Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Thu 11.11.10, Afternoon

14.30 – 18.00

Etzion DCL:  again we returned to observe Etzion DCL since in all recent visits the place was bursting with people, many of whom stayed frustrated by the end of the day. In the parking lot there were 12 private cars and one taxi and we assumed that the waiting hall will again be packed. To our surprise the place was empty. We walked around the building to see whether there were people at the back entrance to the Shabac, but there was no one there either. We asked the Taxi driver what was happening and he said they were all inside.

A young man came for his permit that was awaiting him. He tried to capture the eyes of the soldier at the window so he would open the turnstile for him, but to no avail. We also tried to get the soldier's attention by standing next to the man and shouting to the soldier. It was interesting to watch the expertise by which the soldier managed not to see us or the young man. He moved from side to side, bent and rose, got up from his chair and sat again, all this acrobatics for 15 minutes, intentionally ignoring what was in front of him. We called a few times the DCL office and were promised they will look into it. After about half an hour the man was let in after he had to pass the usual humiliation of taking off his belt and being shouted at: "bend, move, enter", short commands never including a word of request.

Bethlehem - Checkpoint 300:  when we approached PC 300 we saw through the wire fence a large group of Palestinians rushing home. Recently it happened that when the PC was packed, a police officer came out, opened the gate and let all the people standing in line to go through without any inspection. We were sure we would find him there. When we entered we were surprised to see only one security man and only one open window. We asked the security man how come only one window was functioning and he answered there was no man power. A few minutes later when a group of people arrived he opened the gate and let them all through. This repeated itself whenever a line formed. We asked whether this was a new policy or his own initiative and he answered rather bashfully he does what he is being told.

Our satisfaction of what we saw was disturbed by a very unpleasant meeting with a tourist guide who was awaiting his group returning from a day in Bethlehem. When he spotted us he came up and exclaimed: "You are the greatest disaster of Israel, go to Gaza and see what happens there before you try to teach us a lesson, you should be ashamed of yourselves…." Unfortunately we were unable to see his name or the company he represents.