Beit Ummar, Etzion DCL, Nabi Yunis

7.40 – 11.00

Altogether there were about 10 phone calls during the entire period.  This is in contrast to the incessant phone calls that Chaya usually receives.  Is this because people are afraid to use their phones to contact us? Most of the calls were from people refused entry by the police and Chaya gave them instructions.  Others were to check on progress in their cases.

Husan.  Because of a clerical error in a receipt made out by a clerk at Ofer,  a young man’s documents were in disarray.  He had been involved in a traffic offense.  Machsomwatch is still in the process of trying to solve this for him at Ofer, without involving a lawyer and the attendant expense.

Later, we will see at Nebi Yunis, another instance of a mistake in records causing endless difficulty, because it is so hard for the Palestinian to get back to handle the problem on his own.  He then has to depend on a lawyer.  Sometimes the sum involved, while serious for the victim, is not enough to warrant taking a lawyer because the lawyer’s fee would take most of it. (In the case at Nebi Yunis it was the problem of recovering bail paid at the time of arrest.  At the subsequent court case, the man was proved innocent, but as usual after an arrest, the police have prohibited his getting an entry permit for the past year.)

Beit Omar.  It was very quiet at the petrol station.  In general, there were few people out, apart from a few fruit stalls along the road. According to one informant, there are no soldiers, leaving only Border Police – which doesn’t exactly add to a sense of security.

Our friend Y has once again suffered damage to his car – a rock thrown by settlers.  [ A separate report will follow.]

DCO Etzion.  There were few people inside waiting for magnetic cards.  Presumably it was unusually empty because of Ramadan.We were approached by a couple of people who have been refused permits by either Security or by the police.  We gave them Sylvia’s details, or Chaya spoke to them personally.

A man told us how he has been owed, now a couple of years, by a Jerusalem housewife 450 shekels for gardening. He has tried a number of times to persuade her to pay.  Once again, a serious loss for him – but was it worth the risk of antagonizing her, which might lose him his entry permit altogether?

At Etzion there are new handwritten posters and, on the hill across the road, a big banner proudly announcing a new settlement (‘ma’ahaz’).