Machsom Watch was founded in January 2001 by three women “in response to repeated reports in the press about human rights abuses of Palestinians crossing army and border police checkpoints”. 400 Israeli women are currently members.
Their Annual Summary: A Counterview – Checkpoints 2004 (pdf) is particularly chilling considering their observation that Israeli soldiers are on their best behaviour when Machsom Watch is on duty.
The Killing Zone (2003) is a film by reporter Sandra Jordan and producer Rodrigo Vasquez that reveals the daily horrors of life in Gaza; the attacks on Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and James Miller are featured in it as the events unfolded in the five-weeks Jordan was filming. The emergency room scene when critical moments turn into wasted hours spent pleading for Israel’s permission to transfer the brain injured Hurndall to an Israeli hospital is infuriating, as are the scenes of terrified Palestinian children running from an incoming shell and seeking shelter under the desks of their UN school where only recently a beautiful girl had been shot in the head, put into a coma for three weeks, and blinded.
The UN should restructure or disband in disgrace, yesterday.