Thursday, February 28, 2013
"The Gatekeepers": Riveting history of Israeli-Palestinian conflict through security chiefs
“The Gatekeepers” (or "Shomerei Hs'saf") is a documentary, by Dror Moreh,
interviewing the six surviving former chiefs of Shin Bet, the clandestine
service agency for Israeli security. All
their activities have been state secrets. The film comprises clips where each
of them talk, in rotating sequence, along with many news clips, many of them in
black and white, of the war between Israel and the Palestinians as it has
evolved ever since 1967.
The early part of the film covers the aftermath of the Six
Day War in June 1967, where Israel wound up with control over Gaza, the West
Bank, and the Golan Heights. As we know,
Israel started a practice of establishing settlements on the West Bank, often expropriating
land from Palestinians. To some of us,
not sympathetic to old religious or ancestral historical claims, this sounds
like simply occupation and stealing of other people’s property. Israel probably did not anticipate the level
of asymmetric warfare that would result.
The “gatekeepers” often talk about the effectiveness of the suicide
bombings, and talk about the desire of both sides to inflict personal suffering
on the other. Being expropriated leads
to shame, and shame is a very unacceptable emotion.
The Yom Kippur War would follow in October 1973, resulting
indirectly in the Arab Oil Embargo and a world energy crisis. I do recall the gas lines of the time, the
even-odd rationing, and even the day the war started, as I returned from a
weekend camping trip in New Jersey.
Much of the film covers the Clinton presidency (often
showing Bill Clinton), with the Oslo Accord, followed two years later by the
assassination of Yitzhak Rabin.
The men discuss the decisions that they have to ponder
before making an air strike, as to whether innocent bystanders or civilians
will be affected. Often they are, as "collateral damage".
On December 23, 2012, I discussed, on the International
Issues blog, a symposium by George Meek and the Interfaith Peace Builders to
address the human rights of people in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The six men say that they feel that their country has indeed
behaved as “occupiers”, like Germany did in the Netherlands, but not as
conquerors.
They also mention the level of responsibility that young military draftees soon have for interrogating civilians at border crossings or in
raids. Curiously, conscription, while socializing young people, gives them a sense of "power".
There is also some discussion of extreme rendition and
torture techniques used.
The site for the film is here. The distributor, Sony Pictures Classics, is
obviously connected to the distribution (from Columbia) of “Zero Dark Thirty”
(Jan. 11, 2013 here). Sony should be
praised for bringing both films to the public.
Wikipedia attribution link for Six Day War map, here.
The film played at Sundance 2013.
I saw this at Landmark E Street in Washington DC during the
daytime. There was a fair crowd in the largest auditorium.
By the way, the term “gatekeeper” has another, totally differet
connotation in Internet publishing. It refers to companies or agents that try
to control what can be put up by amateurs indirectly through copyright
legislation and litigation.
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