Machssomim

This is a film that simply provides a “fly on the wall” account ofvarious checkpoints on the Palestine-Israel border. Miles fromanywhere, people travel frequently, walking long distances, to go tohospitals or to work. The Israeli guards like to ’show them’ androutinely harass them by making them stand in the blazing sun, drivingrain, or deep snow for many hours (eg up to ten hours) before returningtheir papers and often sending them home. They are polite, but admit tothe cameras that this is how they deal with people – force them tostand in the rain.

It could almost be a laid back Palestinian expose of what ishappening at the checkpoints except – and here is the double-whammy -it is made by an Israeli, with Israeli funding – and it has beensnapped up and promoted by the Israelis in cinemas but also thePalestinians – what is perhaps even more shocking (according to thedirector Yoav Shamir at the Edinburgh International Film Festival) itis now being used by the Israeli forces as training material for theirguards.