By Selwa, JCSER's fieldreseacher - Jerusalem - April 2001

The main goal of the National Insurance Institute (NII) is to ensure citizens' comfort and welfare. However, it seems that the NII's office in East Jerusalem has a different goal. It puts various obstacles and difficulties in the way of Palestinians mainly to deny their rights and allowances to which they are entitled.

There has been an increase in the number of applicants after joining NII's branch in Al-Asfahani St. to the other branch in Ibn Batotah St. in East Jerusalem and increasing number of complaints about the maltreatment and inefficiency of services provided to applicants. To find an answer I decided to go myself to the NII's office to see how Palestinian Jerusalemites are treated. In this report, I will describe the picture that I saw and the stories I heard about the 'services' provided by the NII to Arab residents of East Jerusalem.

Large numbers of applicants stand outside the building. An Israeli flag is hang on the top of the building and a Jewish-Arabic sign. Before, the building was a house turned into an office for the NII. A guard was standing on the terrace watching the applicants.

On the sidewalk of the street stand large number of male and female applicants of different ages. They curse the need that forced them to come. I saw women trying to pass through the iron barriers. I saw men pushing in their bodies trying to reach the main gate. I wondered how this large number of applicants would be able to enter as two more hours were left? (The office is open for four hours in the morning). I saw a woman who looked very tired for waiting long hours without being able to enter. She asked me to ask the guard to let her go in, as she needs a document from the NII so that she can treat her 22-month-old handicapped son. 'My son is handicapped and lives with his grandmother. I came here twice but I was not able to enter because of too many applicants. I have been her since 6.30 in the morning. Until now, I have not been able to enter,' said 32-year-old Huda.

Another woman said, 'Bring your son on his chair. They might allow him to enter from the second gate, a special gate for the handicapped and disabled. Huda nodded her head and said, 'There is no chair for him'. I went with her to the 'disabled and handicapped gate'. There was a long line of handicapped, pregnant women and old people standing there. There was an iron barrier to prevent applicants from approaching. Behind the gate stand the guards and they were laughing and chatting.

Fifteen minutes later, the gate opened and a handicapped person in a wheelchair came out. The applicants gathered and begged the guard in Arabic and Hebrew 'please', 'I need a paper of social income', 'I need a paper from the health insurance', 55-year-old Basem said. The guard pushed him and did not allow him to go in. Basem shouted and said, 'I do not fear you. I fear only from God.' The guard replied, 'I am here, not your God'. Although the statement was tough, I was optimistic. The guard approached the gate and I asked him to listen to me, but he pushed me. I said to him, 'You are a guard for inside the building not outside. We are not animals.' He pushed me another time and shouted, 'I won't allow you to come in for one week'.

'You will go and God will remain', said Basem. 'I had two heart attacks. I stand for days and weeks, but they do not allow me to go in. Sometimes, there is a strike and then the office is closed. Other days, I am not able to enter. Today, I have been waiting here since 4.00 a.m. I am unemployed. We get 600 shekels from the NII. What shall I do? I have to come every day, but to no avail. Every time I come I am insulted,' said Basem.

A woman in her 30's tried to enter the 'disabled and handicapped gate', but the guard pushed her. 'Go away. I won't allow you in,' he said. 'I have been waiting here for three months. I need an important document,' she said. I asked the women about her story. She said, 'this is not the first that they pushed me. They dragged my hair three times, I begged them, but they beat me. I come here every day, but to no avail,' the woman said.

I heard the word 'useless' very often. Applicants are frustrated and desperate. A woman in her sixties said to me, 'This is the forth time I come here, but they do not allow me to enter. I come early in the morning, but I have not been able to enter.' I asked her if she expects to go in today. She replied, ' I don't know what to do. They treat us as beggars.'

Asked about the services provided by the office, 40-year-old Mohammed, who came to ask why the NII discontinued the disability allowance, said, 'There is no fax or telephone. There is only an answering machine. So we are forced to come to the office.'

An applicant who preferred to remain unanimous said, 'They talk about democracy and treat us like animals. We come to the office at 2 o'clock in the early morning. We may enter or may not. Entering does not mean that we get what we want. The employees receive us with a grin on their faces as though we beg them. We pay all taxes, especially the Arnona municipal tax an in return they deny our rights. We have to set-up a tent to let them feel we are here.'

'We are human beings and we are victims. A while ago, a guard was killed and we are paying the price. Once, I was able to enter the office after waiting for long hours. An employee said to me ironically, 'if you want to get child benefits, wait until Yasser Arafat comes. Then you will get child benefits for six children, not four.' An ironic and irresponsible answer og an employee, who is supposed to reply citizen's queries and questions.

Problems with the NII are endless. All documents and papers are in Hebrew, which the overwhelming majority of Palestinian Jerusalemites do not understand. They are forced to sign these documents without understanding its contents. As a result, they risk losing their rights and benefits they are entitled to.

Forty-year-old Khamis lost his entitlements of health insurance, as a result of signing a document by his 60-year-old brother. Khamis's brother told investigators that his brother has a house in Ar-Ram. The investigator wrote in the report that Khamis lives outside Jerusalem's municipal borders. Khamis commented by saying, 'According to this investigation, the NII discontinued my entitlements of health insurance under the pretext that I live outside Jerusalem. It is true that I own a house in Ar-Ram, but I live in Wadi Al-Joz neighborhood in East Jerusalem. What is wrong with that? What law is it that deprives a citizen of his rights if he has two houses?

Discontinuing health insurance has negatively affected the life of Khamis. 'I was in urgent need of health insurance on which my future depends. My wife and I performed infertility checkups for free. Once we finished all checkups needed, the NII discontinued our health insurance. By discontinuing the health insurance, we lost our hope to have a child. Since then, my wife and I have been depressed,' Khamis said.

Maha Halawani is another victim of signing documents without understanding its contents. 'Sometimes, the translation is inaccurate; other times, we do not understand what they want from us,' she said.

On its part, the Jerusalem Center for Social & Economic Rights (JCSER) in cooperation with the Citizens' Rights Center (CRC) in Israel submitted a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court concerning the suffering of Palestinian Jerusalemites and the lack of adequate services. A copy of the petition was sent to the Israeli Minister of Labor & Social Welfare. JCSER also submitted a petition to the Supreme Court concerning the use of Hebrew language with Palestinian Jerusalemites, especially as the majority of Palestinians do not understand Hebrew.

'Using the Hebrew language only when communicating with Palestinians violated the principle of equality, citizens' basic human rights, and one's right to use the Arabic language as it is the second official language in Israel,' the petition stated.

JCSER's Director, Ziad Al-Hammouri, pointed out that Israeli institutions deliberately use Hebrew with Palestinians. 'Using Hebrew has led to the confiscation of hundreds of Jerusalem ID cards and denial of their rights to social and health services. The Center received a reply from the Supreme Court concerning the petition submitted to force the NII to use the Arabic language with the Arab residents of East Jerusalem,' he said.

The reply stated that the government's legal advisor requested the NII to adopt one of the following two methods: