Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:30, 4 March 2006

Machsom Watch is a human rights organization composed exclusively of Israeli women. In English, the group is also known as "Women for Human Rights". Their stated aims are to:

• Monitor the behaviour of soldiers and police at checkpoints
• Ensure that the human and civil rights of Palestinians attempting to enter Israel are protected
• Record and report the results of our observations to the widest possible audience, from the decision-making level to that of the general public
• Protest against the very existence of the checkpoints

The word "machsom" is Hebrew for "checkpoint", in reference to the many checkpoints maintained by Israel in the West Bank.

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. Machsom Watch also expresses concern about the effect on civilians of the siege of West Bank communities by Israeli military authorities reacting to the Al Aqsa Intifada.

At the beginning of 2004, Machsom Watch had approximately 400 members. Early on, Machsom Watch had some male monitors but that didn't work out. 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."

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, Machsom Watch received the Emil Grunzweig Human Rights Award. This annual prize is given by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel "to an individual or NGO that has made a unique contribution to the advancement of human rights in Israel".

Criticism

The organization NGO Monitor has accused Machsom Watch of political bias. They have been accused of "Producing regular reports from IDF checkpoints using emotive and politically charged language that contributes to the demonization of Israel."

They were often accused by soldiers of comparing them to Nazis and throwing other derrogatory comments and curses. 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."

Others have accused Machsom Watch of systematic political bias, notably the act of recruiting members who were opposed to the Israeli occupations and Israeli soldiers by default (as exemplified in Keshet's quote above).

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, members of Machsom Watch, and after reviewing the videotape of the incident, concluded that the violinist had played voluntarily. The Palestinian in question claimed that he was "asked" to play a sad song.

References

• Hammer, Joshua, "Grandmothers on Guard". Mother Jones, November/December 2004, 36-41.
• 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
• Press articles about Machsom Watch
• Checkpoint photos by Eyah Dor-Ofer some including Machsom Watch volunteers
• NGO Monitor on Machsom Watch

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