Etzion DCL

Because of the semester break in Palestine, we decided to change our habits and put a bit of variety into our rounds by going to the DCO at Etzion instead of Qalandiya.  We arrived there at about 3:30 PM.  There was no one waiting in the hall and almost no cars in the parking lot.  It was freezing cold outside where we met the two elderly parents and brother of a young man (24 years old) who had been called to meet with an officer of the Shabak at 9 AM that morning.  The young man had been arrested and his parents (or at least his father) had been ordered to present themselves at Etzion as well.  The father spoke with the officer whom he quoted as saying that he would never see his son alive again!  The father repeated this statement again and again and was understandably very agitated.  The father’s ID card had been taken from him on his arrival that afternoon.  After several phone calls to find the card (and we have no idea if the calls had any effect), the father was called into the Shabak offices and his card returned.  The arrested son telephoned his parents and spoke with them.  He told them he had been arrested and was being held somewhere inside Etzion and would not be freed to go home with them.  The worried parents returned home to Hebron (paying NIS 200 [equivalent to $50] to the taxi driver).  We put them in contact with a civil rights organization and understood that they were being helped.  Natanya is in touch with the family but so far we have heard no news.