Etzion DCL, Mon 7.2.11, Afternoon

 14:10  ,Etzion DCL :

In spite of the cold, the rain and the mist, 20 people had come to this remote DCL.  They complained that all of them had been waiting since seven in the morning and that only half an hour earlier the first two people had been taken inside.  The others, including a woman with a small girl in her arms, were forced to continue to wait.  We phoned to the humanitarian office.

At 14.55 a young man who had received a magnetic card came out.  He told us that he had arrived at the DCL at 07.00 and had been taken inside only  1 1/2 hours previously; also, according to him, only three people were waiting inside.  In spite of this no more people were taken- in.  About twenty people continued to stand near the turnstile.

At 15.45 Shulamit phoned Danny, but he replied angrily, refused to speak with us and instructed the others not to answer us..  We phoned again to the humantarian office which tried to help, by phoning the DCL where he was told that “the batteries have failed”.  He didn’t think to ask why in that case the people who had been waiting since early morning hadn’t been informed.  Surprisingly the batteries were apparently “repaired”  A young woman who had renewed her magnetic card came out, and after her a young man who had also renewed his card.  We asked him why the rest of the waiting people were not allowed to enter and why was everything was going so slowly?  The young man explained “inside, everyone is sleeping “.

At 16.15 , two hours after we had arrived at the DCL only four more people had come out.  An old man who had given-up left the place.  Again we phoned the humanitarian office where the people were pleasant and effective.  Five people were taken inside, and a young man who had received his magnetic card came out.  While ten people were still waiting in the hall another young man came out, two more people were allowed in, and seven more were still waiting.

At 16.25 five people were taken in, and a young man came out with his magnetic card; ten people were still waiting, another young man came out with his card, two more were allowed in and seven were still waiting.

At 16.45 the last seven were allowed in, and by 17.25 all had come out, meaning that all of them had been dealt-with during just half an hour.   Why  didn’t the DCL staff do this earlier ?  Why had these people been forced to wait untill darkness ?

We waited until the last man had come out in order to help him.  There is no public transport to the DCL and if we had not waited, he would have had to walk a long way in the cold and the dark.  He told us that he had arrived at the DCL at 07.00 and hadn’t eaten all day.  There are no facilities to buy food at the DCL or in its surrounings.