For Palestinians living in the Seam Zones - the parts of the West Bank that have been isolated by Israel’s Annexation and Segregation Wall - the permit regime often makes social visits from Palestinians living on the other side of the wall practically impossible. As it is so difficult to obtain a visitor permit to enter a Seam Zone, important events such as weddings and funerals often have to be held without members of the extended family, as they are prevented from accessing such areas.308 Life in the Seam Zones309 "In 2011 my uncle was very sick. While he was recovering in a hospital in Jerusalem, I tried to apply for a visitor permit to see him, but they refused to grant me a visitor permit to access Jerusalem. After a while he died and I tried again to apply for a permit, just to be able to pray at his tomb, but I was denied again, hence I decided to be smuggled to the funeral. This permit regime is trying to destroy our social relations and ties. I have relatives in Jerusalem and I am not allowed to visit them without a permit. Since they erected this illegal wall, we have been segregated and confined here. When a friend or a relative wants to visit us in the village we need to contact the representative of the village council and inform him of the name and ID number of the person who wants to visit us. Then he will contact the Israeli DCL, but only between 9:00 am to 10:00 am or between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm, and then he submits the name of the person who wants to visit us. Then the DCL checks that this person has a clean record and has never been arrested. Only in that case he can obtain a visit permit and come to our village. In reality, many times we applied for visitor permits for our relatives and friends, and we were told that they received permission to enter, but once they arrived at the checkpoint, which is located at the entrance of our village, they were informed that there was no clearance for them and they had to go back. Even when people come for funerals, we apply for visitor permits for them, and they are informed that they are allowed to come, but then when they are at the checkpoint the Israeli soldiers make them wait for hours. They don’t even have respect for dead people. This regime brought us to celebrate our weddings and funerals at the checkpoint, otherwise no one will come to celebrate with us.It is humiliating and it makes our lives extremely complicated." 308 HaMoked – center for the Defence of the Individual, “The Permit Regime: Human Rights Violations in West Bank Areas Known as the ‘Seam Zone’”, March 2013, page 19. Available at: http://www. hamoked.org/files/2013/1157660_eng.pdf 309 BADIL’s interview with Asim Shawkat, resident of Nabi Samuel, “Life in the Seam Zones”, Nabi Samuel, September 2015 79