Memorandum submitted by MachsomWatch
1. OBJECTIVE
Machsom is Hebrew for "barrier" or
"checkpoint." MachsomWatch is a voluntary organisation
founded in January 2001 (shortly after the outbreak of the Second
Intifada), by three Israeli women in response to recurring reports
of abuse of Palestinians by Israeli soldiers at military checkpoints.
Made up solely of women, who now number 300, all Israelis, most
of whom have never previously been involved in human rights activism
-- the goals of MachsomWatch are to protect Palestinians' human
rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and to end
the Occupation. The immediate objectives are to monitor Palestinian
freedom of movement and soldiers' behaviour at military checkpoints,
to safeguard Palestinian human rights and to document and emphasise
the deleterious effect of the Occupation on the future of Israeli
society. By maintaining a constant presence at West Bank checkpoints,
MachsomWatch helps Palestinians see that their humanity is shared
with a group of committed Israeli women and endeavours to show
the Israeli public the damage the Occupation does to the overall
society.
2. TARGET GROUPS
The primary target group of MachsomWatch activity
in the OPT is the thousands of Palestinians whose daily lives
are impeded by checkpoints, by unpredictable army orders, by the
bureaucratic structure of the army's District Coordinating Office
(DCO) and by the construction of the separation barrier between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority. A second target group is
the citizens of Israel. The women of MachsomWatch are aware of
the need for their fellow citizens to see what really goes on
so close to their own homes. The group of women, from different
backgrounds, but all equally committed to human rights, observe,
report and document violations of such rights in the OPT, attempt
to prevent violations, and to intervene in cases of gross breach.
Working on behalf of Palestinian freedom of movement within their
own territories, they are showing a different, peace-seeking Israeli
"face" to the Palestinians. To Israeli society, the
women demonstrate a unique and original bent to promoting the
rights of "others," bringing home to their own, democratic
Israeli society, the horrors of occupation. MachsomWatchers prompt
the soldiers posted at checkpoints to remember that the "other"
is human too, and that universal principles of human rights have
to be observed. The women's work towards "ending the Occupation
and the checkpoints" has relevance both for the future of
Palestinian society and for the amelioration of the far-reaching
and corrosive impact of the Occupation on Israeli society.
3. BACKGROUND
For the past seven years, MachsomWatch women
have willingly placed themselves in the volatile military zones
of the OPT and have almost certainly reduced the aggressive behaviour
of soldiers at checkpoints. Many of the women are not only the
age of the mothers, or even grandmothers, of the soldiers, but
sometimes are in fact mothers or grandmothers of young men and
women in service, and determined to instill in their children
the lessons of respect for "the other." Other women
are mothers or grandmothers of young men and women in jail for
refusing to serve in the army, particularly in the OPT! The women
are opposed to the very presence of checkpoints, and to the occupation
of Palestinian territory. Their presence at checkpoints, as agents
of peace, has unquestionably had a profound effect on both Palestinian
and Israeli society. The women are another face of Israel, for
the Palestinians, who otherwise see only settlers and soldiers.
The inherent dignity of every human being is first and foremost
in the minds and actions of MachsomWatch women in their approach
to soldiers and Palestinians. In seeking to alleviate the Palestinian
suffering, they also inform the Israeli public about the brutality
of the military rule.
4. WHAT WE
DO
4.1 Checkpoint Monitoring Each day: two
shifts—morning and afternoon—go to some 30 checkpoints,
most within the West Bank, some on the seam line between Israel
and Palestine. Each shift files a report which is posted on MachsomWatch's
web page in Hebrew and English (all activities—monitoring,
documenting, translating, editing and reporting daily after each
shift; weekly and monthly digests; web-site design and maintenance;
scheduling, fundraising, and administrative work—are carried
out by the members on a volunteer basis; there is no MachsomWatch
office, just an official address).
4.2 Reporting and Disseminating Information:
One group of volunteers uploads daily (3,000 per year, or 10 a
day), weekly and monthly reports for each checkpoint on the internet
site: www.MachsomWatch.org. Another team summarises monthly digests
which are translated and circulated in approximately 230 copies
(100 e-mail list and 130 fax); 200 copies of a weekly digest are
translated and mailed in English. The monthly digests are circulated
to senior Israeli army officers, Knesset members, Supreme Court
justices, the State Comptroller, journalists, other human rights
organisations, and posted on the web site.
4.3 A team of MachsomWatch women writing
letters of complaint to the military authorities, usually about
events witnessed at checkpoints. Partly because these letters,
in the hundreds, are rarely acknowledged or replied to, it has
become more usual recently to write directly to the Minister of
Defense with copies to Knesset members.
4.4 Emanating from checkpoint monitoring,
an MachsomWatch team focuses on Menuei Shabak—Palestinians
blacklisted by the General Security Service—of whom there
are 180,000, who very often do not know why they are on the blacklist.
This blacklisting prevents passage at any checkpoint, thereby
confining the Palestinian subject to his own village or home.
Nearly 2,000 letters of complaint were submitted in the recent
year, appealing against denial of a variety of transit and work
permits, and requesting removal of people from the "blacklist."
The rate of success was about 25%, although 35% of the cases were,
in fact, handled by the authorities.
4.5 Another team deals with complaints to
the various police authorities about "lost" and confiscated
identity documents and passes, and lack of service received by
Palestinians. Until July 2007, police stations where Palestinians
were to pay traffic and other fines were inaccessible due to their
location behind the Green Line (frontier between Israel and Palestine).
Perhaps because of MachsomWatch stressing this "catch-22"
situation, police payments service is now supposedly given in
the DCO offices of the Civil Administration—though the police
are often not there at the specified times!
4.6 Protest letters are also sent concerning
farmers who live behind the separation barrier, whose lands are
now "trapped" between the Green Line and the Seam Line
separation barrier. These letters of complaint include lists of
people denied permits to work their land (individual appeals are
also sent). Such letters are directed to the Head of the Civil
Administration and the Legal Advisor of the West Bank, and copied
to Ministry of Defense officials, the Legal Adviser to the government,
the State Comptroller, human rights organisations, Knesset members,
etc.
4.7 Besides observing at checkpoints, a
team of women also observe in the military courts, document their
observations in the same way as checkpoint monitoring. Written
reports of each shift are translated from Hebrew to English and
vice versa and posted on the MachsomWatch newly revised and upgraded
Internet site, www.MachsomWatch.org.
4.8 Still photography and videos are also
used as documentation and posted on the Internet. A monthly bulletin,
called "MachsomWatch Alerts" summarises and highlights
monthly activities and is distributed widely in Israel and abroad
5. CONCLUSIONS
FROM 2007-08
5.1 Restriction of freedom of movement (with
its effect on employment, education, health, social services and
family visits) continues to be the main problem for Palestinians
in the West Bank OPT. Events like Annapolis or the Paris donor
conference have no impact at all on facts on the ground. In October
2007, the UN OCHA agency reported a total of 561 barriers or obstructions
(an increase from 528 in November 2006), over 30 permanent military
checkpoints, plus innumerable trenches, physical obstacles, earth
mounds and "rolling" or temporary road blocks. Yet,
throughout the recent year, numerous promises (mostly to the United
States government) were made to reduce the number of fixed physical
barriers placed by the army to control and restrict pedestrian
and vehicular traffic and regulate movement between towns and
villages. None of these promises were kept.
5.2 The "overlordship" of the
OPT is further exacerbated by an endless number of unpredictable,
ever changing army orders, the bureaucratic structure of the army's
DCO, the continuing construction of the separation barrier and
the persistent violence of Israeli settlers, inevitably free of
police or military intervention. Daily life for Palestinians becomes
ever more problematic. MachsomWatch human rights lawyers' services
are much in demand to help in issues encountered by individual
women at the checkpoints or in crossing the West Bank. MachsomWatch
women are more and more questioned about standing at checkpoints
or told where they may stand (often in on the spot rulings made
by a soldier, though army higher ups and legal counsel insist
that there may be no such restrictions).
5.3 Most of the Israeli public clearly wishes
to remain in the dark about the day to day trials and tribulations
of Palestinians desirous of nothing more than going about their
lives. MachsomWatch will continue to try to shape Israeli public
opinion, and influence decision-makers.
March 2008
|
