Etzion DCL
A shift with all the usual dreary stories of those who are prevented……including a few cases of people who entered Israel illegally at a young age many years ago and are still prevented.
Sad also their desperation. We give them all the details about Sylvia and her team and many keep coming up to us afterwards and asking if we cannot do something NOW to help them. Is it that we are not explaining properly and they do not understand or that really think that we can cure their problems just by being Israelis.
The lot for the confiscated cars is being cleaned up. So that the army and the police may be inspired to find more reasons for confiscating? One man arrived to find his tractor no longer had an engine and said that he would make a monument of it. We were told that this is not the only case and the feeling is that parts are stolen by the workers of the site but we have no evidence of that. Sometimes the cars are not claimed by the Palestinians as the fine is greater than the value of the car. At the moment it is a hive of activity and Shlomit sits and watches.
The son of one man had had an accident with a Jewish settler and the policeman had given him a form to fill in detailing the circumstances and the damage which of course he should have done. He said with no difficulty that they had been the ones who caused the damage and that they wanted to repair the car. Shlomit phoned the driver who was very helpful and with his help filled out the form which of course the policeman had not done. Maybe the policeman does not know how to write or maybe he had learned his lesson well of how complicated every incident can be made for the Palestinians. She told them to go up to the police station at the top of the road and later, as we drove out, we saw them and they said that all was well. A pleasure to help two decent men.
At 11.45 there were six people waiting in the hall. We called and called and eventually someone came to the window but only allowed two men who were waiting for the GSS to go through even though I called and asked why they were not letting the others through. Note that the soldiers go to eat from 12.00 to 13.00 so that meant that all had to wait at least another hour. And maybe more because we did not wait to see. Maybe the 15 minutes which are so important to the Palestinians are needed for the soldiers to get themselves in order for their well-deserved lunch with faces washed, ears cleaned, hair combed and any other embellishments they need.
These two gentleman came to find cheap labour and did not know where to go. The one asked a Palestinian who told him he did not speak Hebew and the settler shouted after him, “So why did you answer me in Hebrew.” I retaliated in kind when he asked me where to go that I did not know. The small pleasures of life.