The plight of Palestinians
Some time ago I borrowed a book called Checkpoint Watch: Testimonies from Occupied Palestine and was moved by the stories told by women (Israeli women) who monitored the treatment of Palestinians at checkpoints. It is time I returned the book, which I will purchase. Meanwhile, here are some excerpts from the book:
“A glossary of oppression:
Blockades – physical obstacles to freedom of passage. Since September 2000 or earlier, almost every village in the West Bank has been blockaded, usally by means of concrete cubes and/or earthworks, rubble, mud or ditches. Some of these blockades are staffed, others are not… the blockades serving the purpose of preventing vehicular, and even pedestrian, access to and from each village…. an impossible task for the disabled, heavily laden, sick or elderly. Worse still, access for emergency vehicles, ambulances, fire engines and so on is prevented by blockades… Unfortunately, donkeys and horses may not pass the checkpoints, so that even this form of travel has its limitations…
Checkpoints – Barriers between the West Bank and Israel and between West Bank towns and villages. Here civilians must present proof of identity, transit/mobility permits to military personnel and submit to baggage and body checks on demand.
Closure – Prohibition on passage of Palestinian civilians wishing to enter Israel with the exception of humanitarian cases permitted at the discretion of the security forces. Closures may be declared without warning…
Curfews – Military prohibition on civilians leaving the confines of their homes. During the years of Occupation since 1967, curfews have become a regular weapon in Israel’s arsenal of oppression in the West Bank and Gaza…. Residents of the unlucky town or village in question risk being shot on sight if they leave their homes during the curfew. A curfew may last anything from a few hours to several weeks…
Encirclement - … totally closes of every town and village in the West Bank; nobody comes in, and nobody leaves.”
“…3.5 million Palestinians, residents of the West Bank and Gaza, live under Israeli military occupation. The Occupation began in June 1967 in the wake of the Six-Day War, leaving the Palestinians stateless in their own land. They have no political rights and few civil rights… most are not citizens of any state. One of the most grievous infringements of human rights during the Occupation is the restriction on freedom of movement…
… the checkpoint served no real security purpose but was rather a means of control, harassment and humiliation for those wishing to cross…
… there is scant shelter, no seating, no toilets, no facilities fit for human beings. No Palestinian civilian can move, for any reason whatsoever, no matter which way s/he turns, permit or no permit, without encountering a checkpoint of some kind…. Checkpoints are not about security. They cannot provide hermetic closure, nor can they prevent terror… they actually inspire it. Their true purpose is threefold; collective punishment, visible military control of the civilian population, and the disruption of territorial continuity that makes any prospect of a viable Palestinian state impossible. The checkpoints… are fully fledged war zones, complete with watch towers, screaming jeeps, armoured vehicles and even tanks…”
“On the roads of the West Bank, an apartheid system prevails, with the fast, well-paved highways restricted to Israelis… West Bankers.. must make do with byways, often little better than cart tracks…. The roads are both a deliberate dismemberment of Palestinian territory and a message to the Palestinian civilian: you are not wanted her; you are as dust.”
“The truth is that the political climate in Israel is such that military brutality and licence are largely tolerated with impunity both by the army command and by the public at large….”
“A favourite game of soldiers is to take IDs for checking, a process that should last only minutes, and then disappear leaving the detainees to wait until it pleases their tormentors to return the documents, or not. In many cases, the IDs simply vanish. The holder must pay a considerable fee to the Palestinian Authority for its replacement. Yet, without the ID s/he cannot leave home to apply for his/her mobility permit and will risk imprisonment by the Israeli authorities if caught.”
“A man… tells us that the checkpoints ‘breed 1,000 martyrs’. At that moment a father with his son, aged about six or seven, pass. Understandably, the boy is panicked by the screaming soldiers with their weapons; he… breaks away from his father running back from the dense crowd of waiting people. The soldiers yell: ‘Bring back the kid, where is he?’ One of them dives into the crowd with his weapons and shortly emerges with the quietly crying child. It’s not clear if he was struck by the soldier or not. The father points to a red patch on the child’s head, but refuses to speak and passes quickly. It’s clear the child cannot contain his rage, shame and pain. From sheer fear he’s wet his pants and must face the world with stained trousers. That child is an example of the raw material of terrorism fashioned by the checkpoints. No drama of life and death, just the banality of evil, endless humiliation and almighty fear.”
…”The military once again closed the barriers and, once again, the place swarmed with men and materiel. While a crowd of Palestinian pilgrims was kept waiting for over two hours, a busload of Jewish worshippers appeared headed for prayers at Rachel’s Tomb just one half-mile across the checkpoint on the Palestinian side. The barriers were pulled back. The crowd of Palestinians parted, like the waters of the Red Sea, and the bus was tenderly escorted through by an armed jeep and a posse of soldiers. The inviolable right of the oppressor to worship in the heart of the territory of the oppressed. The barriers closed again behind the bus. The Palestinian worshippers remained trapped on the wrong side. In our checkpoint observations we have witnessed many instances of cruelty and brutality, but that moment of unabashed discrimination was an outrage in a class of its own.”
The book is full of examples of injustices and human rights abuses. Is it any wonder that anger and pain are inherent in every Palestinian? Is it any wonder that other Arab nations try to seek justice for the plight of the Palestinians, oppressed by a nation sponsored by the US? How are the Israelis any different from the Nazis in their treatment of the oppressed? You would think, having experienced the holocaust, that they would be more aware of human rights abuses and discrimination based on race and religion, but no. They are as bad as the Nazis. They live in ignorance in western luxury while the people pushed out of their territory live in poverty and humiliation. It is a crime of humanity and continues unabated.
Checkpoint Watch: Testimonies from Occupied Palestine
Yehudit Kirstein Keshet
