Etzion DCO: They were told yesterday to come tomorrow, which is today

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Place: 
Observers: 
Shlomit S. Netanya G. Translation: Naomi Gal
Jan-20-2020
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Morning

When we arrived, we discovered to our surprise that despite the pouring rain the waiting room was full. A young man said he and his wife arrived here yesterday, but were told to come again today. An elderly man said he had come to pay a traffic fine he got two years ago. He lost the original ticket. Now he found out that he is GSS prevented from entering Israel and doesn’t know why. The original fine was NIS 250, but over time it swelled to 600. Here he was told he could not pay; the computer is out of order. They gave him a hand-written note with the ticket’s number "so that he can pay at any post-office." He tried and failed to pay in Be'er Sheva. Shlomit drove him to Alon Shevut, but the clerk at the post-office said he can’t find any information that the man owes a fine and also that the Department of Transportation no longer accepts payments at the post-office. Shlomit tried to talk to those handling fines in the Department of Transportation but was unsuccessful, despite the efforts of a kind official. She said it was now possible to pay at Barkan, Kiryat Arba, Ariel and Beit El settlements.

A man contacted us, saying he is a Palestinian who had lived in Canada for many years. His Palestinian ID card was taken from him in 1984. His elderly parents now live in Be'er Sheva. His mother has cancer and he wants to visit her. Yesterday he came to get permission to enter Israel, waited all day and finally was told that the computers were not working and that he should come tomorrow. Today he came with his sister, who wants to get a magnetic card. She entered at 9.00am and has not yet come out. Another man said he has two sons working with the Palestinian Authority, and two sons who were sentenced to prison for throwing stones, although none of them threw stones. Now both are GSS prevented. Since being released from prison, one of them has serious   psychiatric problems and it is difficult to marry him off. We gave him Sylvia's phone number.

On the way back we found out that one of the Palestinians forgot his phone in our car. We returned to give it back to him.