Camera

A camera at a checkpoint is like a red rag to a bull. For over the soldiers there always looms the long shadow of the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Since the camera can record violations of human rights, hence any photographic record is potentially threatening. Soldiers will usually try to justify their objections to photography by saying that the checkpoint is a `closed military area' and thus `secret' and that photography is therefore forbidden there. This is a patently absurd claim since thousands of Palestinians go through this `secret' place daily, sometimes – to their regret – even twice daily, and see everything that goes on there.