Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Wed 5.8.09, Morning

08:00 - not to big a group waiting at the DCO. The gates open. The turnstiles open after 10 minutes. Few people are let in. The others get "education." "Till everyone sits down, no one enters," "don't sit on the steps." Entry is very slow and the treatment long. One of the workers who came to get a renewed document is not allowed to enter: in answer to our question, it becomes clear that he is being punished because he laughed when told to get off the steps, and didn't move quickly. After waiting long enough, they let him in.

Another man was looking for a policeman. According to the soldier in the window, there is no policeman today and no one knows when there will be. The soldier in the window speaks a little Arabic and doesn't always understand, so there are misunderstandings. By the time we left, at 11:00, everyone had passed

As usual, impossible without any problems. A woman approached us after requesting an entry permit for her brother who was called to Hadassa for post operative treatment (apparently with infections following the operation). She held a letter from a doctor in Hadassa explaining the need for the man to come to the hospital. The problem was that the letter was not on official Hadassa stationery, and therefore - no permit. All our attempts to talk to the powers that be were fruitless. After two hours of phoning and attempts to get a letter from Hadassa on official paper, during which our partner reached the deputy director of the hospital, the letter was written "officially:" and the matter arranged...