Etzion DCL
We arrived at 9:30. In the parking lot there were 14 Palestinian vehicles, in the hall sat 5 Palestinians who said no one had yet entered.
A 19-year-old guy came with his mother to meet with the police. He had a "notice of bail payment to guarantee showing up to trial" with the requirement for payment of NIS 1,200 he received yesterday, he said, because they claimed he did not stop at a traffic sign. After consulting with Hannah we guided him to consult with Attorney Tamir Blank and gave him his phone number. He and his mother waited for a long time until invited to enter the meeting with a representative of the police. We do not know what happened at the meeting since we didn’t see them leave, but later we were told by another woman that the police representative didn’t show up at all that day. Hannah has confirmed that the absence of the police is daily recurrence.
Later another guy arrived with his sister, who said that the previous day he was injured working at the Palestinian Authority. We did not understand the whole story, but with the broken Arabic of Netanya and using the basic English of a young woman who was there, we gathered that he needs a police confirmation that indeed he was injured in a work related accident. Our hope was that since he served time in prison in the past he could get financial aid from an organization that helps former prisoners. As mentioned, we did not understand the whole story, but what is relevant is that these people waited for a meeting with a representative of the police for a long time, and only an hour later the sister returned to the waiting hall and said that the police representative didn’t arrive. People continued to wait, perhaps with the hope that he will eventually arrive. We called the Gush Etzion police station, they did not answer.
The stream of people was steady but light. The soldier sitting in his window ignored part of the time our attempts to talk to him, as if he could not hear. He sat in a position and body posture that made it difficult to see if indeed he was there. At other times he spoke with people through the loudspeaker in a reasonable manner.
An Israeli Jew arrived from one of the Moshavs claiming to represent a law office in Jerusalem and came to find out how to get an entry permit to Jerusalem for a Palestinian for a certain job. We connected him with Shlomit who spoke with him at length. A Palestinian arrived and said that at night an investigation was conducted at his home, his permit was taken and he was summoned to a meeting with GSS. He said he works in Beersheba and without the permit he is unable to get to work. He said there was no reason for taking the permit. Besides him there were several other people who arrived for a meeting with a representative of GSS. A woman who was waiting said, "You are here to protect human rights, but they treat us like animals".
The bathrooms in place reek strongly of urine, there is no toilet paper and the faucet constantly leaks since it’s impossible to turn it off.
The signs guiding people towards employment and work permits are in Hebrew only.
We were told that there is a soldier who behaves abominably towards the Palestinians. We promised to bring this to the attention of the rest of our friends.