The Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs (PACA) has published the requirements for granting permits for the various groups. Such considerable step would streamline and pave the path for the citizens and clients to know the criteria they required to meet in order to obtain the different types of permits. Moreover, it would promote the transparency principle by making the information accessible and available to all.
This step materializes the outcomes and recommendations of the hearing session held by AMAN last month. A Considerable number of representatives from the CSOs, Media organizations and the Civil Society Coalition for Monitoring Gaza Reconstruction has attended the hearing.
The hearing tackled the transparency and integrity of the performance of the Ministry of Civil Affairs (MoCA) in Gaza to identify the gaps and challenges it faces while performing its role, and to reach to pragmatic outcomes and recommendations to cope up with these challenges to promote the principle of good public administration and service delivery.
Mr. Nasir As-sraj presented the various tasks assigned to the MoCA pertaining to passenger movement via Bait Hanoun (Erez) Crossing and the main issues the PACA faces; especially, the technical problems that need to be addressed as well as the enormousnumber of applications submitted to -PACA.
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Mr. As-Sarj has vowed that application process will be streamlined in the near future, as the applications will be submitted electronically to help citizens followup on their own applications.
He also rejected any baseless claims against the authority for being bribed to issue permits. However, he urged any member of the public who faces any of these corrupt practices to lodge a complaint to him (i.e. Mr. Nasir As-Sarj), promising that the Authority won’t tolerate any corrupt practices.
On Gaza reconstruction: He reiterated that PACA’s role is limited to facilitating and streamlining the process. PACA is not the ultimate decision-maker in the reconstruction process, although it cooperates with the Ministry of Public Works, Ministry of Housing, International Organizations and the Israeli Authorities in this concern.
He also stated that despite the security blocking measures, permit issues are out of PACA’s sphere:
The hearing session has put forwarded several results, including but not limited to:
1- Mr. Nasir As-sarj, Civil Affairs under-secretary, has promised to followup on citizens’ complaints against PACA’s performance, in cooperation with AMAN Coalition for Accountability and Integrity – PACA, Complaint Unit.
2- He promised to publicly publish all the criteria and procedures required for obtaining the permits needed to pass via Bait Hanoun Crossing.
3- He reiterated that the Ministry and its staff are always ready to be held accountable for their acts; however, claims should be fair and evidence-based.
This project is funded by EU 
