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Machsom Watch, also known as Women for Human Rights, is a human rights organization composed exclusively of Israeli women. The word machsom is Hebrew for "checkpoint," referring to Israeli Defense Forces checkpoints the stated purpose of which is to prevent Palestinian terrorists from the West Bank from entering Israel.

According to its website, the group's stated 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 disrupting the operation of checkpoints, showing hostility toward the troops, and bringing false charges against them.

History

Machsom Watch was founded in 2001 by Ronnee Jaeger, Adi Kuntsman, and Yehudit Keshet in response to concerns about reports of human rights abuses against Palestinians 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, the prolonged closure and siege of villages and towns on the West Bank".

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. However, the men turned out to show solidarity with the soldiers, and Machsom Watch stopped accepting male members. According to Keshet, "Their relationship was totally different. They were horrified by what was going on, but at the same time they bonded with the troops." - Spokeswoman Adi Dagan added that it was feared that soldiers would be violent towards male monitors and anyway "we like being in an organization that belongs only to women". By 2004, the group claimed approximately 400 members, all of them women.

Ronnee Jaeger is an activist who was previously a human-rights worker in Guatemala and Mexico. Adi Kuntsman is a feminist originally from the Soviet Union, who arrived in Israel in 1990. Yehudit Keshet was an Orthodox Jew and scholar of Talmudic ethics, although she has abandoned Orthodoxy.

In March 2004, the group was awarded the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel for making "a unique contribution to the advancement of human rights in Israel".

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."

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. NGO Monitor has accused the group of "using emotive and politically charged language that contributes to the demonization of Israel."

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."

Several organizations in Israel demanded that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) remove the women from checkpoints. 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.

Late in 2004, Machsom Watch was accused of falsely claiming that the IDF 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.

In an editorial of March 8, 2006, Haaretz decried the negative image that organisations 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.

Footnotes

1. ^ 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. ^ NGO Monitor website, Infofile (see linked articles), accessed 11 March, 2006.
5. ^ 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. Hammer, Joshua 'Grandmothers on Guard', Mother Jones, November/December, 2004, accessed 11 March, 2006.
7. Dagan, Adi 'Interview with JustVision', 12 January, 2005, accessed 12 March, 2006.
8. ACRI Website, Association for Civil Rights in Israel - Winners, accessed 14 March, 2006.
9. Harel, Amos 'IDF chief invites anti-fence protesters to Tel Aviv meeting', Haaretz, 5 March, 2006, accessed 11 March, 2006.
10. Weiss, Efrat Leftist group stirs IDF row, YNet News, 22 February, 2006, accessed 11 March, 2006.
11. HaLevi, Ezra 'Mothers of Soldiers Protest IDF´s Embrace of Machsom Watch', Arutz Sheva, 23 February, 2006, accessed 11 March, 2006.
12. Rabinowitz, Gavin 'Military denies Palestinian forced to play violin to pass roadblock', Associated Press, 30 November, 2004, accessed 11 March, 2006.
13. Editorial, 'Who is for the state, and who is against?', Haaretz, 8 March, 2006, accessed 14 March, 2006.

Bibliography

• Deutsch-Nadir, Sharon (2005). Capitalizing on Women’s Traditional Roles in Israeli Peace Activism: A Comparison Between Women In Black and Checkpoint Watch, Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy Thesis, The Fletcher School, Tufts University.
• Kimmerling, Baruch (2003). Politicide: Ariel Sharon's War Against the Palestinians. Verso. ISBN 1859845177
• Nirgad, Lia, "Winter in Qualandia - Eine Strassensperre zwischen Jerusalem und Ramallah", Melzer Verlag Neu-Isenburg 2005, ISBN 3-937389-57-1 (German translation of Hebrew original, Xargol Books/Israel)

External links

• Machsom Watch home page
• Checkpoint photos by Eyah Dor-Ofer some including Machsom Watch volunteers
• NGO Monitor on Machsom Watch
• Gallery of photos by Machsom Watch women
• An Israeli newsmedia description of the context in which the checkpoints operate
• Another Israeli newsmedia description of the context in which the checkpoints operate

• Human rights bodies
• Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Israeli organizations