Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Sun 27.12.09, Afternoon

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Observers: 
Daniella G. (reporting), Maya B. (translating)
Dec-27-2009
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Afternoon

 

Etzion DCL, 15:00 PM:   the parking lot is full, and the waiting room

accordingly.  A young man, presently living in the US for the past 6

years, complains that for the past 3 years, he cannot obtain a permit to

visit Jerusalem (GSS denied).  He travels between the US and his home here

via Amman and Allenby Bridge.

There is a thick line crowded at the immobile turnstile.  The soldier is

invisible, and doesn't answer our cries.  Finally it turns out that he is

angry that the Palestinians have disreagrded his repeated instructions for

them to sit down, and approach the turnstiles one by one.  "They ignore

me, so I ignore them". We manage to disperse the line, and then the

turnstiles start moving, and the crowd quickly disappears into the DCL. 

One older gent showed us documents that he cannot EXIT to Jordan (yes,

EXIT) through Allenby  Bridge, because of a GSS restriction.  Do you see

the logic in denying someone EXIT to an Arab county, not ENTRY into

Israel?

Bethlehem -Checkpoint 300, 16:00 PM:   even though passage is in spurts, with a line

building up outside between spurts, it is still rapid enough-- we timed

it at under a minute.