El-Nashash, Nebi Yunes, Beit Anun, Etzion DCO, Monday, 11.6.07 Observers: Chaya A, Edit S, Edit N (reporting)Translated by L. Williams07:30 Chaya passes all the regular stations in addition to Beit Anun because of the growing demand. At Nebi Yunes there are also more people than usual. Military Hummers are spread out along the way (at the ends of dirt tracks and side roads).The summer spectacle familiar from previous years – women with sacks of fruit for sale standing on the edges of the road, to sell or to wait for a taxi to take them onward. Taxis avoid stopping because the fine for stopping other than in a parking bay is 750 shekels. There is no need to note that such parking bays only exist where there are settlements. The phenomenon is even more noticeable in the area of El Khadar for it is on their land that Efrat stands. Yet another way to embitter lives…Etzion DCL – 09:00Today’s line is longer than usual – at least 60 men are sitting outside the new magnificent building, which is almost empty. They are seated in perfect order along a curve in the road. We are approached by a man who termed himself “usher” (a phenomenon that we remember from last time when the place was being renovated), and explained that most of the men have been waiting since the early hours – some even since midnight. This morning, so he says, 50 numbers were handed out – and the men we see along the roadside are those who did not get a number. Yesterday they also waited here in the hope that more numbers would be distributed (it does happen that another round of 30 numbers are given out, and many of those who arrived while it was still dark prefer to wait a little longer in the hope that this is their lucky day…) Yet another way to embitter lives…10:00 – we try to phone in to the DCL to clarify what is happening, and whether there will be another distribution of numbers since the number of people waiting in the sun is more than usual.. The answer: it’s not clear, and they will inform when they know. The men’s patience is running out, and they are telling us that since the building was renovated the service is steadily declining. A lot of jokes circulate about the building which is mostly empty. An ear splitting noise suddenly bursts from one of the sophisticated loudspeakers, and the men inside complain that one of the soldiers apparently picks up the microphone occasionally and plays, singing in different voices all loud. The noise is violent and deafening, then suddenly vanishes. Again.. Yet another way to embitter lives…Meanwhile people are also approaching with the usual problems.. Two men whose valid permits were taken this morning at a checkpoint, without any reason given, only a referral to the policeman at the DCO, and here the policeman informs them that he cannot give an explanation – only in two weeks time! We phone inside and the policeman asks us to come to the gate guard in order for him to explain. The two policemen stationed today in the DCO come down to meet us, and then explain that their functioning with the national headquarters (despite a mass of courses and refreshers that lessened the service over a long period) is still slow and not responsive.”So much for the document, only that the days of validity shouldn’t evaporate,” one of them says when we return with the feeble explanation – the phenomenon that unceasingly repeats… As I said: Yet another way to embitter lives…10:15 – a Hummer issues forth from the camp and declares through a loudspeaker in reasonable Arabic that anyone who has not received a number should go home. Anyone who has one should remain because the machine has broken down (?!) Wonderment, laughter and anger are only a part of the responses. “He thinks we are idiots,” somebody explains to us in English, “if the machine has broken down, how are they dealing with people who already have numbers?” “Right,” somebody adds, “every day at ten o’clock they think we are dumb, and tell us that the machine isn’t working.”All our attempts to discover what is going on are met with rudeness and indifference by the spokesmen and the various centres that we contact. From the spokesman of the Civil Administration, through the pr of the Defense Minister’s bureau, and the clerks of the DCO, and up to the Humanitarian Centre – all without exception couldn’t care less.. There are excuses and stuttering attempts to explain that a machine can break down while another doesn’t, and no one relates to the obvious question of why this happens day after day… The neglect and humiliation that are so much a routine – can there be any justification? Or is it simply policy to embitter life, or the closed minds of youngsters brought up into this… (Even a contractor who turns up purses his lips and mutters that it is a disgrace).11:15 – we leave after interviewing some people on video and swearing to accumulate testimonies in the coming days so that we can show to as many people as possible – will anyone care?