Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Sun 1.6.08, Afternoon

Share:
Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Email
Observers: 
Nataniya, Shulamit S (reporting)
Jun-1-2008
|
Afternoon

14:40, Etzion DCL: There were about 30 people waiting to renew their magnetic cards and one person who was summoned by the GSS. The Palestinian told us that no one has been accepted during the last half an hour. We called the officer at the civil administrationinfo-icon that is in charge of public complaints. He was very polite and tried to explain to us, why the delay occured. Half an hour after we arrived , eight people came out, most of them with magnetic cards. The phone we made to Hana Barag probably speeded things up.

Something we had already noticed in the past is that people came to renew their cards and for some reason there was some malfunction with the computer. They were told to pay 40 Shekels on top of the 45 Shekels they had paid before to get the cards renewed. Must a Palestinian (whose card is in good condition) pay more money to the state of Israel because of some computer breakdown? Is that a normal procedure? 

We once again bumped into a man that used to have a license for commerce in Israel, but all of a sudden they found that he "didn't meet the standards" which of course we don't know what they are. This is a married man who has three children.  Another man of 58 had a work permit for Israel that was valid until July, he didn't receive a magnetic card - he was suddenly declared prevented passage. We referred people to the humanitarian center, to the Center for the Defense of the Individual, and of course to Silviya who does wonders.  

Beit Omer: We drove to Beit Omer for a short while, those waiting there said the pace was reasonable.

17:00, Etzion DCL: We were told that a high ranking officer arrived and he let all those in line enter and added that those who arrived after five wouldn't enter.  

In any case all those who arrived before five were taken care of, and that’s also good.