Bethlehem, Etzion DCO and Surroundings, Sunday, 10th 0ctober, 2004, PMObservers: Roni C., Danielle B., Littal Y. (reporting)We started at Etzion DCO at 15:00, we could smell the sewage stench while we were still inside the car. To our surprise the place was almost deserted – is the closure still in effect?A hand written notice declared that the police window will be closed from the 10th Oct. thru 18th Oct.Inside there was only one Palestinian waiting who told us he came to request a permit for him and his father to accompany his mother, a cancer patient, on the following day to Hadassah. The hospital had already faxed their details to the DCO and he was told to wait. By the time we came he had been waiting 2 hours. I gave him my phone number and suggested he call me if he receives a negative answer. Since I didn’t hear from him, I assume the matter was settled.From there we went to the Etzion CP. At 15:35 there were 12 detainees, waiting for Shabak approval. According to the soldiers, and this was confirmed by the detainees, they were detained 5 minutes before our arrival. While we talked to the detainees a transit with a settler passed by and shouted to them: “talk to her, she is an Arab, and take her home with you…”. Meanwhile the soldiers carried out random checks of other taxi passengers, but traffic flowed. We tried to get more details out of the soldiers but got evasive answers. After a while 2 new soldiers arrived and on their own initiative told us that they were paratroopers, not like the other units, and they respected the Palestinians and wouldn’t let any human rights violations take place. In answer to our questions they explained that checks were indeed random, and that until this group of detainees is released, all others are just randomly checked but not detained, and only once this batch is released will they stop and detain another batch, just as randomly. While we were talking, answers from the Shabak arrived and most of the group was allowed to continue on its way – 4-5 were sent back.At Al Khadr everything was as usual.At Beit Jalla CP traffic was flowing in both directions. One Palestinian complained that in the morning there was still a closure which created long lines.We arrived at the Bethlehem CP around 17:00. There were no detainees, hardly any pedestrians and only very few cars towards Bethlehem. Two soldiers who hadn’t heard of Machsomwatch approached us; the first said no human rights violations occur in this CP; the second, who was actually on duty on the buses taking the settlers to Rachel’s tomb expressed his opinion that if violations do occur it’s the Palestinians who are to blame for it.We left at 17:30.