Beit Ummar, Etzion DCL, Nabi Yunis, Thu 13.6.13, Morning

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Observers: 
Tova S., Chaya A. (reporting)
Jun-13-2013
|
Morning

Translator:  Charles K.

 

General information regarding the police blacklists – “Form” and “No criminal record”

 

In order to evaluate what can be done for people blacklisted by the police, the person blacklisted must obtain information from two computers.  One is operated by the policeman at the DCO (the coordination and liason offices of the Civil Administrationinfo-icon, the military body administering the lives of Palestinians under occupation), which indicates when the blacklisting went into effect, preventing them from obtaining a work permit for Israel and the settlements, and sometimes preventing them from crossing the Allenby Bridge to travel abroad.  This information is written on paper and is colloquially known as warraqa, or “form.”

 

A second computer is found in every police station, containing the “criminal record” of everyone blacklisted by the police.  The criminal record is known colloquially as the “No criminal record” form, a much nicer title.

 

Almost every male Palestinian in the occupied territories has a criminal record, even though the vast majority of them are as honest as any of us.  But what can they do?  In order to support large families, most of them must sneak into Israel to find work.  Forging permits is also done primarily for employment purposes.

 

5% or less are actual criminals:  thieves, robbers, con-men, thugs, etc, as in every society.  We don’t handle them at all.

 

The “No criminal record” form, the criminal record, includes all the files opened for the individual, every trial he was involved in, every contact with the police.  It also indicates which files have been closed and which are still open.

 

As noted, a person blacklisted by the police must obtain a “Form” from the policeman at the DCO and a “No criminal record” (criminal complaint form) from a police station.

 

In our next report we’ll discuss the poor service, which sometimes misleads the applicants or prevents them from obtaining the “Form” and “No criminal record.”

 

07:30  The entrance to Husan – no one waiting for us.

 

08:00  Nashash (the southern entrance to El Khadr) – no one waiting for us.

 

08:15  Etzion DCO

The policeman at the DCO told us that they’re receiving people today during the usual hours, 08:00-12:00, and that the policeman from the Hebron DCO might arrive around 11:00.  We know from experience there’s no point sending people to the policeman from the Hebron DCO without first checking at 11:00 whether he arrived.  אינני בטוח שהבנתי לאן לא שולחים פונים לשוטר בחברון מת"קinfo-icon – לחברון, או להופעתו במת"ק עציון.

 

Each morning we ask whether there’s a policeman at the Etzion DCO and the Hebron DCO so we can tell people who approach us whether there’s any point in coming from Nahalin, from Beitar, from Teqoa, etc., to obtain the “Form” from the policeman at the Etzion DCO on which appear their difficulties with the police.  And whether to come from Yatta, Dahariyya, the southern Hebron Hills, etc., etc. to deal with their difficulties with the police that appear on the “Form” held by the policeman at the Hebron DCO.

 

It takes people an hour and a half, or longer, to reach the DCO by taxi and on foot.  The policeman isn’t always there.  They can’t find that out by themselves.

 

We met Hussein at the Etzion DCO.  In December, 2012, he entered Israel without a permit, was caught, and his case was closed on 16.5.2013.  The policeman at the DCO told him that the police blacklisting would be cancelled in a few days (after which he can return to his Israeli employer).  Since then he’s been going back and forth from Husan to Etzion at least twice a week.  The blacklisting hasn’t yet been cancelled.  His employer is waiting for him – but he won’t wait much longer.  His wife will give birth to their first child in the next few days, and his difficulties making a living force him to seek help to hurry the bureaucratic process.  And there’s no one who will help.

 

08:40  Beit Umar

A few people waited for advice.  Ayad told us that last week he went to the Etzion DCO to obtain the “Form” from the policeman.  The policeman said:  Go to Hebron.  You don’t belong to Etzion (the procedure – which usually isn’t followed – is that you can obtain a “Form” at any DCO in the West Bank, and a “No criminal record” form at any police station in the occupied territories and in Israel).  Ayad went the following day to the Hebron DCO.  The policeman said:  Come back tomorrow.  So Ayad went to the Kiryat Arba police station and received the “No criminal record” form.  When he returned to the policeman at the Hebron DCO, the next day to request a “Form,” he was holding the pages of the “No criminal record form” rolled up in his hand.  The policeman said:  You don’t need a “Form;” you have a “No criminal record” form.  That’s enough for the lawyer.

 

That’s not true.  As noted above, both forms are required.  While a lawyer can obtain them, every such activity by a lawyer costs hundreds of shekels.

 

We advised Ayad and two more people who’d been blacklisted by the police to go directly to the Etzion DCO and request forms from the policeman.  We telephoned him to make sure he was there, so they won’t go there for naught.  The policeman said:  They belong to Hebron.  We:  “But the person in charge of the DCO policemen has said more than a thousand times that a person can obtain a “Form” at any DCO.”

After a discussion, the three of them went to obtain the “Form”s.

 

09:40  Nebi Yunis

Many people awaited us with all kinds of problems.  There isn’t enough pen and paper to record them all. 

 

And, in addition, a Hummer here, a Hummer there, groups of fighters (after all, there are no longer any ordinary soldiers in the field) planted by the roadside and among the groves.