Al Nashshash, Beit Ummar, Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Nabi Yunis, Mon 12.10.09, Morning
07.10 - 08.00 AM, Etzion DCL: during the fifty minutes that we were on Road No 60, which cuts Beit 'Inun into two parts, Mika made a video film, which we will send to the Web when it has been edited.
There is a girls' school on the Western side of the road, and a boys' school is situated on the Eastern side, further into this part of Beit 'Inun. In the morning, crowds of people have to cross the road here : girls on their way to school, young women, and also students on their way to Hebron and people on their way to deal with their affairs. They all cross the road from East to West.
Fewer cross from West to East; they are boys and young men, and people who are going to Sa'Ir and Bnei Naim and to the Eastern part of Beit 'Inun itself. The road is extremely busy. We counted the number who crossed during the 50 minutes that we were there : 383 crossed from the West, and 134 from the East.
We have already described how three years ago we warned about the danger of so many people having to cross the busy road here, and have warned many high-ranking officials about the situation. Nothing has changed here, except for a flashing warning light which worked for two weeks, then fell silent and lost its head.
08.30 AM, Beit Ummar: we gave out information about police matters. Also we were told that a 20-year old youth from the village, who was shot two weeks ago, died from his wounds yesterday, and that his funeral would take place in the afternoon. In the evening I was told over the telephone that there were many soldiers in Beit Ummar in the afternoon, stones were thrown, and there was a disorderly demonstration.
09.00 AM, Nabi Yunis: we gave advice and distributed forms concerning police matters.
10.00 AM, Etzion DCL: we met a taxi driver from Nachlin, who told us that at 11.30 at night some jeeps entered the village and the soldiers “went wild”. They arrested and took with them a young man, and also damaged his taxi. He had in his hand a note signed by lieutenant-colonel Arieh Hartzioni, which confirmed that a military vehicle hit the taxi “ during military action”. The taxi-driver was told to go to the policeman at the DCL. The policeman sent him to the police station at Etzion. From there he was sent back to the DCL. We asked Hannah Barag to investigate the matter, and it became apparent to her that the best way to handle the case would be for him to get a lawyer or to ask his insurance company for help. It is obvious that he is being “given the run-around”.
In connection with the assistance provided by the police at the DCL - at 08.15 this morning we checked on the telephone that there is a policeman at the DCL today, but the printer there cannot print-out traffic violations. We passed-on this information to people who turned to us for help. Two of them who came to the policeman (only a few come to him), were told by the policeman to go home and telephone him during the day. This was after they had waited, their ID's had been taken and examined, but they didn't receive an immediate answer.
This custom is in force at other DCL's as well, and the problem with it is that the people don't receive a written answer, even though the police has a suitable standard form for this purpose. A telephoned answer may be only partial or not clear, and its impossible to prove what exactly was said.
10.45 AM, Al Nashshash: we gave advice on police matters.