[-empyre-] forwarded from Horit

[timothy murray <tcm1@cornell.edu>]

This is an excellent question. I will focus on one dimension of it:
The soldiers believe that by serving in the
ckeckpoints they realize the security needs of
the state of Israel.
Most of them are not aware that they are serving in the occupied territories,
  that is, defending settlements that lie outside
the borders of the sovereign state of Israel.
  For the soldiers every Palestinian is an enemy, a potential suicide bomber.
Their total conviction in the justice of what
they call their "work" makes them indifferent to
human suffering and, in this context, to the eye
of the camera.

> Horit



> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2007 23:05:25 -0400 (EDT)
> From: "Renate Terese Ferro" <rtf9@cornell.edu>
> Subject: [-empyre-] Re: empyre Digest, Vol 29, Issue 4
> To: empyre@gamera.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> Message-ID:
>         <49705.24.59.120.201.1175828725.squirrel@webmail.cornell.edu>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
> A very warm welcome to Horit.  Hello to everyone reading empyre. Tim and I
> are delighted to be able to participate in this monthís theme
> ìTechno-panic and we encourage all of you to join in writing responses.
>
>    Iíve just taken my down my installation, ìPanic Hits Homeî, that Iíll
> tell you about later in the week. However, as I sit here in my exhausted
> state reading Horitís eloquent explanation of her observations I am
> reminded of the powerful video images she showed me during her visit to
> Ithaca, NY.   Video footage taped a few feet from soldiers clad with
> weaponry and metal interacting with women wrapped in fabric shawls
> holding onto their children. The juxta-position of the defenseless women
> and children with these stoic-faced men in uniform sent a shudder
> through my body. Horit can I ask you to recall your response to my
> question of what the soldierís response to the camera was? Take a look
> at Horitís website at http://www.horit.com.
>
> Renate Ferro

--
Timothy Murray
Professor of Comparative Literature and English
Acting Director of The Society for the Humanities
Director of Graduate Studies in Film and Video
Curator, The Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art, Cornell Library
A. D. White House
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York  14853

office: 607-255-4086
e-mail: tcm1@cornell.edu