Etzion DCL, Tue 22.3.11, Afternoon

Etzion DCL, 14.25 pm:  when we arrived the waiting room was empty.  The soldier at the window said there had been ‘a trickle’ during the morning.  Soon after, a young man came for a magnetic card and was kept waiting for some 20 minutesto be admitted because the ’office was full.’

We noticed a taxi when we arrived.  When we left at 4 p.m., a man came out of the office with his newly acquired magnetic card.  The taxi driver confirmed that it had taken him 2 hours to get it.

Soon after we came, a man from El Khadr arrived, trying to get a card although it was not an ‘El Khadr day.’  A week ago his card got swallowed up in cement in the building site where he was working.  Although he has a valid permit he could not go to work without a card.  He has spent the last week running from office to office (we saw the documentation).  He had to declare the loss before a judge, have translations made, etc.  He also had, of course, to buy stamps for a new application.  He hoped to be admitted today so that he could get back to work.  The woman soldier in the office wouldn’t admit him. She said she had refused other people who came on the wrong day so could not on principle admit him!  We phoned the Moked and the man told them the full story.  They phoned through but, in spite of  the Moked’s intervention and in spite of it’s being such a quiet day, he was refused.   This means almost  another week of lost work as El Khadr people are received only on Sunday.  

A couple whom we had met last week – a Beit Safafa man and his West Bank wife – were applying   for a permit for the wife. They came to the checkpoint after accepting an SMS that their permit was ready.  After about half an hour the wife came out with the permit – then they discovered that the soldier had held on to their Ministry of the Interior document which has always to accompany the permit. Luckily they realized this before leaving so she could go back to reclaim it.

A young man (the nephew of the El Khadr man) told us that his two brothers are currently in an Israeli jail for entering without permits.  Could MW help them?  And he, too, would like to try to work in Israel without a permit.  He is 25  years old - too young for a permit - and has no work at home.  Could we help him if he gets into trouble?  He somewhat overestimates our power!