Checkpoint Syndrome: Violence, Madness, and Ethics in the Hebrew Literature of the Intifada

This essay discuses Hebrew texts written in Israel in light of the current Intifada that describe the reality in the Occupied Territories and reexamine the prototypical image of the Israeli soldier. The case in point is Liran Ron- Furer’s Checkpoint Syndrome(2003), an experimental work written as a collection of short poems, which depicts the conflict between the omnipotent Israeli soldier and the helpless Palestinian at the checkpoint, and follows the process of moral corruption experienced by many soldiers during their service. By putting together realistic pseudo documentary experiences with surrealist hallucinations, the text introduces an alternative presentation of the Horrible in accordance with the poetics of the extreme, where the borders between sanity and madness are often tested.