Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Sun 27.12.09, 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.