Any discussion on the situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians today will almost
always turn to the the Israeli security checkpoints that are said to “degrade” Palestinians,
or about the wall separating Israel from the West Bank.
Let me start by being clear. I wholeheartedly believe in peace. I would love to see a world
where there is no war, no conflict and we can all live happily together. In that, I
want to see a day where there is no need for checkpoints and no need for the Security Barrier.
Unfortunately, I don’t believe that day is today.
Israel has been establishing permanent checkpoints since the 1990s. If you take the number of
reports, exhibitions, statements, and even a play, you likely are imagining hundreds
of checkpoints across the West Bank, and its 5.6 thousand KM squared. Well, you would be
forgiven because of the reports, but you would be wrong. According to the latest official
reports from May 2013, there were just 13 permanent checkpoints in the west bank, and
the IDF has said that these checkpoints are not all always used.
According to the Israeli authority COGAT, responsible for the administration of the
West Bank and the border with Gaza, on Sunday 97, 078 Palestinian West Bank residents entered
Israel. That’s almost 5% of the total Palestinian west bank population, and roughly the same
daily average traffic as say Australia’s Melbourne Airport, or Qatar’s Hamad International
Airport. And these checkpoints are not without their
clear impact and effectiveness. Too many times to count there have been knives, guns, explosives
and in some instances suicide bombs stopped by the presence of these checkpoints. They
have, in no uncertain terms, saved civilian lives. And the wall too. The wall is an eye-sore
certainly, and in some areas has split communities and caused difficulties to local residents,
but it has absolutely and unequivocally saved lives. It has been widely documented as having
had a significant and direct impact on the reduction of terrorism and specifically in
the reduction of suicide and explosives attacks in Israel’s major cities, on busses, in
restaurants and in public places. The wall is in no small way the reason that so many
restaurants across Tel Aviv and Jerusalem no longer need an armed security guard at
the door. I visited the West bank a couple of months
ago, on a fact finding and eye-opening trip, the first of its kind organised by the Zionist
Federation. The group visited Bethlehem, Ramallah and Rawabi, driven by a Palestinian from East
Jerusalem and guided by Palestine Experience, and our guide Riman, also a Palestinian from
East Jerusalem. The group were all ready for the checks, to go through the checkpoints,
to be questioned by the security forces. In fact, one of the group chose not to come because
her British passport said she was born in Jerusalem. All of us had our passports in
our bags, easily accessible should we need to get them out. And in our bags is exactly
where they stayed. Our driver took us from Bethlehem to Ramallah, to Rawabi and then
all the way back to Tel Aviv without once getting any form of identification out. That
is of course not everyone’s experience in the west bank. There are cases of long queues,
difficult questioning and tough conditions. But those procedures are sadly not without
reason. I can only talk about my personal experience, but I am here to tell you that
I was there, I saw it, I experienced it and this is my story of checkpoints and the Security
Barrier. I’m Arieh Miller from the Zionist Federation
and you’re watching J-TV.