Time Magazine: Unfair Description of Checkpoints

Read Article: No Room for Civility at Checkpoints

My Response
As an Israeli soldier who has served in the West Bank, I found Jamil Hamad's article particularly irksome. Checkpoints serve a specific military purpose. They enable security forces to verify documents and help keep terrorists from entering civilian centers. After all, this is a border crossing - from a territory that supports and harbors terrorists to the country they target. Even Switzerland has border control. Why should Israel, a country under constant attack, be any different?

Also, checkpoints work. That's why they are employed by police and military forces around the world - including the Palestinian Authority.

The experience Hamad describes can hardly be described as humiliating. It is a source of frustration at best. No one likes to wait in line for an hour or two. But every Palestinian knows that these policies are meant to save lives. Wouldn't most people agree to stand in line for two hours if they knew that it helped save lives and preserve peace? And even if someone were so completely heartless and racist to believe that saving Jewish lives weren't worth the wait, they would still have to contend with the fact that terror attacks cause great injury to Palestinians as well.

I certainly agree with Hamad that checkpoints can be and should be more efficient. But civility between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians is the norm, not the exception. And most every Israeli soldier -- even those born in NH -- know the key Arabic phrases that enable communication.