Talk:Israel Defense Forces checkpoint

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The first sentence states the Israeli government viewpoint as fact, which is not acceptable. Given that it is only a stub, I'll hold back other criticism for now. --Zero 23:22, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

You can change it to something like a checkpoint's stated aims are to: *what's written there* if you really think checkpoints are not good. But other than Machsom Watch and other self proclaimed 'human rights' organizations, who don't consider it a human right for Jews to remain living, I don't think people who actually know about what checkpoints do can say they are redundant and don't enhance Israel's security. -- Y Ynhockey ^(Talk) Y 04:44, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Erez

Actually a lot of checkpoints are called Erez, also a military police company which checks all southern checkpoints is called Erez. I added only the Bethlehem at the start because I thought the Gaza Erez checkpoint was closed and no longer operated as it did before the disengagement. I actually don't know anything about its status right now. -- Y Ynhockey ^(Talk) Y 13:49, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] NPOV Concerns

Currently the article is very supportive of IDF views. It currently states that it is only Palestinians that have issues with the checkpoints. This is not the case. B'Tselem, Amnesty International, and especially Machsom Watch and many other similar groups have raised concerns about the checkpoints affects.

Also, and I may be mistaken, I thought that the checkpoints where also between many Palestinian cities (probably because of nearby settler communities) and not just located betweeen Palestinian cities and Israel. Thus the checkpoints do disrupt interior travel of the Palestinians -- at least this is what I remember from some human rights reports on the subject. This should be covered in the article. --Ben Houston 16:36, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Hi Ben,

We should definitely include the NGO reservations. Could you supply a link to an AI critical report (I think AI would garner the least controversy)? Regarding the checkpoints, you are correct that some of them regulate internal West Bank traffic. I'm not sure if we can state that there exists a correlation between them and settlements though. Machsom Watch publishes a map, though it seems that the large map and the zoomed regions are out of synch. Cheers, Tewfik^Talk 06:17, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

AI report here [2], quote:

Sweeping restrictions have led to unprecedented levels of poverty, unemployment and health problems for the entire Palestinian population in the Occupied Territories. Mobility restrictions, refusal or delay of passage at Israeli army checkpoints, blockades and curfews, have caused multiple complications for women in need of medical care, and in some cases have even resulted in the death of patients.

Scores of women have been forced to give birth at checkpoints, by the roadside, and several have lost their babies because Israeli soldiers denied them passage. The fear of not being able to reach hospital in time to give birth has become a major source of anxiety for Palestinian women throughout the Occupied Territories. Rula Ashtiya was forced to give birth on a dirt road by the Beir Furik checkpoint after Israeli solders refused her passage, on her way to Nablus hospital. Her baby died a few minutes later:

"...At the checkpoint there were several soldiers; they ignored us.... I crawled behind a concrete block by the checkpoint to have some privacy and gave birth there, in the dust, like an animal. I held the baby in my arms and she moved a little but after a few minutes she died in my arms."

Here is a BBC guide to a Israeli checkpoint [3].

Here is a Washington Post article on the checkpoints [4]. Good dual perspectives quote here:

The Israeli military says the checkpoints are necessary to protect Israel and Jewish settlements in the territories from Palestinian attackers. Government and military officials have repeatedly cited the system of checkpoints in the West Bank as one of several factors contributing to a steady reduction in the number of suicide bombings against Israeli targets in the past two years.

At the same time, Palestinian, Israeli and international human rights groups have documented hundreds of cases of abuse by Israeli troops against Palestinians at roadblocks: beatings, shootings, harassment, humiliation and life-threatening delays. Last year, a female Israeli soldier assigned to a Gaza Strip checkpoint was convicted of forcing a Palestinian woman at gunpoint to drink a bottle of cleaning fluid, according to court records.

It is a start. --Ben Houston 18:57, 19 June 2006 (UTC)