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Documentary's 'Palestinian Road Trip' Debunks Israeli Checkpoint Myths

January 17, 2017

Documentary filmmaker Ami Horowitz is out with a new film debunking the notion that Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank are a hardship for Palestinians.

Horowitz, noting a sign that entering Area "A" is forbidden to Israeli citizens and dangerous to their lives, entered the West Bank and got in a car with a Palestinian driver for his "Palestinian Road Trip."

One of the chief criticisms of Israel is it has imposed checkpoints across the West Bank that disrupt the daily lives of Palestinians and make it difficult to travel between their cities. With the comical Benny Hill theme music playing in the background, Horowitz said he and his driver drove hundreds of miles around the Palestinian territory without being stopped once.

Horowitz spoke to Palestinians at one of the checkpoints, set up after a wave of terrorism against Israelis, for people entering Israel from Palestinian territories. Those interviewed said the wait time to get through the checkpoints was a matter of minutes.

For comparison, Horowitz's video claimed that at least seven cars passed through the West Bank-Israeli checkpoint in the same time one car was allowed to cross from Mexico into the United States.

During the filming, the checkpoint came under fire from Palestinians throwing and slinging rocks at cars and pedestrians. One boy suffered a leg injury when a rock pelted him.

Published under: Israel