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Machsom Watch

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Machsom Watch, or Checkpoint Watch is a group of Israeli women who monitor checkpoints in the West Bank and the military courts, out of opposition to the Israeli occupation. The self described "politically pluralistic" human rights organization is composed of Israeli women to the exclusion of men, with a "bias towards mature, professional women" who tend to have a "liberal or leftist background". Machsom Watch claims to have 400 members, notably including former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's daughter Dana. The word machsom is Hebrew for "checkpoint," referring to Israeli Defense Forces checkpoints which control movement between different parts of the West Bank and between the West Bank and Israel.

The IDF view of the humanitarian situation expressed by IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz during a two-hour meeting with members of the group in March 2006 where he told the women that: "Humanitarianism is not exclusively owned by Machsom Watch and it is tested not only at the checkpoints, but also in preventing suicide bombers from reaching the markets of Tel Aviv and Netanya."

According to its website, the group's aims are to monitor the behavior of soldiers and police at checkpoints; ensure that the human and civil rights of Palestinians attempting to enter Israel are protected; and record and report the results of their observations to the widest possible audience, from decision-makers to the general public. Some members also see their role as protesting against the existence of the checkpoints.

Machsom Watch has been accused of being hostile towards the Israeli troops and disrupting the operation of checkpoints. Some of its charges against the troops have also been disputed as false. On May 2006, the group sent a letter of apology to the IDF after activists had verbally attacked a soldier, called him "Nazi" and other profanities as he asked Palestinians to stand in line for an ID check at a checkpoint leading into Israel. In response to the group's contentions regarding the checkpoints, the IDF has implemented training procedures intended to ensure respectful behavior by soldiers.

History

Machsom Watch was founded in 2001 by Ronnee Jaeger, previously a human-rights worker in Guatemala and Mexico; Adi Kuntsman, who arrived in Israel from the Soviet Union in 1990; and Yehudit Keshet, a former Orthodox Jew and scholar of Talmudic ethics, in response to allegations of human-rights violations at IDF and border-police checkpoints. The three activists made a decision to travel to Bethlem checkpoint so they could observe what was happening there with their own eyes. In a matter of weeks they were joined by 30 female activists who started visiting checkpoints in Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. Membership of the organisation is given to all those who volunteer to participate in monitoring at the checkpoints

By 2002 due to media coverage the organisation had attracted 200 members. Based in Tel Aviv the the volunteers began to observe checkpoints in the heart of the West Bank. At its height membership reached 400 volunteers in 2004.

The group has also expressed concern about what they say is "the excessive Israeli response to the Al Aqsa Intifada and the prolonged closure and siege of villages and towns on the West Bank".

Activities

The primary activity of the organisation is the regular, systematic observation of Israeli military checkpoints in Jerusalem and the West Bank along with the reporting of their findings to decision makers and the wider public.

Machsom Watch volunteers visit the checkpoints in daily shifts of 2-4 hours, morning and afternoon, where they position themselves in proximity to the Israeli soldiers so they can monitor their interaction with Palestinians. Volunteers document their observations with notes and photographs. They also try to intervene on behalf of Palestinians when something inappropriate occurs or something has been ignored or overlooked by the Israeli soldiers. Intervention is made firstly by directly approaching soldiers, when this is ineffective attempts are made to contact higher military ranks, the media and Israeli politicians.

Reactions, accusations of bias and the "violin incident"

Criticisms of Machsom Watch

During a two-hour meeting with members of the group in March 2006, IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz told the women that: "Humanitarianism is not exclusively owned by Machsom Watch and it is tested not only at the checkpoints, but also in preventing suicide bombers from reaching the markets of Tel Aviv and Netanya."

Machsom Watch has been accused by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), some non-governmental organizations, individual soldiers, and soldiers' mothers of disrupting the operation of checkpoints, showing hostility, and shouting derogatory comments and curses toward the troops, as well as making false accusations against them. NGO Monitor has accused the group of "using emotive and politically charged language that contributes to the demonization of Israel." In fall 2008, company commanders in the Military Police's Taoz Battalion began filming Machson Watch's activities as a result of repeated complaints from soldiers that Machson Watch and similar organizations were disrupting the work at the checkpoints and entering restricted areas without permission.

According to Yossi Olmert, a political commentator, Machsom Watch volunteers "disrupt the work of soldiers at checkpoints who are trying, not always successfully, to prevent the entry of terrorists."

Support of Machsom Watch

In March 2004, the group was awarded the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel for "their remarkable activities and ongoing surveilance of operations of the armed forces at checkpoints in the occupied territories, at a time of general indifference and waning sensitivity to the human rights of Palestinians".

In an editorial of March 8, 2006, Haaretz argued that organizations like Machsom Watch should not be viewed negatively in Israel: "This organization - like other human rights organizations, each of which focuses on a different consequence of the occupation - is the least that Israeli citizens can do to try to prevent injustices stemming from the occupation. Life under the anomaly of an occupation regime produces strange solutions, such as the presence of women alongside soldiers in an effort to ensure a more humane routine. The human rights organizations are the state's pride, not a threat that must be liquidated or minimized."

The Beit-Iba checkpoint violin incident

On 9 November 2004, members of Machsom Watch released a video of IDF soldiers requiring Wissam Tayam, a Palestinian violinist, to play his instrument at a checkpoint. The IDF announced that the soldier had acted insensitively and reprimanded him, but later declared that the violinist had been playing voluntarily. The violinist later rejected the IDF's assessment, stating that he never offered to play and that the soldiers had asked him to do so. The Maschom Watch observers said that they did not hear the discussion between the violinist and the soldiers and did not speak Arabic, which Tayam speaks. A month after the incident, Tayam was invited to attend a seminar for violinists at a kibbutz in Western Galilee.

2013 court case

In 2013 the Judea and Samaria Area police prosecution filed charges against a resident of Hebron for allegedly assaulting Machsom Watch activist Hagit Beck. At a hearing in Jerusalem Beck told the court that in the course of a verbal altercation between her and the Hebron resident, the latter bent over in such a way as to suggest she was about to slash the front right-side tire of a Machsom Watch van. Beck stated that she ran towards the Hebron resident, at which point the latter stood up, struck Beck's shoulder, and knocked Beck's camera to the ground. The driver of the van testified that he watched the events described unfold while sitting in the driver's seat.

A police report indicated there was no apparent damage to Beck's camera, and the judge presiding over the hearing commented that he failed to understand how the driver of the van could have seen what was happening from his vantage point, given the short stature of the two women. The police prosecution then told the court that the driver had seen the incident at the front of the van in his rear-view mirror.

During the hearing, Beck denied having called Israeli settlers "הסוג הכי גרוע בעם היהודי," the vilest of the Jewish people. The Hebron resident's attorney, however, obtained a recording of the interview where Beck said so and presented it to the court. The judge dismissed the charges and acquitted the Hebron settler.

References

  1. ^ Machsom Watch website
  2. Grandmothers on Guard Mother Jones, November/December 2004
  3. ^ Harel, Amos 'IDF chief invites anti-fence protesters to Tel Aviv meeting', Haaretz, 5 March, 2006, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  4. 'Watch' (in Hebrew), accessed 11 March, 2006.
  5. 'Many Mothers' by Sima Kadmon, Yedioth Ahronoth, 21 November, 2003, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  6. ^ NGO Monitor website, Infofile (see linked articles), accessed 11 March, 2006.
  7. ^ Stannard, Matthew B. 'A Time Of Change: Israelis, Palestinians And The Disengagement: At Checkpoints, A Gentle Advocate For Palestinians', San Francisco Chronicle, 2 August, 2005, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  8. Soldier: Machsom Watch activist called me Nazi Ynetnews, 23 May 2006
  9. Haughey, Naula. Irish Times, 12 June, 2005. 'Israeli checkpoint monitors decry their army's abuse of Palestinians' - Reproduction, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  10. ^ Kaufman, Ilana (2008). "Resisting occupation or institutionalizing control? Israeli women and protest in west bank checkpoints" (PDF). nternational Journal of Peace Studies. 13 (1): 43-62. Retrieved 17/03/2013. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  11. Weiss, Efrat Leftist group stirs IDF row, Ynetnews, 22 February, 2006. Retrieved on 11 March, 2006.
  12. Elazar, Ido (31 October 2008). "Watch Out: The Company Commanders at the Checkpoints will Film Human Rights Organizations". Bamahane (42nd Edition (2008)): p. 12. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  13. "List of recipients of the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award on the Association of Human Rights in Israel website" (in Hebrew). Retrieved 2010-06-20.
  14. ACRI Website, Association for Civil Rights in Israel - Winners, accessed 14 March, 2006.
  15. Editorial, 'Who is for the state, and who is against?', Haaretz, 8 March, 2006, accessed 14 March, 2006.
  16. Israel shocked by image of soldiers forcing violinist to play at roadblock November 29, 2004.
  17. Israel army forces violin recital 25 Nov 2004.
  18. "Investigation Regarding Violin Incident At Checkpoint [not asked to play]". November 30, 2004. Retrieved July 03, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. Eldar, Akiva (November 30, 2004). "Palestinian violinist slams claim troops didn't force him to play". Haaretz. Retrieved July 03, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  20. Khoury, Jack (December 24, 2004). "'Checkpoint violinist' thrilled to attend Galilee music seminar". Haaretz. Retrieved July 03, 2012. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  21. Shapira, Yair (21 March 2013). "מצטערים, זה לא תפקידנו". B'Sheva (in Hebrew). p. 34. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)

Further reading

See also

External links

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