Qalandiya

There was obvious tension and
impatience expressed by the soldiers, causing much disorder. People
were waiting under the shelter, and summoned to be checked from a
distance of about 7 meters by means of constant shouting. It took
about 15 minutes to pass the checkpoint. Despite the reduced number
of soldiers and the tension this caused, they were in fact decent,
and co-operative with us. A woman with covered face refused to be
IDed by male soldiers. Since there were no woman soldiers, one of
us was asked to assist -- a first! In another incident where we
helped, the soldier said: "I greatly appreciate the special
work you do" (!!). In the words of commander E.:
"Qalandya is going to be 'overhauled'.

About DCO Beit El, following a visit on 15.7.03 and 23.7.03: The
Civil Administration is responsible for all civil and humanitarian
aspects pertaining to the Palestinian population. In this light,
its performance is definitely shocking!! The needs of the
population are not taken care of - on the contrary, their life is
rendered impossible by the necessity to ask for a permit for every
step they make! Since the Civil Administration is the highest
instance to appeal to, people are left without alternatives and
without recourse to any higher authority. That is why indifference,
lack of good will and disregard are even more outrageous when
coming from the DCO. Soldiers who casually send Palestinians
without a valid permit to the DCO to "pick up a permit",
cannot tell us anymore that this is a matter of a couple of
minutes. Now we know just what is involved in this procedure. Going
to the DCO may take many hours and often, many days. One has to get
application forms in Ramallah, type them in Hebrew (no
handwriting). Why in Ramallah? An historical reason: They used to
be printed by a certain library in Ramallah. Why not bring the
forms to the DCO? Because there are no "suitable
facilities" available... Queuing to apply for permits can take
hours. A window is opened from time to time for a few minutes, and
dozens of people try to slide their papers through. Then it closes,
and if you have not managed to put yours in, you have to wait until
the window opens again. There is no willingness to guarantee an
answer on the day of application, so some must return the next day
to receive it, and it is often negative. (We met a handicapped man
with an Hadassah appointment, who was told to come back the next
day for his permit). In the past months, very few permits were
issued.. To receive a permit one must first have a valid magnetic
card. A magnetic card is issued for one year, and it represents a
security clearance. You could have received a magnetic card for
previous years and be refused one now, in which case you have to
find out why and ask for amnesty. Once you have a magnetic card,
you are entitled to apply for work, business, and passage permits
for inner checkpoints and checkpoints into Israel, but it does not
at all guarantee an affirmative answer. People without a magnetic
card can apply for one-shot permits to pass an internal checkpoint
or to pass into Israel for humanitarian reasons only - e.g.,
hospital appointments, check ups, weddings, funerals, etc. ...They
might have to try several times and finally be refused. No reasons
are given for refusal. No authority to appeal to. There is no way
to guess if you will receive a permit or not. Total arbitrariness!
Many of the soldiers manning the windows do not speak Arabic. For
security reasons, the conversation between them and the populace
takes place via an intercom, which makes the understanding even
more difficult. There are no real solutions for emergency cases
(sudden death, accidents, acute diseases, etc.) Either one is
fortunate enough to encounter a compassionate soldier or volunteer
at the checkpoint, or one must come in person to the DCO for a
permit -- a procedure which is incompatible with any definition of
emergency! During security alerts (a frequent event, but not always
known to the population) no permits at all are issued and no
existing permits are respected. The bottom line: occupation is
occupation is occupation.