Etzion DCL, Thu 31.5.12, Afternoon

 
14.20 Etzion DCL: the hall was empty.  Outside, we met a group of Christians living in the occupied territories, who requested entry  permits to celebrate a Christian festival in Jerusalem, which will begin at the end of the week.

One of them told us that he is an Israeli citizen, but his wife is a resident in the occupied territories. He requested a permit to enter Israel on the day of the festival but did not receive one.

The members of a family who applied for entry permits together, complained that several of them received one but others not.  We spoke to Hannah and with her help they all received permits.

A 54 year old Muslim woman, who wanted to pray at a mosque in Jerusalem on Friday, didn’t receive a permit. At the civil administration office she was told that the quota for worshipers on Friday was full. She will come again on Sunday and perhaps wiil receive a permit for next Friday.

An elderly man told us that his brother, a doctor at the Mokased hospital in Jerusalem, had had a heart attack and was hospitalized in the same hospital.  He asked for a permit to visit his brother but was refused.  We phoned to the permit-issueing office and they checked the particulars of both brothers.  After a short while the man was taken into the office in order to receive the permit.