Etzion DCL

10:45  When we arrived, the parking lot and the waiting room were full. Many had apparently decided to come to DCL on their holiday so as not to lose a day of work after the holiday. They were let in relatively quickly.

Two people approached us because of their GSS prevention for the same offense: possession of arms, the prevention is supposed to end in 2021. Both had a license from the Palestinian Authority to own weapons. One had a hunting rifle that belonged to his grandfather, which he had hung proudly on the wall of the living room in his house; the other had a small rifle designed for hunting birds. The first spent seven days in prison and was released. The case was closed. But both "won" prevention (prevention of entry to Israel) and were robbed of their livelihood. 

A man approached us and said that, in 1992, at age 15, he was in jail for throwing stones. Since then he has been GSS-prevented (from entering Israel), although he committed no other offense. Another young man complained that he was "a veteran GSS-prevented," who was never accused of anything, but his two brothers were in prison. Each year he submits a request for removal of the prevention and gets a negative response. 

A 54-year-old man said he was married to a woman from Beit Safafa. He tried and failed to get a permit for family reunification, or at least a for a long stay in Israel. We gave them all our best advice with our limited resources.