1 comments/ 7830 views/ 3 favorites Checkpoint 300 By: Scheherazade88 Note to the reader: The following story is fiction and takes places during an interrogation of 19-year old Lieutenant Gabi Aloni , who is doing his national service in the Israeli army, which is compulsory for Israeli Jews. Gabi deserted from the army, he had been working at Checkpoint 300, which is a large Israeli military checkpoint on the entrance/exist from the Palestinian West Bank city of Bethlehem. Gabi, an Ashkenazi (European) Jew fell in love with, and had a relationship with Amira Khalidi. Amira is a secular Palestinian Muslim Arab girl who studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem- their relationship is not welcomed by the Israeli army and led to Gabi's desertion and later arrests. The military police are interrogating him. Enjoy. M.P.: "Lieutenant Gabi Aloni, 19-years old. Son of Amos Aloni and Yaeli Aloni, Amos is a professor of computer science at the Technion and Yaeli is a civil engineer. Grandparents emigrated from Poland. Gabi grew up in Tel Aviv- has completed two-years of national service- one year left. Your file makes for interesting reading. You come from a good family, a respectable family, you had a bright future ahead of you. Why did you throw it all away for some Arab pussy? The army is going to throw the book at you. " Gabi: "Her name is Amira and she's not just some pussy, she's the light in this dark and cruel world!" M.P.: "Still doesn't answer the question. Why did you throw it all away and betray your country? After all Israel has done for you!" Gabi: "Have you ever read Danniel Quinn's Ishmael? There's a scene where the Nazis take over the world and eliminate all non-Aryan people. They settle everywhere from America to Japan and the future generations are never told about the war or that other races and people ever existed. One day in Japan- two blonde hair, blue eyed teenage boys- are sitting in their high school when one turns around to the other and says 'I can't help but feel like we are being lied too.' I feel like that boy and can relate to the feeling of being lied to." M.P.: "What?" Gabi: "Growing up, I was never told about the Palestinians, we knew nothing about them or ever met one. In school we are told they are Arabs, and not Palestinians because Palestinians do not exist and this is our historic homeland. We're made to believe that before the Jews returned to Israel in the 20th century, this was an empty barren land and the Arabs only came here from other Arab States because Jews had made the desert blossom. Arabs are depicted as ugly, stupid, liars, dirty and terrorists- I did not know my high school was built on the remains of a destroyed Arab village." M.P.: "That's outrages! You're out of line." Gabi: "No, you're out of line and outranges! The whole system and enterprise is out of line! What's outrages is the fact I'd never met an Arab until I was in the army. Like most Israeli guys, I thought Palestinians girls were backward, ugly and dressed like ninjas, so imagine my shook when I came to work at checkpoints and saw they looked like nothing I'd imagined. I saw Palestinian girls who were so beautiful and were dressed in very fashionable and modern clothing. I didn't know how to explain it and so like my colleges, I assumed they must be Christians, because there is no way they could be Muslims." M.P.: "You still haven't explained why and how?" Gabi: "Why is this so important? We broke no laws, I'm in love with a Palestinian girl and I would help her get passed checkpoints. That is all. She's not a criminal and we've done nothing wrong?" M.P.: "Nothing wrong! We are at war with these people. This land between the River Jordan to the Mediterranean is our land. But we are in danger of losing this land to them. Why? Because they keep having children and our birth-rate is low. There are 6.8 million Israeli Jews in this land and if you add up the figures from Judea and Samaria (The West Bank), inside Israel proper and Gaza, there are 5.8 million Palestinian Arabs in the same land. This is a sperm war to ensure Israel survives and you're spilling your good seeds into a Palestinian girl and helping their numbers. If more Israelis have relationships with Palestinians like you, then Israel could cease to exist." Gabi: "That's positively disgusting, but I will tell you how it feels to lay next to a beautiful, fiery and intelligent Palestinian girl. Her skin is the color of olives, light but colored nonetheless, her hair is black and curly and her eyes big and black. A perfect hour glass shape, nice bust, small waist, round butt. She is the beauty of Palestine and I would consider it an honor to have children with her. I dream of the day, I can walk in the streets holding her hand and my parents can visit her parents. I've never encountered a girl like her before." M.P. :"You're really something else. You know, the Shin Bet (Secret Service) raided Amira's home and found extremist material. Just look at this picture of her. She is at a BDS (Boycott, Divestment & Sanction) rally in Germany, do you know about BDS? They are anti-Israel group, who call Israel an Apartheid state and call on Western countries to impose sanctions on Israel and boycott the Israeli economy. They have already got Western universities to boycott academic exchanges with Israel, unless the academic or institution denounces the Israeli state. They are the greatest threat we face." Gabi:"Love in a time of Apartheid, it's got a nice ring to it. But what you fail to understand is that BDS is not against us. BDS calls for one democratic state for Jews, Arabs and anyone else who wants to live in this land. A secular democratic state with full equality for both Jews and Arabs, instead of this ethnic exclusive state, which our government is trying to build. They are a peaceful organisation that advocates civil non-violent resistance. To answer your question, yes I knew she was a supporter of BDS. Where is she, what have you done with her?" M.P.: "The Shin Bet has taken her to a facility and may decide to press charges. For now, she's in administrating detention. But you still haven't told me how it happened." Gabi: "You bastard, if you've so much as harmed a hair on her body, I will..." M.P.: "I wouldn't finish that sentence, if I were you." Gabi: "I don't care, I would sacrifice everything to be with Amira. You really what to know why and how it happened, okay, I'll tell you, if it means you'll leave me alone. Before I met Amira, I was in a terrible state, I was very depressed. Normally, when I'm upset my friend Eldad, cheers me up, but not this time. Me and Eldad use to do everything together-we were like brothers-but when Eldad joined the army he was assigned to a different regiment from me. He was stationed in Hebron (Southern West Bank), and every time I would see him, when we were both on leave, I noticed how much he had changed. He was more withdrawn and depressed, his girlfriend, Edith was in the same regiment as him, and she became concerned." M.P.: "I will have to look Eldad up, go on." Gabi: "One day, Edith phoned me and she was crying. At first, I couldn't get any sense out of her and then when she was able to muster together a sentence, she told me Eldad was dead. I didn't believe her at first and told her to stop kidding, but she would not relent. He committed suicide, pretty much in front of her, took out his pistol and placed in on his head. She told me about the rough time they were having in Hebron- and the last few weeks before his death were particularly bad. The Jewish settler, the ones we are there to protect, had been engaged in violence against the local Palestinians. Eldad made the fatal mistake of trying to stop the settlers from attacking and was attack by the settlers himself. One day, during a scuffle, he accidently shot and killed a Palestinian woman. For days after that, he couldn't sleep and I guess it pushed him over the edge." M.P.: "Sometimes, our job forces us to do ugly things, it's a tragedy." Gabi: "Anyways, I was incredibly depressed after that and I contemplated taking my own life. Not only because of Eldad's death, but I was starting to have doubts about what I was doing, and then Amira came into my life. Like a breath of fresh air she breezed into my life. When I first laid eyes on her, I felt my legs shake, my heart melt and I wanted to stare and look away at the same time. I didn't speak to her and later that night, when I lay down to bed, I couldn't stop thinking about her, but I was unable to masturbate over her. I felt she was too beautiful to be defiled and I could just imagine her discovering me masturbating over her and being angry and disappointed. She was positively angelic too me, you know, almost holy too me." M.P.: "What are weird man you are. All this over a Paleshtinaiim (Derogatory term for Palestinian) whore." Gabi: "Don't call her that, never insult my Falsteeni (Palestinian) lover, she's has given me than my parents and this system ever has." M.P.: "Listen, your bitch and all like her, would cause a second Shoah (Holocaust) against us. She's a whore." Gabi: "You don't get it do you? Palestinians are not the Germans and this is not 1939, there will be no second Shoah, the Palestinians just want their rights- nothing more." M.P.: "She really has confused you, hasn't she? I think you're gonna need therapy or something." Gabi: "The whole country needs therapy, our entire society has been traumatised and paralysed by fear. But, me, I am thinking clearly now." M.P.: "Continue with your Romeo and Juliet story." Gabi: "You see, you can never understand and so all you can do is mock. To understand, me and Amira, you should know the poem Majnun and Leyla. Like the poem states, I believe my soul was tied to hers before our creation, but it was our misfortunate, to be born in this time and place." M.P.: "Cut the poetic crap." Gabi: "Anyways, I would see her every morning on her way somewhere. Sometimes she would be sitting at the checkpoint for hours and I would see her reading books and waiting. Eventually, during one such day, when we were not letting anyone through, Amira turned to me and began screaming and yelling. Even angry she was beautiful. I just stood and stared at her and she just looked bemused at my facial expression. I was zoned out and didn't respond and I moved my eyes downward at her bust. She paused from yelling to ask what I was looking at and then she realized and screamed pervert. Amira spoke perfect Hebrew and naturally my colleagues overheard and moved over towards us." M.P.: "What happened then?" Gabi: "They got aggressive with her. One guy in my unit, Avigdor, came over and tried to must together enough Hebrew to insult her. I hated Avigdor, he speaks terrible Hebrew and is five years older than me. He came over from Russia and now he thinks he owns the place. He has his eye on becoming a member of the Knesset for the Yisrael Beiteinu party and he looks up to Avigdor Liberman, the party leader. He is a horrible man, very cruel and sadistic and when Amira kicked off, he had his excuse to brutalize her. Amira would not stop shouting and Avigdor took his baton and smack her across the legs. He then hit her a few times and then she was detained and taken away to an Army holding cell." M.P.: "If you loved this girl, why didn't you try to intervene to stop her from being beaten?" Gabi: "I know and I have felt shame ever since that incident. I don't know why, I did nothing, I just didn't. Perhaps, I was just afraid? I didn't want to look weak in front of my unit and beating Palestinians is nothing new. Anyway, weeks had passed and I hadn't seen her and then she comes back through my checkpoint. I notice scaring on her face. We held her at the checkpoint and I finally started speaking to her. I tried small talk, but all I got is hostility from her and then eventually I asked her about the scaring. She told me to mind my own business, eventually we let her through and I discovered she was studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem." M.P.: "Yes?" Gabi: "So when I was on leave, I went to the university and tried looking for her. At first, I couldn't find her and tried for days. Eventually, I did run into her and when I saw her, I ran over to her and tried talking to her. She was flabbergasted and tried to walk away from me. But as her back was turned and she was pulling away from me, I blurted out sorry. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face me. And then I said, I'm sorry for how we treated you, sorry for how we have treated your people and sorry for how we are going to treat them. I told her, I regret everything from the occupation to not defending her. She looked confused and asked who I was and why I was saying these things. Then I said, my name is Gabi Aloni and I haven't been able to stop thinking about you." M.P.: "And then?" Gabi: "She was stunned but agreed that we could go to lunch. And then I explained everything to her from my friend suicide to my deep personal thoughts. By the end she was sympathetic towards me and agreed we could be friends. We exchanged numbers and agreed to meet on campus. After that we'd walk on the campus and spend hours talking and joking. She was starting to have feelings for me, but initially resisted doing anything about it." M.P.: "What would you talk about?" Gabi: "Stuff. She was studying education and had ambitions to be a teacher and she would tell me about those ambitions. She wants to set-up a school and teach her own curriculum, so the future of Palestine, will be an educated one." M.P.: "What a stupid bitch." Gabi:"Don't call her stupid, you asshole." M.P.: "Another outburst like that and I will be adding to the charges. Now, you developed a relationship which turned romantic? Right?" Gabi: "Correct. It took us months of talking in person, via email and on the phone before clear romantic feelings to manifest itself. We finally decided to go steady, four months after first speaking to one another. We would meet just off the Hebrew U campus and have dinner, after a while, she would introduce me to her friends. Most were wary at first and some even hostile, but they mostly, came around to the idea. Most were Palestinian activists and they helped show me the path from militarism to peaceful co-existence." M.P.: "You really believe that don't you? Do you think I serve in the military because I am a man of war? No, I am a man of peace, but the Arabs will not have it. We have tried to make peace with them- but there is no one to make peace with." Gabi: "That's nonsense! Who invaded who in 1956? Who launched the pre-emptive strike in 1967? Who invaded Lebanon on 1978, 1982 and 2006?" M.P.: "They invaded us and tried to destroy us in 1948 and 1973." Gabi: "I do not like the leaderships of the Arab world, but this is simply not true. Anyway, we have brutalized our Arab neighbours and occupied the Palestinians for over 60-years. If they do hate us, then it's because of what we have done to them. There is only one way to end militarism and the conflict. One State for both Arabs and Jews, which both are equal citizens. No to occupation and no to war. We need to realize we are not in Europe, but in the heart of the Arab and Muslim world and integrate into it." M.P.: "Okay, calm down. Let's finish your story." Gabi: "I had my first kiss with her. Her lip stick tasted of cherries and I was very nervous. I was a terrible kisser at first, bless her, she was very patient. She taught me how to be gentle and to use mouth wash. I even learned how to use my tongue in the right way and not to suffocate her. I finally lost my virginity to her- actually- it was a long process before I lost my virginity. We started off with grouping, moved onto masturbation and then oral sex. She would give me a handjob and suck me off and I would do the same to her. Then one day, she skipped class and we went to a friend's apartment and there we did it. I slowly undressed her and ravaged her with kisses. It was her second time and so I was very nervous." M.P.: "Looks like she didn't wait for you." Gabi: "She had a boyfriend before me and she lost her virginity to him. But despite being nervous it was the best experience of my life." M.P.: "So tell me what happened on the day of your desertion?" Gabi: "It was a tense day. It was hot and the checkpoint was overcrowded, our commander randomly decided to close the exist to the checkpoint, but not the entrance. We had Palestinians piling up and once inside they were trapped. We had people trying to get to hospital, some very sick people and they were making a commotion, but my colleges just laughed and punished them. This went on for two hours and we had a mini-riot at the checkpoint-but we manage to calm the situation down. But then Amira turned up at the checkpoint and some female solider randomly decided to pick on her. Amira being the strong woman she is refused to take it and she answered back. A mini-scuffle broke and I intervened and attacked my commander." M.P.: "And then?" Gabi: "A huge fight broke out and other Palestinians started rioting again, in the midst of chaos, I took Amira's hand and we escaped the checkpoint. We managed to get onto a bus bound for Jerusalem, once we arrived, we boarded another bus to Tel-Aviv. My uncle has an apartment there and he's out of the country, but I know where he hides his spare key. We stayed in the apartment for three days and managed to avoid arousing suspicion. But we both knew we couldn't stay in Israel. I know a drug-dealer in Tel-Aviv, who also forges documents and so I contacted him and we arranged new ID's, passports and plane tickets. We were planning on flying to Amsterdam, and then once there, we would claim asylum. But when I went to pick the documents up, the police showed up and they arrested me. Amira knew, if I wasn't back by a certain time, to escape. Which she did." M.P.: "Yes, she was later picked up by Shin Bet. Okay, that concludes our session. A psychologist is coming in to assess you, because I think you have psychological issues." Gabi: "Our system has criminalized love. I have lost everything for my beloved and all I seek is to be with her again." Gabi was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress and an equivalent to Gulf War syndrome. He served one year in prison and then was released due to his psychological state. Amira was thrown into prison and committed suicide in her cell. She left a love note for Gabi, in-which she said their two souls were eternally bound, and in the next life shall be together. But the occupation had made their love impossible. Gabi was lost without her and he left Israel for Germany, where he now resides.