Source: Wikipedia

“The Gatekeepers (Hebrew: שומרי הסף) is a 2012 documentary film by director Dror Moreh that tells the story of the Israeli Shin Bet from the perspective of six former heads of Israel’s secretive internal security service.

The film combines in-depth interviews with archival footage and computer animation to recount the role that the group played in Israel’s security from the Six Day War to the present. The film was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 85th Academy Awards.”

Source: Wikipedia

Checkpoint (original title: Machssomim) is a 2003 documentary film by Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir, showing the everyday interaction between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian civilians at several of the regions Israel Defence Forces checkpoints. The film won five awards at various film festivals, including Best International Documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Dozens of checkpoints lie scattered throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, manned by the Israeli Defence Forces. Thousands of Palestinians pass through them every day, making them one of the major meeting points between both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many different encounters occur at these checkpoints each and every day, revealing a reality with its own rules and regulations, a reality that has a destructive impact on both societies.

Filmed over two years, ‘Checkpoint’ depicts the harsh and banal routine of these crossing points and documents the day-to-day situations that form a microcosm of the situation. The cameras film in a pure and non-manipulative manner so that the viewer feels part of the experience of ‘checkpoint culture’. The film is an attempt to show the more human side of the situation, and, as with any such depiction, will show all aspects of the human condition – from the ‘jobsworth’ IDF recruits refusing to allow any variation from their ‘orders’, from the most obnoxious of members of the border security police at the Bethlehem checkpoint through to the very humane IDF soldier at the Nablus South checkpoint, we are presented with young men who are ultimately responsible for the overseeing of their country’s security. Balanced by this is the terrible plight of how the situation affects ‘ordinary’ Palestinians. An ambulance stopped and searched, ditto a school bus – both will ensure a lot of anger at such depictions – until it is understood that both modes of transport have been used in the past for the carrying of explosives. It does not alter the impact on the Palestinians themselves – the checkpoints are mostly unacceptable. BUt the film at least humanises the process and delves behind some of the headline news.

Can a modern democracy impose a prolonged military occupation on another people while retaining it’s core democratic values?

The film illustrates the problems posed by the Israeli military judicial system imposed upon Palestinians living in the West Bank.

Since Israel conquered the territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 war, the military has imposed thousands of orders and laws, established military courts, sentenced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, enabled half a million Israeli “settlers” to move to the Occupied Territories and developed a system of long-term jurisdiction by an occupying army that is unique in the entire world.

-Rabbis for Human Rights