Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Sun 3.10.10, Afternoon

15:15pm, Etzion DCL:  already on our way we received a frantic call from awoman we know who asked us to come ASAP, because the situation was desperate.Indeed, there were close to 40 people waiting, many of them crowdingagainst the immobile turnstiles.  They told us that nobody had beenadmitted in the past hour at least, some claimed to have been there sincemorning, and they reported that those emerging said only one window was manned,and most requests were turned down.  We found out that the reason forthe chaos was that all the DCL personnel, from lowly soldiers to the officers,were in a meeting with the Head of the Civil Administration, a meeting due toattend in half an hour or so.  So yet again a situation arose that couldhave and should have been dealt with at the minimum by giving notice to thefrustrated waiters about the situation, saving them time, temper,and aggravation.  Why do we have to be the messengers to deliverthese news to the people in the DCL, rather than the DCLpersonnel???  Most people chose to wait, and indeed within about 45minutes, the turnstile started to turn and people slowly were admitted. We were concerned that 5pm would arrive before they could all walk in, and madeseveral phone calls in that regard.  By 5pm, all had been admitted, and weleft.

17:15pm, Bethlehem - Checkpoint 300: the place was almost deserted, probably because of the late hour. The 2 privatesecurity guards stood at the doorway, unemployed.