Machsom Watch

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Machsom Watch, or Checkpoint Watch (also Women for Human Rights), is a group of Israeli women who monitor Palestinian human-rights at Israeli checkpoints. [1] 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" [2] Machsom Watch claims to have 400 members, notably including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's daughter Dana. The word machsom is Hebrew for "checkpoint," referring to Israeli Defense Forces checkpoints whose stated purpose is to prevent Palestinian terrorists from the West Bank from entering Israel.[3]

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. [1] Some members also see their role as protesting against the existence of the checkpoints.[2] [3]

Machsom Watch has been accused of bringing false charges against the Israeli troops, being hostile towards them, and disrupting the operation of checkpoints. [4] [5]. 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 becaused he asked Palestinians to stand in line for an ID check at a checkpoint leading into Israel. [4] On the other hand, the IDF have also listened to the group's contentions regarding the checkpoints, and implemented training procedures to ensure respectful behaviour by soldiers.[6]

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[edit] 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 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". [1]

In early 2002, following a wave of suicide bombings, the IDF checkpoints increased in number and Machsom Watch's activities attracted Israeli media attention, bringing more volunteers, including a few men. The involvement of male monitors was not a success.

[edit] Reactions, accusations of bias and the "violin incident"

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."[7]

Machsom Watch has been accused by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), non-governmental organizations, individual soldiers, and soldiers mothers of disrupting the operation of checkpoints, showing hostility and hurling derogatory comments and curses toward the troops, and making false accusations against them. [4][5][8] NGO Monitor has accused the group of "using emotive and politically charged language that contributes to the demonization of Israel."[4]

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." [5]

Several organizations in Israel demanded that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) remove the women from checkpoints. [citation needed] Soldiers have protested against an invitation extended by the IDF to Machsom Watch to speak at an army base, seeing the invitation as inappropriate mixing of politics into the military service. [9]

[edit] The Erez checkpoint incident

Sergeant Kfir Ohayon, 20, was killed by a suicide bomber at the Erez checkpoint in April 2004. On the day of his funeral on April 18, his father, Avi Ohayon, gave a radio interview to Micah Freidmann. Ohayon said that, a few days before the attack, his son had been "scolded by a leftist activist" [10] because of Kfir's attitude to an Arab suspect who had refused to raise his shirt for a check. The activist subsequently complained about him and Kfir was worried about it. Ohayon told Friedmann: "One of the Arabs did not uncover his body, then Kfir aimed his weapon at him and took him to isolation. Some woman, some Israeli woman who saw this, went and complained to his commanding officer. She said that she would make a commotion about this, that she would complain to the police investigators. Then his officers came to Kfir, his commanding officers, and they told him that he shouldn't have done that. My son lost his self-confidence. He called me at twelve-thirty at night. He told me, 'Father, I don't know what to do any longer. I can't sleep any longer, I have fears. Fears that I'll be put up on a complaint, and that they'll put me in jail.'"

[edit] The Beit-Iba checkpoint violin incident

Late in 2004, Machsom Watch was accused of falsely claiming that the IDF had forced a Palestinian violinist to play his violin at a checkpoint, a story which was printed worldwide. While originally the IDF said the soldier had acted insensitively, the IDF's commission on the issue, citing the testimonies of several soldiers and members of Machsom Watch, and after reviewing the videotape of the incident, concluded that the violinist had played voluntarily. The Palestinian in question said he had been asked to play a sad song. [11]

In an editorial of March 8, 2006, Haaretz decried the negative image that organizations like Machsom Watch have 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." [12]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ a b Machsom Watch website, 'About Us', accessed 11 March, 2006.
  2. ^ 'Watch' (in Hebrew), accessed 11 March, 2006.
  3. ^ 'Many Mothers' by Sima Kadmon, Yedioth Ahronoth, 21 November, 2003, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  4. ^ a b c NGO Monitor website, Infofile (see linked articles), accessed 11 March, 2006.
  5. ^ a b c 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.
  6. ^ Haughey, Naula. Irish Times, 12 June, 2005. 'Israeli checkpoint monitors decry their army's abuse of Palestinians' - Reproduction, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  7. ^ Harel, Amos 'IDF chief invites anti-fence protesters to Tel Aviv meeting', Haaretz, 5 March, 2006, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  8. ^ Weiss, Efrat Leftist group stirs IDF row, YNet News, 22 February, 2006, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  9. ^ HaLevi, Ezra 'Mothers of Soldiers Protest IDF´s Embrace of Machsom Watch', Arutz Sheva, 23 February, 2006, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  10. ^ "Operation "Defense of IDF Soldiers and Border Guard Policemen and Women at the Checkpoints from Harassment by Pro-Palestinian Activists", Women in Green, June 2004
  11. ^ Rabinowitz, Gavin 'Military denies Palestinian forced to play violin to pass roadblock', Associated Press, 30 November, 2004, accessed 11 March, 2006.
  12. ^ Editorial, 'Who is for the state, and who is against?', Haaretz, 8 March, 2006, accessed 14 March, 2006.

[edit] Further reading

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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