Bethlehem (300), Etzion DCL, Thu 20.9.12, Morning

Etzion DCL 20/9/12

Shlomit Steinitz, Hanna B. reporting    

Naomi gal translation  

Only a few cars are in the parking lot and the waiting room is empty. During the 3 hours we spent there only a few people arrived and they all left quickly having obtaining what they came for. The carousel was opened, but only after we arrived and “warned” the DCL workers about our presence. Beforehand people waited for very long minutes.

We met a woman, an English teacher from Beit Ummar, who represents an organization called: “Halonot” (“Windows”) that aims to bring closer Israeli and Palestinian children. At first they refused to address her, claiming that “she belongs to Hebron and not to Bethlehem”, but eventually she left with 20 permits. The organization is celebrating a first anniversary In Jaffa and the permits were for this event.

We were about to leave when we saw an older man waiting in a car. We found out that his daughter, a medical student from Hebron is being interrogated by the General Security Services (GSS) for the last two hours. We offered the man some water and were about to make some calls when the young woman came out of the interrogation. We met a very beautiful young woman, extremely pale her hand was frozen when we shook it. Due to language barriers and her state of fright we only managed to understand that she was interrogated about her classmates. Although she did not complain to us it was obvious she just went through a shaky experience. Our GSS country – a spitting image of dark regimes.