Al Nashshash, Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Mon 16.6.08, Morning

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Observers: 
Haya O., Ada G. (reporting)
Jun-16-2008
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Morning

 6:45, Checkpoint 300: Five inspection posts were active. There were only a few people at each inspection booth. No one approached the last booth once they found out that there was a female soldier in it. Three American women told us that the Palestinians told them that it was calm that morning, the gate was open only a short time after 5:00 o'clock and that there wasn't much pressure. However they only let small groups enter and that was why there were so few people inside, at the inspection posts. We called the Humanitarian Center and asked them to speed things up since it took over an hour for people to pass.   Husan: We headed on to Husan. Traffic was as usual.  

7:45, Al Nashshash:
Traffic was as usual.  

Beit Omer:
At each place that we visited we observed a small number of people who were addressing the police with their proplems. Palestinians are allowed to go to the new police station at Ma'alee Edomim, and they get their permits from the police. They reported to us that there is a sign which was put up at the police station which is written in two languages - Arabic and Hebrew.  

9:00, Nabi Unis:
Few people were waiting for us. We helped them and gave answers as well as we could. Bureaucracy and arbitrariness go hand in hand. A cab driver summed up in one short sentence why he didn't go to his own trial: "If I were to go I wouldn't have arrived". The man lives in Yata which is south of Har Hebron. He was arrested by a policeman at Za'atara checkpoint and the trial was to take place at Salem. The policeman refused to move the trial to the court in Ofer as the cab driver requested. How was he to get to Salem from Yata? The way is filled with checkpoints. There are about five checkpoints to get to Salem, but now he has to head over there to hear the verdict and pay his fine.

The Palestinian complained that the police does not hand out the verdicts in Jerusalem.

 

10:30, Etzion DCL: Many people were waiting in the hall, most of them for  magnetic cards. There were about 100 people on the waiting list. People with numbers smaller than 40 have been accepted, but not all of them were getting service. About 15 people (out of the 40 that were accepted) were still inside after two hours without being helped. Only 25 people have gotten magnetic cards during the two hours, which means that the time needed to refresh the card on the computer takes about 5 minutes. People have been waiting at the checkpoint for many hours without being sure they would get what they needed. As usual the soldiers don't specify on their requests why the Palestinians are refused by the GSS or by the police. They were sent back in to find out the reason.