Our shift began at the village of El Arub.  We brought children’s clothing, shoes, and food to a needy Palestinian family who had arrived from the village of Se’ir.  The oldest son explained that the family was faced with a difficult situation.  Israeli soldiers come into the village every day and disrupt the movements of the resident for no apparent reason by placing roadblocks in the streets and forbidding them to exit the village.  The soldiers also spread tear gas in the middle of the village.   The small children suffer fro intense anxiety and there is no help.  Any trip outside the village to get medical aid, renew documents, or shopping requires expenses for gas,  and residents who don’t have cars are forced to spend money on taxis that must drive long distances along bypass roads to get to places nearby.  A taxi ride from Se’ir to Ein Arub costs NIS 100.

In addition, the closed entrance to the village makes it difficult for residents to go about their lives.

The family mentioned above finds it especially difficult to afford such trips.   The father is handicapped and cannot do strenuous work,  and the older sons aged 18, 20, and 24 must support the family of nine children.  Since October 7^th   they have had trouble finding work – a situation that has existed for years.  The sons are currently not eligible for permits to work in the settlements except for Mishor Adumim.   They attempted to look for work in the bakery there, but either there were no jobs available of the owner was required to have a security guard on site whenever Palestinian workers were present.   During previous he explained that either discussions with the manager he explained that it was difficult to find security guards  or it was difficult for him to pay another worker whom he felt was unnecessary.

We continued on to the Etzion District Coordination and Liaison Office where we met an elderly man in the waiting room who spoke Hebrew. And asked for help.   Three of his sons had crossed the security barrier to work in Israel.  While they were scaling the ladder they were shot by Israeli soldiers.   Two were killed and one was injured.  After he was released from the hospital the surviving son was imprisoned for six months. And was then taken to the CDL for questioning by the Security Services.   The father explained that in addition to the bereavement at the murder of their two sons, the family was now suffering from financial difficulties because the salaries the two sons had earned were needed to support their elderly parents.    The father owns land near the security barrier but he has been prevented from going there to farm his fields.

We spoke with another Palestinian who spoke Hebrew who told us that he also owned land that was considered to be within Israel.  He is interested in selling the land to a Jew.   He needs to present a certificate of ownership in order to make the transaction, but he does not know which office to approach to receive the necessary documents.    We told him what to do and gave him phone numbers of people who could help.

Later a 19-year-old  Jewish resident of Beitar Elite, who was accompanying a Palestinian friend who had come to the District Coordination and Liaison Office  to get a magnetic card .  They had met while working in a grocery store in Beitar Elite.  We were surprised by the Jewish man’s request.  He does not want to join the army and wanted to know if we could help.    He had even submitted documents stating that he was not psychologically fit for military service.    He had been imprisoned for three days because he refused to cooperate with the selection process for the army.  He is not religious but received an order to be drafted as a religious person because he lives in Beitar Elite.  This makes it possible for the army to claim that he is being drafted as a religious man. (?)

At the end of our shift we drove towards Jerusalem by way of Beit Jallah and crossed at the Al Valaja Checkpoint.  .  We noticed   We noticed that the sign that read: “Passengers are forbidden to get of their cars inside the checkpoint”  was no longer standing at its previous location inside the checkpoint, but it had not yet been moved to the new location of the checkpoint.  There it would block Palestinians from getting to the spring at Ein Hanaya.