Etzion DCL, Tue 1.3.11, Afternoon

14.50 pm, Etzion DCL: when we arrived there were two men sitting outside, waiting for their  four brothers who had been called to the Shabak at 8.30.

Inside the waiting-room were eight people who had come for magnetic cards and who had been waiting for an hour.  As there was no soldier at the window, we phoned and within a couple of minutes a soldier came and admitted them all.

A man approached us after getting his card and decided to use the opportunity to tell us that four years ago he submitted a doctor’s certificate for him to have an eye operation at Shaare Zedek hospital.  He was repeatedly told to wait for an answer until he finally gave up.  But he is still suffering and wants to renew his application.  We thought that by now he would have to ask the doctor for a new certificate!

15.20 pm: a woman approached us.  She had given the soldiers her summons to Mokassed Hospital for a return checkup after having a kidney operation.  The soldiers would not give her a permit to do so.  With the aid of interpreters, we finally learned that the release form from the hospital had been issued by the orthopedic department, so the soldiers did not believe the story about a kidney operation. (She actually showed us ladies the scar!).  We made numerous phone calls to the office of Dalia Besa (responsible for health matters, to whom the woman spoke personally, in Arabic), the Moked, PHR.  Finally, we learned that the confusion had arisen because, when she was taken to the hospital, there wasn’t space in the correct ward and so she was placed in the orthopedic ward, though her operation was indeed renal!  The solution:  she is to arrange for Mokassed (which we tried to phone but with no answer) to contact Dalia Besa’s office.  Presumably the woman will then have to visit the DCO again to collect her permit.   Although her ‘appointment’ was for the next morning, it is apparently valid for the following 5 days.

One man told us that because he is childless after 16 years of marriage, he cannot get an entry permit. Is this a general rule? If so, what is the rationale – or the excuse? He has not been refused one by the police or by Security. 

When we left just after 4 o’clock, the brothers came to tell us that one of their brothers was being held by the Shabak and the others released.  I have their phone number so I will check the situation today.