would have attempted to curb their actions a bit. One of the soldiers directly spoke to the camera about how they mistreat the Palestinians and another guy was trying to convince the cameraman to make him “look like the good guy”. If they are behaving this way in front of the cameras, what goes on when there are not any cameras? This is an excellent film that should be shown in every Arab-Israeli politics!
This film was especially good in a sense that it excellently presented the persecution of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. To be particular, it focused mostly on the issue of check points. By exploring this issue, the director was able to point out that the real purpose of these check points is primarily to demoralize the Palestinians, crushing their every ambition. After watching this film, I feel that the “security” aspect of checkpoints has over-lived its purpose. I mean, if anything, the presence of checkpoints is fueling anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine. It troubled me to see how badly Palestinians are treated at the checkpoints. To hear that Israeli soldiers, some as young as seventeen years of age, deny pregnant women entrance to hospitals is utterly despicable to me. What threat can a pregnant woman pose on the state of Israel? Perhaps Israel does not recognize this; but I feel that by denying women, children and the elderly passage at checkpoints, Israel is indirectly fostering hatred within the Palestinian psyche for Israel. It is this psyche which I believe, along with other factors, precipitates in the form of suicide bombings. I cannot fathom how the nation of Israel, a nation which was created in the aftermath of the Holocaust, can turn around and promote Nazi-eqsue demoralization tactics on the feeble people of Palestine. I believe that the true reason for the checkpoints is to reiterate the power of Israel. Their existence relies on Israel’s belief that they rein superiority over Palestine, both racially and nationally. It may seem as if I am repeating myself but I just cannot understand how the Israelis have turned the table and are treating the Palestinians as the Nazis treated the Jews during the Holocaust. Overall, I believe that this film did a fine job in raising awareness, in regards to the inhumane treatment of Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints.
“Checkpoint” is an eye opening documentary which shows how the wall and inter-town blockades are ruining the lives of Palestinians all over the West Bank. Around the world, democracies have understandably been stepping up security to prevent terrorist attacks. Israel has suffered from many terrorist attacks by Palestinian groups such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. I agree with Ryan that Israel does need to take strong precautions but the current measures being taken by the IDF have gone too far.
The checkpoints seem more like they are there for psychological reasons than security ones. Many are simply just a few soldiers under a tent or a couple of jeeps. A suicide bomber would be able to go through those. The civilians are being punished for the actions of a brainwashed and extremist few. The Israeli soldiers act like they are a superior race and call the Palestinians animals. They brag about breaking them by humiliation. The Palestinian’s everyday existence is heavily impeded. A mother cannot walk her children to school and men were kept in the freezing cold for hours. Half the time it appeared that the Israeli soldiers were blocking roads for the hell of it. Randomly they would close streets when the crowds were largest. Palestinians decided to run through a checkpoint and the Israelis just fired shots into the air. The soldier’s main goal seems to be to humiliate and inconvenience as many civilians as they can. A border guard hit on a teenager slowing her down from getting to her university in Bethlehem.
As a Jew, I was always shown films and read books about the bravery of the I.D.F.: How they were heroes, honorably defending their land from blood thirsty murderers. By watching “Checkpoint”, I have learned much was glossed over and there is a dark under layer to the duties of these soldiers. Just like some Palestinians are brain washed into terror, the troops seem to have thoughts indoctrinated into them that Palestinians are uncivilized barbarians. You can see the despair and anger brewing in the normal people as they are denied access to everyday places like hospitals and schools just because the soldiers say they can’t. It was very upsetting and aggravating to watch. Those checkpoints and the Wall need to be torn down immediately to restore credibility to the peace process. How can Israel’s government say they are committed to peace when they restrict normal Palestinian’s freedom more every day? Like I said before, I know that Israel needs tougher security than most nations but if it can take the moral high ground in this conflict there will be a much greater chance for peace.
This movie paints a disturbing picture. I found one line in the movie particularly interesting. A particularly obnoxious IDF soldier is harassing Palestinians crossing a checkpoint, and says to the man filming his behavior, "The Chief of Staff can see it for all I care."
In my opinion, harassing people at checkpoints is detrimental to Israel's security. When people are made to feel humiliated, violated, and out of control of their own lives, it makes sense that they would grow angry. A husband that has to watch his wife get teased by IDF soldiers like a man in the movie had to could easily get angered into violence. I'm assuming that the soldiers who conduct themselves so poorly, making people wait in the cold, and calling the Palestinians animals, are trying to break the will of the Palestinians and force them to feel subservient.
In the long run however, I think these actions backfire though by lending legitimacy to the Palestinians complaints. Its hard to take the upper-hand in an argument when you have so clearly violated the right to freedom of movement of so many people, and there are literally thousands of witnesses.
Because the soldiers' actions seem so counter to Israel's best interests, I researched how often IDF members were prosecuted or convicted of crimes for their actions. I could not find specific numbers for Border Police, but an organization called Yesh Din found that out of 1,246 investigation files opened by the MPCID (military police criminal investigations department) from the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2000 until the end of 2007, only 78 (6%) investigation files led to indictments against one or more soldiers. But even actions that are not necessarily crimes, like much of the misbehavior we saw in the movie should be stopped by the head of the army. Obviously, as the U.S. knows very well from its own experiences, high-ranking officials cannot always stop active members of the military from making bad decisions and acting inappropriately. However, IDF Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, should DO SOMETHING to stop this behavior, as doing nothing seems to give the soldiers tacit support. At least make a public condemnation of such behavior if he is actually not going to take any action or change any of the training curriculum to emphasize exercising basic respect for others.
Though many of the checkpoint scenes are difficult to watch, their was one towards the end where the Palestinians and Israelis had a playful snowball fight. I think the documentary maker used this scene to remind viewers of the shared humanity of the two conflicting sides, and also paint a picture of what could be if the guards did not abusive their power. The guards involved in the snowball fight show that peace is possible, and there are people to make it happen.
Hopefully, one day there will no checkpoints, but until then, the Israelis should do what may actually be better for their security, and respect the Palestinians human rights.
Of all the films that we watched this semester, this was the one that resonated most strongly with me. I felt that the way it was made, with strictly real images and situations and no narration was a subtle, yet extremely effective way to illustrate the inhumane treatment of Palestinians. Every day, they are harassed and denied their basic rights. It never ceases to amaze me, no matter how many movies we watch or books we read about the conflict there, that the Israelis can be so vicious and cruel. The guards at the checkpoints are mostly young, around the age of college students, yet their thought process and attitudes are on such a level of distortion compared to those in America. They get pleasure in making these people suffer for hours and days. Even sadder, Americans continue to be very ignorant regarding the realities of life there. They still believe that the Palestinians are terrorists, and the Israelis victims.
On the positive side, the fact that these movies and images are beginning to circulate and draw attention to the brutal oppression is bringing the Palestinian struggle to the forefront. The treatment of them by the Israelis can no longer be ignored. The more it becomes publicized and the more the American public begins to recognize it, policy may begin to change. Soon, hopefully, Israel will not get away with using the excuse of self defense anymore.
“Checkpoint” illustrates the daily humiliation and hardship brought upon the Palestinians by Israeli checkpoints. In best case scenarios, Palestinians must deal with the frustration of waiting hours at an arbitrary location to gain arbitrary “security clearance.” In worst-case scenarios, pregnant women are denied access to hospitals and innocent civilians are beaten or killed.
It is extremely unfortunate that the state of Israel champions such a policy. First and foremost, it is clearly a violation of the human rights and personal dignity of the Palestinian people. Of course, Israel claims that such measures are necessary to ensure national security. Let’s just assume for a second that checkpoints are actually an effective deterrent to Palestinian violence against Israel. Even if that were the case, the way in which the IDF harasses Palestinian citizens who clearly pose no threat to Israel cannot possibly be linked to national security interests. If there is a legitimate security concern over an individual at a checkpoint then that can be dealt with. But to humiliate, tease, and burden just for the sake of doing so cannot be excused. Israel must do a better job of policing its own military to ensure that those things do not happen.
In addition, I don’t think that the checkpoints actually make Israeli citizens safer. I have to wonder how many suicide-bombing attempts have actually been thwarted because the culprit was detained at a checkpoint. To be honest, I would be surprised if it has ever happened. It really seems arbitrary as to whom the IDF investigates at the checkpoint and whom they do not. The way I see it, if a Palestinian carrying a bomb just had a fake identification, was well dressed, and was accompanied by other moderate looking people, he would probably be let through. So, if checkpoints are not effective in mitigating violence against Israel, what purpose do they serve?
It is hard to say exactly. I would love to know what Israeli officials really believe about the checkpoints. I think that to a certain degree, although this would never be stated as official policy, Israel uses checkpoints just to destroy the morale of the Palestinians. Besides the fact that such a motivation is morally reprehensible, I don’t even think that it is effective. After being tormented at a checkpoint, I doubt that Palestinians are stripped of their motivation to resist the Israeli occupation. In fact, I think it must be the opposite: being subjected to Israeli checkpoints actually motivates Palestinians and fuels the fire of their resistance. I therefore believe that aside from being illegal and a violation of human rights, the checkpoints are also detrimental to Israel’s national security.
On another note, it is almost unbelievable that what happens at the checkpoints garners essentially no media attention and such little criticism by the general public. Most educated Americans can tell you about situations such as China abusing the people of Tibet. However, I doubt that 1 percent of Americans have any idea of what goes on at Israeli checkpoints. I guess that just fits into the general trend of the American media not covering the overall situation in an effective and objective fashion.
I have no problem with Israel pursuing its national security. However, a line must be drawn somewhere. The checkpoints have nothing to do with security and more do to with the pointless tormenting of the Palestinians.
Checkpoint provides an intimate look at the relationship shared between Palestinians and Israeli checkpoint guards. The images are vivid and disturbing as Israeli soldiers openly demean and belittle Palestinians wishing to seek passage through the checkpoint. The soldiers seems surprisingly nonchalant about their harsh treatment despite being on camera. Calling them animals and giving people in need of medical care a hard time would hardly seem like good behavior but it seems the checkpoint guards are capable of doing far worse off camera. The film shows many things: first, it shows the psychology of many checkpoint guards as people in powerful positions capable of dominating the Palestinians. This is displayed through the relative ease with which they deny entry to Palestinians in what often seems like an arbitrary system.
Checkpoint guards certainly have a tough job in finding and stopping potential terrorists, but if the film shows anything, it's that there is a serious need for some change in the way checkpoint guards are trained in the way they deal with Palestinians. Maybe the bad weather throughout the film made the Palestinians' situation seem more downtrodden than if had been a bright sunny day. This documentary could certainly facilitate some change within the IDF since it undoubtedly portrays the Israelis poorly without adding any additional commentary or information other than the place names. I did think it was interesting that not all checkpoint guards spoke in Arabic to the Palestinians although it was likely that they did know Arabic given that it would be an essential skill to have. It's surprising that this film hasn't raised greater awareness about the plight of Palestinians.
The film, Checkpoint, was an example of the type of human rights violations Israel was exacting upon the Palestinian people, within their own land. It is shocking to see the level of travel impediment imposed upon countless Palestinian travelers, who need to wait at a checkpoint to allow a few Israeli settlers to pass the intersection. This is even more disgraceful due to the ever greater encroachment of these checkpoints, as essential services such as water and electricity are run to the newly developed settlements, creating a web of occupied territory with travel restrictions that is declared to be free.
The cocky Israeli soldiers who have the duty of manning the checkpoints provide us with an understanding of the image Palestinians are granted of the Israeli occupation. Evident in the conversations and confrontations is the existence of disrespect, humilty, and provacative action, as the soldiers arbitrarily force some Palestinians to wait in the rain as they "run a check on their identity card". The argument for security is brought up by the soldiers, who claim that suspected terrorists would be discouraged from attempting to cross through checkpoints with weapons of any sort. However, since the experience at checkpoints is routine, it is expected by any would-be terrorists, and is approached with this prior knowledge, or simply bypassed to achieve access to desired targets. As a result of this inevitability, it is unclear if the checkpoints are effective deterrents, or merely antagonistic institutions.
Perhaps the most startling revelation provided for by the film is not the shameful existence of such conditions in this day and age, but the knowledge that the film contains only the tempered behavior of soldiers who know they are being filmed. It leads one to wonder about the type of behavior the soldiers would consider appropriate in the absence of a third party to document their action.
This film was a dark and disturbing look into what the conflict does to the average people on both sides of wall. The Palestinian people's plight was undeniable in the movie and there are thousands of things to say about the inhumanity of the checkpoint system and the twisted irony of a Jewish state forcing a minority to wear a badge labeled with their ethnicity and block off certain roads and services to that other minority for no reason other than the fact that they are Palestinian and Israel has the ability to do so. Even having said all that I think the one thing that struck me most about the film was how easily it is for people to lose their humanity and the natural empathy that comes with it.
"I am my brother's keeper and I am my sister's keeper, my love and my bond knows no borders and no creed, for you are all my brothers" is a popular phrase born out of a line in the bible that has a counterpart in every other major holy book. Yet the Israeli soldiers who had to man the checkpoint showed such a lack of humanity I was really shocked. Some of them seemed lifeless and weary, crushed by the weight of having to watch deaths and suffering every day. Others seemed to embrace their role as overlords to exact petty revenge on people who had done them no harm, but merely happened to be the same ethnicity as those who had killed or attempted to kill himself and his friends. The checkpoints may have kept some dangerous people out and given Israel direct control over many important strategic plots of land, but the costs of these checkpoints is measured in a price far higher than shekels and it is the cost of Israel's soul and the Palestinian's humanity. Both sides seemed to have given up on hope of a resolution years ago and now are merely trying to get by.
The Checkpoints, is a documentary on the corrupt Israeli checkpoints which are placed all throughout Palestine. Throughout the film the director focuses his attention on how Israeli soldiers treat Palestinians at checkpoints. It seems that the IDF soldiers viewed the Palestinians as less human then them. Their complete blind arrogance and disrespectful behavior definitely has been fueled by Zionist nationalism (one could relate their nationalism to the nationalism of the Serbs in 1993). The film paints a vivid portrait of the checkpoints within Palestine. Women, children and elderly people are forced to wait hours in lines in attempt to reach their destinations. Majority of these people are turned away. In one particular case an IDF solider questioned and insulted a Palestinian family to a point where the women and children began to cry. The family was attempting to cross the checkpoint so they could have their young son medically examined at a hospital. This unethical practice of demoralizing a group of people based off their ethnicity and religion is classless. Another incident that is very common at checkpoints, which is the death of mothers at checkpoints. This occurs when the mother is denied access to cross the checkpoint for medical treatment. In result they end up giving birth to their babies under unsanitary conditions at checkpoints which can result to death by massive loss of blood or through infection. This cruel treatment of women alone could be viewed as a heinous crime in the eyes of feminist all over the world. In general the treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints is completely inhumane and the United Nations should trial Israeli officials for crimes against humanity for what they have done to the Palestinians at checkpoints.
Checkpoint is a different movie in the way that it shows live footage of the situation between Palestinians and Israelis at various checkpoints in the area. At many of these checkpoints, Palestinians seemed to be aloof, tired, and demoralized. During one scene, there were three or four Palestinians just crouching beside each other in the dead of night, not saying or doing much. The only guess I have for their loitering is that the Israeli guards would not let them pass through the checkpoint at that hour. At other times, it seems like pure chaos when going through a checkpoint. Mobs of people walk through a checkpoint and Israeli soldiers would sometimes shout at them and say the way is closed. Many Palestinians would turn around and give a look of disdain and continue walking. The look in their eyes and their manner of walking showed that they had so much taken away from them that they just do not care if scuffles break out between them and the Israeli guards. Normally, it seems that quite a few people would show up at the checkpoint, form some semblance of a line, then wait to be barraged with questions. Israelis asked them where they were going, how long they were going to stay, and if something does not seem right with the given information, they pry further into their business. During inclement weather, their rude treatment of the Palestinians, who simply want to get through to the other side, does not change. Also, it is sickly humorous how the checkpoint guards will have fun with Palestinian girls who they think are cute. They will keep them around, ask meaningless questions, and then verbally abuse them. The oddest thing about the Israeli guards is that many of them take great pride in their job. Israeli guards seemed to say that their job is extremely important and that they are performing a great service for the security of Israel. That may be the case, but they completely rob self-worth and pride from the Palestinians. Through their actions, they show that Palestinians are incapable of living civilly unless Israelis intervene and show them the light.
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It often seems that Israel can get away with anything under the banner of self-defense. And why not? Their greatest friend and ally, the Untied States, proclaims on a regular basis that Israeli security is paramount. The international community and the United Nations, in spite of criticizing Israel on little matters like settlements and blockades, reiterate this concern as well. However, how Israel can justify making an unarmed man in a flimsy jacket sit in the freezing rain for twenty minutes, in the name of self-defense, is beyond me.
The film Checkpoint was a grisly look into the treatment of Palestinians by Israeli guards. And we weren’t even watching the worst parts! Never mind women forced to give birth in the open because they are refused passage, or Palestinian civilians fired upon in disputes. The segments we watched, even though they are nothing but the mundane, day-to-day routines endured by all Palestinians in the occupied territories, were disgusting.
For a nation obsessed with racism and constantly ready to pull the anti-Semitism card, the Israeli border guards featured on the film displayed some of the most shocking examples of racism I have ever seen. They called the Palestinians animals, claiming they had to be kept “locked up.” They sexually harassed young girls and women attempting to pass through. They arbitrarily tormented men by interrogating them as to their activities, often denying passage or forcing them to wait for hours on end. Wives were humiliated in front of their husbands, and vice versa.
The checkpoints are not used so much in self-defense as for a tool of subjugation. They are a means of reiterating Israeli power to a rebellious and resentful people. They are an unrelenting sign of Israeli occupation and a power trip for Israeli youth desperate to prove the legitimacy and supremacy of their nation and race. Representative of a fundamental lack of respect, and a total disregard of human rights, the checkpoints illustrate the apartheid-like regime that Israel has imposed upon the Palestinian people.
But hey: at least Israel is safe, right?
This is a film that will hopefully open eyes to the dehumanization of Palestinians. The purpose of these checkpoints is not to maintain security. The purpose of these checkpoints is to maintain Israeli superiority. It is obvious that the masses of pregnant women, schoolchildren, old men, sick individuals-normal civilians- do not pose a threat to the safety of Israel.
But Israel is obsessed with security. They have become so paranoid that the country lives in a perpetual state of militarization. I have witnessed this firsthand. There are armed soldiers on every public bus, although they would be better described as 17 year-old kids with semi-automatic weapons. I had a conversation with one of these soldiers who said his whole motivation in life was to serve Israel, and more importantly to him, to avenge the deaths of his father and his sister who were killed in suicide attacks. He stated that he was going to try to “kill as many of them as I can for what they did.” I do not believe that this soldier could carry out his military obligation with impartiality. His intense hatred is not aimed at those actually accountable for the deaths of his family. His hatred is aimed towards an entire people group. This is just one individual in a whole system of industrialized racism.
We see in the film these soldiers who have no regard for the humanity across the gate from them. Why is this so? I believe it is due to the deeply-ingrained paranoia for safety. Also, it is due to rampant hatred. Moreover, Israel is a country that holds tightly to the belief that they are “the chosen people.” This ethnocentrism fuels their paranoia. The “chosen people”, the “more human-humanity” is sacrosanct. They then are deserving of protection because they are special by definition, regardless of outside threats.
What is hard to fathom is how a nation who knows firsthand the effects of dehumanization (recall the dehumanizing campaigns against Jews in Europe during the 1930’s and 40’s) can so quickly forget, and turn around and promote a similar campaign against another people.
Israel's ability to maintain control of movement in the occupied territories with the numerous checkpoints with armed soldiers is surprising in a sense. The treatment of the Palestinian people day in and day out can only be described as inhumane. It is as if the Israeli government uses cruel and unusual punishment as a regular daily tactic to maintain security. The way the Israeli government portrays the checkpoints to the world is astonishing because they are able to mask the true behavior, the governmental sanctioned behavior of their occupying forces in West Bank. It seems almost a shame how much some of the country has confused nationalism with the faith of Judaism. Even to the point where they raise and socialize their children to have such disdain for their neighbors which is contrary to Jewish beliefs and values.
The need for security of Israel is extremely important, enough so that drastic defense measures must be taken. However the installation of checkpoints at random points in the West Bank solely to cut off transportation for Palestinian people within their own land which is occupied by a foreign power does not serve the purpose of "security."
I find it hard for myself to make these statements because I am a Jew and I have traveled to Israel recently and needless to say but they didn't really tell us what was going on in the region. I had no idea how extremely terrible the situation is with the Palestinians and Israeli's. Videos such as "Checkpoint" are important for documentation of these inhumane acts.
The worst part is the enjoyment shown on the Israeli soldiers faces when they terrorize other humans for what seemed to be no reason. These soldiers looked no more than 20 or 21 years of age and they are granted the most sought after thing in human history, power. They hold complete control over the lives of thousands of people everyday. At an age where moral compasses can be easily skewed, the Israeli government trains and provides automatic weapons to the youth of Israel. Their conduct speaks volumes in this film as you witness the sexual harassment of multiple Palestinian women and some that even might be considered young girls. The Israeli military needs to have their priorities and guidelines seriously reconstructed.
Israeli military intelligence is superb. Israeli military censorship of media coverage of national security issues is pervasive and
iron-clad. So one can assume that allowing the film Checkpoint to be made and released was with official approval or with an off-the-record
wink. Why?
Why would a quasi-documentary that would be evidence in a criminal trial in most countries be circulating for public consumption?
Arrogant, inhumane policy-makers obviously want to psychologically
strip Palestinians of their will to fight a superior force. While Israeli political leaders profess
official peace policy, they allow
(knowingly)for brutal and criminal violations of human rights to be regular tactics of uniformed soldiers, border guards and checkpoint guards.
As we watched Checkpoint in class I
realized whatever we saw was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg...and that me angry, frustrated and literally, physically ill. To watch guards grab a Palestinian man and repeatedly crash a heavy rock down on his arm to break it in several places was intellectually and morally repugnant. To understand that this criminal behavior was frequent activity at Israeli checkpoints and was officially condoned was truly disturbing.
Israeli guards stood under shelters as cold rain poured down on detained or delayed Palestinians and I wondered how people who constantly remind the world of the Holocaust can so cruelly treat other human beings.
This film did not make me sympathetic to Zionism. In fact, it
challenged me to speak outagainst these state condoned atrocities.
This documentary opened my eyes with a major problem the Palestinians face. I believed the checkpoints were simple, show your identification card and move on. I did not realize how much they interrogate the Palestinians. The checkpoint soldiers treat all the Palestinians as terrorists. The part of the documentary in which the crowd of Palestinians was turned away to cross the border was so dehumanizing. It seems as if the Palestinians are treated like animals. The way they also treat Palestinian women is inhumane. They would not dare treat Israeli women that way.
What was most disturbing was when the border official talked to the camera about how much he hated the Palestinians and believed what Israel was doing was right. This overt prejudice should not be tolerated. Prejudice is not something one is born with, it is learned. There are probably many Israelis that have the same view. The Israelis need to be educated on becoming more open-minded and fair. If Israel was willing to make concessions, there would not be a need for the Palestinian rebel groups. They would not see suicide bombers or rockets launched into the cities. They have enough land already. Let the Palestinians receive their sovereignty.
There are two things to consider when viewing this film. The first is that Israelis are terribly sensitive to the death (or the capture) of even one of their citizens. This is why the state is willing to offer the release of several hundred Palestinian captives, including the five-time terrorist murderer Marwan Barghouti, in exchange for the release of Gilead Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was abducted near Gaza. I truly do not understand this Israeli sensitivity, except that possibly it is a hold-over response from the Holocaust during which Jewish lives were worth nothing to those who killed them and to those who refused them admittance into their own nations as refugees. Whatever the reason, though, there it is.
Secondly, when some Palestinians use women and even children to carry suicide bombs into Israel, Israelis must behave as if every Palestinian is a terrorist bomber. They must check everyone, just as we try at least to do in our airports in the U.S. That said, though, it must be also said that whenever men in uniform are given responsibility over others, brutality will happen. We have seen this in experiments such as Dr. Philip Zimbardo’s prison experiments with his college students as well as in Abu Ghraib where U.S. soldiers proved capable of unbelievable atrocities towards their captives.
So what is to be done? It could be helpful to use metal scanners that Palestinians could walk through, if bombs are even made of metal. It could be helpful to provide Israeli soldiers with more time away from the checkpoints to reconnect with those they do not fear. It certainly would be helpful to dismantle Israeli settlements on the West Bank so soldiers could focus on guarding Israel’s actual borders instead of having the focus diverted to guarding so many scattered settlements. But mostly, it would be helpful if Israel were to admit that some of its soldiers have a problem and try to address that problem head on.
I found it interesting how this documentary was filmed. It was simply just observing Israeli soldiers and Palestinian and Israeli people going through the checkpoints. This observation offered true insight into the daily struggles of the Palestinian people.
The segregation between the Palestinians and Israelis is highly noticeable in just observing how each group is treated at the checkpoints. To go through one checkpoint can take hours; Palestinians may not even get home until the next day while the Israelis can go straight through. This is unfair treatment. Israel is a democratic society and everyone should be treated equal.
In addition, how the soldiers spoke to women, did not matter their ethnicity, was also appalling. It must be horrible to have to deal with soldiers flirting and saying disrespectful things. The soldiers knew they were being filmed therefore they must have been on their best behavior. I am curious to know how many degrees worse they act when they know they are not on camera.
It is a great injustice to anyone to be treated unfairly because of their ethnicity. The majority of Palestinians are innocent people with intent to attack Israelis yet they are all treated as terrorists. I am going on a trip to Israel in about two weeks for birthright and I feel that I am going to hear one side of this controversy, and know that I have learned about both sides of the struggles of these two ethnicities. It will be an experience like no other, and films such as “Checkpoint” have allowed me to see the positions of both parties at a clearer level.
This movie is very much of a movie for the Palestinian people. In honest documentary, we see the ways in which Israeli power can be used to frighten, humiliate, abuse, and violate Palestinians as they try to go about their daily business. Most of the heavily armed soldiers seem to enjoy the opportunity to subject Palestinians to abuse. Again and again, men and women, young and old are questioned about who they are and where they are going. The real atrocities occur when the Palestinians intimidate, humiliate, and sexually abuse Palestinian women. The blockades are hardly significant with regards to tactical power. The checkpoints are low-tech, authoritarian disasters, that any bomber could sneak around if they wanted. These blockades are more than a physical boundary, but a constant reminder to the Palestinians of Israeli supremacy. We see the soldiers follow their hunches, stopping dark scruffy looking men while giving women and youngsters a pass
This documentary is affective in simply observing the situation at the checkpoints. The film demonstrates how these hostilities occur on a daily basis and then are simply forgotten. The treatment at the checkpoints are a good example of why the conflict continues. A policy that gets results a few times out of a thousand does not make it affective. And that violence such as assassinations can simply provoke and strengthen the other side. As far as the implication that Israeli's believe they have a right to act in this overprotective way due to the past Holocaust is not valid. The Palestinians (and all other Arabs) living today are a different generation of those who lived during the Holocaust. For Palestinians to commit acts similar to those inflicted on the ancestors is extremely irresponsible.
Check Point is a documentary that was directed by Yoav Shamir. It focuses on checkpoints in different areas that Palestinians must go through to get to certain towns and greater Israel. From a personal standpoint seeing those that are treated indifferently at times is very difficult to watch as the people just want to get to their appointments. Jobs, visit loved one’s or visit their Holy sights. An example of this is the constant interrogation of a man with his family who wanted to go to Nablus because his son was sick, even the young son questioned relentlessly. The young son also witness the harassment and tearing down of the fathers dignity and because of this children grow up and have some cause for terrorist actions.
It is bothersome to see so many people wait lengthy periods of time even for which the elderly or those that have to turn back are not even granted access to go through simply because the Israeli soldier said so. Even for the guy that stood up to the Israeli soldier to get through with his truck, the Israeli soldier would not back down. I felt the Israeli soldier was on a power trip as it was his decision alone to decide the fate of this guy. I thought it was good the guy was standing up for himself and his rights as a human being. The superior officer listened to the needs of the man and let them through, as they needed to do work for their livelihood. It took a lot of effort to get through that checkpoint, it is an unfortunate thing for those that need to pass especially when it affects them economically.
To watch this seems unfair and is unfair but because of Intifadas and the Oslo peace process the cutting into lines of borders that are Palestinian are what most Palestinians have to suffer for because of the crimes of others.
When people are questioned constantly, they even question the truth about a visit to a dead husband of an elderly mans sister who got through but only after he said he would be back. The lines that form in the cold, rainy and snowy conditions in which they stand for hours just to be turned away is appalling. And if you are trying to get to work you can talk to a supervisor and get through but if you start confronting the soldiers you can also be put to the side along with many others.
Checkpoints, is an unfair advantage to Palestinians that have the ability to help along the suffering of the people along with the distress that it causes on a humanistic level as well as the suffering of the economic downturn that also takes place when imports are cut off or people cannot get to their jobs. This overall seems like power trip of Israeli authority to oppress people of their dignity and basic human rights.
The footage of the Israeli soldiers' treatment of the Palestinians at checkpoint in "Check Point" is unnerving and frankly disgusting. The IDF soldiers man the checkpoints in the Palestinian territories for the stated purpose of the security of Israel, however the real purpose seems to be the degradation and humiliation of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian people have no freedom of movement within the Palestinian territories with the armed checkpoints of Israel soldiers. "Check Point" documents many inhumane actions of the soldiers, amazingly with the permission of the soldiers and Israel government. The Israeli soldiers boast of treating the Palestinian like apes, harass young women at the checkpoints, force the Palestinian to wait for long intervals in the rain and snow, and shooting around Palestinian civilians. If the footage is the "best" behavior of the Israeli soldiers, I cannot imagine what they do when the cameras are not rolling.
The checkpoints in the Palestinian territory reiterates the reality of Israeli control of the fate of the Palestinian people. What better way for the Israelis to remind the Palestinians of their second-class status then to humiliate them on regular basis. I hope more Israelis refuse to man these checkpoints and that world bear witness to the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Collin Odell
‘Checkpoint’ is a documentary film by Yoav Shamir that follows Israeli guards at Israel/Palestine border checkpoints in several different real-life scenarios. Surprisingly, the director manages to get several scenes that are strikingly blunt and realistic, and it appears that the Israeli soldiers were not told to hold back with the camera present. What’s shown is a compilation of subjugation, mistrust, and frustration through course of action.
For Palestinians, basic daily activities (going to work, seeing the doctor) are completely reliant on the goodwill of a young Israeli guard with a gun. To me this seems problematic and counterproductive: the lives of thousands of people are subjugated to a single 19 year-old with a gun. Add to the fact that often these guards have some pre-existing racial prejudice against Palestinians and it becomes apparent that the imposed system accomplishes very little, and if anything fosters more anger against Israel. In one scene a frustrated Israeli guard dismisses Palestinians who have been waiting for hours to cross the checkpoint as animals. At several points the frustration escalates to near conflict as older Palestinians cross the border, taunting the guards, ‘Shoot me’. One wonders how long this current imposition can last before the anger does boil over and the next inevitable conflict occurs.
One wonders what Israeli “security” has to do with a woman being sexually harassed or men waiting for hours to see a doctor. It’s scary that these young men with rifles are trusted and allowed to police the everyday lives of the Palestinian people. It is the definition of subjugation and humiliation, and thousands of young Palestinians have these images engrained into their minds every day. Without substantial change to these current circumstances, the outlook for a serious peace in the region appears bleak.
The movie Checkpoint should come as a reality check for those who think that the Israeli government does not do any harm to the Palestinians. The Palestinians are treated just like animals. They have no rights nor do they have a say in anything. This film is not “pro-Palestine” or “anti-Israel” , there was no music or great editing involved, it portrays exactly what these people have to deal with on a day to day basis. Yoav Shamir does a great job showing the checkpoint conditions. The mistreatment brought me to tears, I sincerely have an issue when people exploit their power to humiliate and degrade others. Many of the soldiers are very young and have no respect or regard for human rights. The old man that was attempting to explain to the soldier that he needed to get to his wife for Christmas dinner absolutely broke my heart, the soldiers thought it was funny and were taunting him. Making people stand out in the rain while the soldiers enjoy their snacks have nothing to do with security, how is this protecting Israel? Their purpose seems to attempt to put down the Palestinians in any way. There were at times when the soldiers would not let people return home even after they showed their permits and IDs, without giving them a valid reason!
I thought it was interesting because many of the soldiers completely disregarded the camera and were acting normal. I thought that they would have attempted to curb their actions a bit. One of the soldiers directly spoke to the camera about how they mistreat the Palestinians and another guy was trying to convince the cameraman to make him “look like the good guy”. If they are behaving this way in front of the cameras, what goes on when there are not any cameras? This is an excellent film that should be shown in every Arab-Israeli politics!
This film was especially good in a sense that it excellently presented the persecution of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers. To be particular, it focused mostly on the issue of check points. By exploring this issue, the director was able to point out that the real purpose of these check points is primarily to demoralize the Palestinians, crushing their every ambition.
After watching this film, I feel that the “security” aspect of checkpoints has over-lived its purpose. I mean, if anything, the presence of checkpoints is fueling anti-Israeli sentiment in Palestine. It troubled me to see how badly Palestinians are treated at the checkpoints. To hear that Israeli soldiers, some as young as seventeen years of age, deny pregnant women entrance to hospitals is utterly despicable to me. What threat can a pregnant woman pose on the state of Israel? Perhaps Israel does not recognize this; but I feel that by denying women, children and the elderly passage at checkpoints, Israel is indirectly fostering hatred within the Palestinian psyche for Israel. It is this psyche which I believe, along with other factors, precipitates in the form of suicide bombings. I cannot fathom how the nation of Israel, a nation which was created in the aftermath of the Holocaust, can turn around and promote Nazi-eqsue demoralization tactics on the feeble people of Palestine.
I believe that the true reason for the checkpoints is to reiterate the power of Israel. Their existence relies on Israel’s belief that they rein superiority over Palestine, both racially and nationally. It may seem as if I am repeating myself but I just cannot understand how the Israelis have turned the table and are treating the Palestinians as the Nazis treated the Jews during the Holocaust. Overall, I believe that this film did a fine job in raising awareness, in regards to the inhumane treatment of Palestinians at Israeli checkpoints.
“Checkpoint” is an eye opening documentary which shows how the wall and inter-town blockades are ruining the lives of Palestinians all over the West Bank. Around the world, democracies have understandably been stepping up security to prevent terrorist attacks. Israel has suffered from many terrorist attacks by Palestinian groups such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad. I agree with Ryan that Israel does need to take strong precautions but the current measures being taken by the IDF have gone too far.
The checkpoints seem more like they are there for psychological reasons than security ones. Many are simply just a few soldiers under a tent or a couple of jeeps. A suicide bomber would be able to go through those. The civilians are being punished for the actions of a brainwashed and extremist few. The Israeli soldiers act like they are a superior race and call the Palestinians animals. They brag about breaking them by humiliation. The Palestinian’s everyday existence is heavily impeded. A mother cannot walk her children to school and men were kept in the freezing cold for hours. Half the time it appeared that the Israeli soldiers were blocking roads for the hell of it. Randomly they would close streets when the crowds were largest. Palestinians decided to run through a checkpoint and the Israelis just fired shots into the air. The soldier’s main goal seems to be to humiliate and inconvenience as many civilians as they can. A border guard hit on a teenager slowing her down from getting to her university in Bethlehem.
As a Jew, I was always shown films and read books about the bravery of the I.D.F.: How they were heroes, honorably defending their land from blood thirsty murderers. By watching “Checkpoint”, I have learned much was glossed over and there is a dark under layer to the duties of these soldiers. Just like some Palestinians are brain washed into terror, the troops seem to have thoughts indoctrinated into them that Palestinians are uncivilized barbarians. You can see the despair and anger brewing in the normal people as they are denied access to everyday places like hospitals and schools just because the soldiers say they can’t. It was very upsetting and aggravating to watch. Those checkpoints and the Wall need to be torn down immediately to restore credibility to the peace process. How can Israel’s government say they are committed to peace when they restrict normal Palestinian’s freedom more every day? Like I said before, I know that Israel needs tougher security than most nations but if it can take the moral high ground in this conflict there will be a much greater chance for peace.
This movie paints a disturbing picture. I found one line in the movie particularly interesting. A particularly obnoxious IDF soldier is harassing Palestinians crossing a checkpoint, and says to the man filming his behavior, "The Chief of Staff can see it for all I care."
In my opinion, harassing people at checkpoints is detrimental to Israel's security. When people are made to feel humiliated, violated, and out of control of their own lives, it makes sense that they would grow angry. A husband that has to watch his wife get teased by IDF soldiers like a man in the movie had to could easily get angered into violence. I'm assuming that the soldiers who conduct themselves so poorly, making people wait in the cold, and calling the Palestinians animals, are trying to break the will of the Palestinians and force them to feel subservient.
In the long run however, I think these actions backfire though by lending legitimacy to the Palestinians complaints. Its hard to take the upper-hand in an argument when you have so clearly violated the right to freedom of movement of so many people, and there are literally thousands of witnesses.
Because the soldiers' actions seem so counter to Israel's best interests, I researched how often IDF members were prosecuted or convicted of crimes for their actions. I could not find specific numbers for Border Police, but an organization called Yesh Din found that out of 1,246 investigation files opened by the MPCID (military police criminal investigations department) from the beginning of the Second Intifada in 2000 until the end of 2007, only 78 (6%) investigation files led to indictments against one or more soldiers. But even actions that are not necessarily crimes, like much of the misbehavior we saw in the movie should be stopped by the head of the army. Obviously, as the U.S. knows very well from its own experiences, high-ranking officials cannot always stop active members of the military from making bad decisions and acting inappropriately. However, IDF Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, should DO SOMETHING to stop this behavior, as doing nothing seems to give the soldiers tacit support. At least make a public condemnation of such behavior if he is actually not going to take any action or change any of the training curriculum to emphasize exercising basic respect for others.
Though many of the checkpoint scenes are difficult to watch, their was one towards the end where the Palestinians and Israelis had a playful snowball fight. I think the documentary maker used this scene to remind viewers of the shared humanity of the two conflicting sides, and also paint a picture of what could be if the guards did not abusive their power. The guards involved in the snowball fight show that peace is possible, and there are people to make it happen.
Hopefully, one day there will no checkpoints, but until then, the Israelis should do what may actually be better for their security, and respect the Palestinians human rights.
Of all the films that we watched this semester, this was the one that resonated most strongly with me. I felt that the way it was made, with strictly real images and situations and no narration was a subtle, yet extremely effective way to illustrate the inhumane treatment of Palestinians. Every day, they are harassed and denied their basic rights. It never ceases to amaze me, no matter how many movies we watch or books we read about the conflict there, that the Israelis can be so vicious and cruel. The guards at the checkpoints are mostly young, around the age of college students, yet their thought process and attitudes are on such a level of distortion compared to those in America. They get pleasure in making these people suffer for hours and days. Even sadder, Americans continue to be very ignorant regarding the realities of life there. They still believe that the Palestinians are terrorists, and the Israelis victims.
On the positive side, the fact that these movies and images are beginning to circulate and draw attention to the brutal oppression is bringing the Palestinian struggle to the forefront. The treatment of them by the Israelis can no longer be ignored. The more it becomes publicized and the more the American public begins to recognize it, policy may begin to change. Soon, hopefully, Israel will not get away with using the excuse of self defense anymore.
“Checkpoint” illustrates the daily humiliation and hardship brought upon the Palestinians by Israeli checkpoints. In best case scenarios, Palestinians must deal with the frustration of waiting hours at an arbitrary location to gain arbitrary “security clearance.” In worst-case scenarios, pregnant women are denied access to hospitals and innocent civilians are beaten or killed.
It is extremely unfortunate that the state of Israel champions such a policy. First and foremost, it is clearly a violation of the human rights and personal dignity of the Palestinian people. Of course, Israel claims that such measures are necessary to ensure national security. Let’s just assume for a second that checkpoints are actually an effective deterrent to Palestinian violence against Israel. Even if that were the case, the way in which the IDF harasses Palestinian citizens who clearly pose no threat to Israel cannot possibly be linked to national security interests. If there is a legitimate security concern over an individual at a checkpoint then that can be dealt with. But to humiliate, tease, and burden just for the sake of doing so cannot be excused. Israel must do a better job of policing its own military to ensure that those things do not happen.
In addition, I don’t think that the checkpoints actually make Israeli citizens safer. I have to wonder how many suicide-bombing attempts have actually been thwarted because the culprit was detained at a checkpoint. To be honest, I would be surprised if it has ever happened. It really seems arbitrary as to whom the IDF investigates at the checkpoint and whom they do not. The way I see it, if a Palestinian carrying a bomb just had a fake identification, was well dressed, and was accompanied by other moderate looking people, he would probably be let through. So, if checkpoints are not effective in mitigating violence against Israel, what purpose do they serve?
It is hard to say exactly. I would love to know what Israeli officials really believe about the checkpoints. I think that to a certain degree, although this would never be stated as official policy, Israel uses checkpoints just to destroy the morale of the Palestinians. Besides the fact that such a motivation is morally reprehensible, I don’t even think that it is effective. After being tormented at a checkpoint, I doubt that Palestinians are stripped of their motivation to resist the Israeli occupation. In fact, I think it must be the opposite: being subjected to Israeli checkpoints actually motivates Palestinians and fuels the fire of their resistance. I therefore believe that aside from being illegal and a violation of human rights, the checkpoints are also detrimental to Israel’s national security.
On another note, it is almost unbelievable that what happens at the checkpoints garners essentially no media attention and such little criticism by the general public. Most educated Americans can tell you about situations such as China abusing the people of Tibet. However, I doubt that 1 percent of Americans have any idea of what goes on at Israeli checkpoints. I guess that just fits into the general trend of the American media not covering the overall situation in an effective and objective fashion.
I have no problem with Israel pursuing its national security. However, a line must be drawn somewhere. The checkpoints have nothing to do with security and more do to with the pointless tormenting of the Palestinians.
Checkpoint provides an intimate look at the relationship shared between Palestinians and Israeli checkpoint guards. The images are vivid and disturbing as Israeli soldiers openly demean and belittle Palestinians wishing to seek passage through the checkpoint. The soldiers seems surprisingly nonchalant about their harsh treatment despite being on camera. Calling them animals and giving people in need of medical care a hard time would hardly seem like good behavior but it seems the checkpoint guards are capable of doing far worse off camera. The film shows many things: first, it shows the psychology of many checkpoint guards as people in powerful positions capable of dominating the Palestinians. This is displayed through the relative ease with which they deny entry to Palestinians in what often seems like an arbitrary system.
Checkpoint guards certainly have a tough job in finding and stopping potential terrorists, but if the film shows anything, it's that there is a serious need for some change in the way checkpoint guards are trained in the way they deal with Palestinians. Maybe the bad weather throughout the film made the Palestinians' situation seem more downtrodden than if had been a bright sunny day. This documentary could certainly facilitate some change within the IDF since it undoubtedly portrays the Israelis poorly without adding any additional commentary or information other than the place names. I did think it was interesting that not all checkpoint guards spoke in Arabic to the Palestinians although it was likely that they did know Arabic given that it would be an essential skill to have. It's surprising that this film hasn't raised greater awareness about the plight of Palestinians.
The film, Checkpoint, was an example of the type of human rights violations Israel was exacting upon the Palestinian people, within their own land. It is shocking to see the level of travel impediment imposed upon countless Palestinian travelers, who need to wait at a checkpoint to allow a few Israeli settlers to pass the intersection. This is even more disgraceful due to the ever greater encroachment of these checkpoints, as essential services such as water and electricity are run to the newly developed settlements, creating a web of occupied territory with travel restrictions that is declared to be free.
The cocky Israeli soldiers who have the duty of manning the checkpoints provide us with an understanding of the image Palestinians are granted of the Israeli occupation. Evident in the conversations and confrontations is the existence of disrespect, humilty, and provacative action, as the soldiers arbitrarily force some Palestinians to wait in the rain as they "run a check on their identity card". The argument for security is brought up by the soldiers, who claim that suspected terrorists would be discouraged from attempting to cross through checkpoints with weapons of any sort. However, since the experience at checkpoints is routine, it is expected by any would-be terrorists, and is approached with this prior knowledge, or simply bypassed to achieve access to desired targets. As a result of this inevitability, it is unclear if the checkpoints are effective deterrents, or merely antagonistic institutions.
Perhaps the most startling revelation provided for by the film is not the shameful existence of such conditions in this day and age, but the knowledge that the film contains only the tempered behavior of soldiers who know they are being filmed. It leads one to wonder about the type of behavior the soldiers would consider appropriate in the absence of a third party to document their action.
This film was a dark and disturbing look into what the conflict does to the average people on both sides of wall. The Palestinian people's plight was undeniable in the movie and there are thousands of things to say about the inhumanity of the checkpoint system and the twisted irony of a Jewish state forcing a minority to wear a badge labeled with their ethnicity and block off certain roads and services to that other minority for no reason other than the fact that they are Palestinian and Israel has the ability to do so. Even having said all that I think the one thing that struck me most about the film was how easily it is for people to lose their humanity and the natural empathy that comes with it.
"I am my brother's keeper and I am my sister's keeper, my love and my bond knows no borders and no creed, for you are all my brothers" is a popular phrase born out of a line in the bible that has a counterpart in every other major holy book. Yet the Israeli soldiers who had to man the checkpoint showed such a lack of humanity I was really shocked. Some of them seemed lifeless and weary, crushed by the weight of having to watch deaths and suffering every day. Others seemed to embrace their role as overlords to exact petty revenge on people who had done them no harm, but merely happened to be the same ethnicity as those who had killed or attempted to kill himself and his friends. The checkpoints may have kept some dangerous people out and given Israel direct control over many important strategic plots of land, but the costs of these checkpoints is measured in a price far higher than shekels and it is the cost of Israel's soul and the Palestinian's humanity. Both sides seemed to have given up on hope of a resolution years ago and now are merely trying to get by.
The Checkpoints, is a documentary on the corrupt Israeli checkpoints which are placed all throughout Palestine. Throughout the film the director focuses his attention on how Israeli soldiers treat Palestinians at checkpoints. It seems that the IDF soldiers viewed the Palestinians as less human then them. Their complete blind arrogance and disrespectful behavior definitely has been fueled by Zionist nationalism (one could relate their nationalism to the nationalism of the Serbs in 1993).
The film paints a vivid portrait of the checkpoints within Palestine. Women, children and elderly people are forced to wait hours in lines in attempt to reach their destinations. Majority of these people are turned away. In one particular case an IDF solider questioned and insulted a Palestinian family to a point where the women and children began to cry. The family was attempting to cross the checkpoint so they could have their young son medically examined at a hospital. This unethical practice of demoralizing a group of people based off their ethnicity and religion is classless.
Another incident that is very common at checkpoints, which is the death of mothers at checkpoints. This occurs when the mother is denied access to cross the checkpoint for medical treatment. In result they end up giving birth to their babies under unsanitary conditions at checkpoints which can result to death by massive loss of blood or through infection. This cruel treatment of women alone could be viewed as a heinous crime in the eyes of feminist all over the world.
In general the treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints is completely inhumane and the United Nations should trial Israeli officials for crimes against humanity for what they have done to the Palestinians at checkpoints.
Checkpoint is a different movie in the way that it shows live footage of the situation between Palestinians and Israelis at various checkpoints in the area. At many of these checkpoints, Palestinians seemed to be aloof, tired, and demoralized. During one scene, there were three or four Palestinians just crouching beside each other in the dead of night, not saying or doing much. The only guess I have for their loitering is that the Israeli guards would not let them pass through the checkpoint at that hour.
At other times, it seems like pure chaos when going through a checkpoint. Mobs of people walk through a checkpoint and Israeli soldiers would sometimes shout at them and say the way is closed. Many Palestinians would turn around and give a look of disdain and continue walking. The look in their eyes and their manner of walking showed that they had so much taken away from them that they just do not care if scuffles break out between them and the Israeli guards.
Normally, it seems that quite a few people would show up at the checkpoint, form some semblance of a line, then wait to be barraged with questions. Israelis asked them where they were going, how long they were going to stay, and if something does not seem right with the given information, they pry further into their business. During inclement weather, their rude treatment of the Palestinians, who simply want to get through to the other side, does not change. Also, it is sickly humorous how the checkpoint guards will have fun with Palestinian girls who they think are cute. They will keep them around, ask meaningless questions, and then verbally abuse them.
The oddest thing about the Israeli guards is that many of them take great pride in their job. Israeli guards seemed to say that their job is extremely important and that they are performing a great service for the security of Israel. That may be the case, but they completely rob self-worth and pride from the Palestinians. Through their actions, they show that Palestinians are incapable of living civilly unless Israelis intervene and show them the light.
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