Etzion DCL, Tue 1.10.13, Afternoon
Translation: Naomi Gal
15.00. As we arrived, a man approached us. He needs to go to Amman for medical treatment but had been refused a permit by Security. We gave him Sylvia’s details.
Inside the waiting room sat three women. Two were from Nazareth, together with their Palestinian relative who has been living in the U.S.A. for many years and has a visa as an American. They were waiting for their Beit Jallah relative who was inside to get permits for a number of their family members. The idea was to have a family reunion in Nazereth, on the occasion of this “American”’s visit. The reunion needs to be in Nazareth, as an old grandfather, who is too ill to travel, is there.
Their representative came out, unsuccessful. He was told to apply to the Palestinian Authority DCO. As he pointed out, he had already been there and the Palestinians had directed him to Etzion! He had a carefully printed out list of the names of all the Beit Jallah family, with I.D. numbers.
When we phoned the DCO office, the polite soldier who answered explained that she could deal with only medical issues and was not authorized to handle this case. “Perhaps when the officer, R., comes,” she offered. But she did not know when R. would be free, as she was at a meeting. However, she did tell us R.’s (office) phone number, which we gave to the applicant. It did not seem critical that they should contact her already today – they seemed to have a couple of days’ leeway before the actual date of reunion. So we hope that R. (in her usual helpfully effective way) has solved the problem.
There were two cases of men, both arriving at about 4.30 to renew magnetic cards. One had come on Monday, the correct day for his district but, because the office was too busy, he was told, according to him, to come on the morrow. The other man had come on Sunday and also said that he was told to come today. However, there is no issuing of magnetic cards at all on Tuesdays! Either someone gave wrong information or there was a misunderstanding (in both cases?), but both these men were told to come back another day.