Etzion DCL, Sun 10.7.11, Afternoon
Etzion DCL, 3:45pm: over 20 people in the waiting area. One leaves in fury just as we walk in. "This is my 5th time here!", he states. We indeed recognize him from previous shifts. The rest are crowded against the turnstiles. So what else is new?
On the bright side-- the DCL is clean, it is air-conditioned, the water cooler works, there are plenty of seats (but few people sitting), and even the intercom works -- the female soldier answers us, and then, politely enough.
On the dark side -- the major function of the DCL is not working. People wait for hours, and then are sent home without being served. We told the crowd that we would wait till the last person leaves, and suggested that nobody leave before we are literally dragged out. But by 5pm, only 2 people remained, the rest having given up. Nava talked with Danny S., who asked for her advice in how to improve matters. Simple, really: keep the windows open till the last person who arrived on time is serviced. This does not require adding more people, or reorganizing the DCL, or investing resources. The soldiers wouldn't even have to be paid overtime. But the rule MUST be: If you came to the right place at the right time with the right documents, you will be seen THAT DAY. After all, the Palestinians are not asking for these documents for their pleasure, but because we force them to carry them. But when we point this out to the soldiers, their eyes open in amazement and horror:
"But we have a time table" ; "But we deserve to eat dinner"; "But we are humans, too".
Indeed they are. And they deserve dinner, and being treated like humans, and ending their shift on time. But do they ever see the people they are there to service? The old and the young, the male and the female, the Arab speakers, English speakers, Hebrew speakers, who come alone or with family and friends, who have a vehicle or pay a taxi or trudge on foot in the heat, and fill the DCL for hours and hours and hours and hours, not knowing whether they will be seen or not, let alone whether they'll get their requests or not. Do they think that by staying an extra 15 minutes they can spare people the need to spend extra hours or days? Do they think that the people who walk away discouraged, humiliated, frustrated, exhausted, are also human beings? Who may have arrived before breakfast and waited through lunchtime, and taken a day off from work, or left small children unattended. "Ein Breira" ("there's no choice"), the soldiers shrugged. It is not other options that are lacking, it is goodwill that is lacking. It is empathy, the ability to put yourself in another's shows and see things not only from your own narrow viewpoint. "We have a timetable, too", they said. But the Palestinians -- they must have all the time in the world, to sit and wait patiently for documents that will allow them the basic right of some freedom of movement. And when sent away, to come back the next week, or the next…, or the next…, have no choice. They REALLY have no choice.