Etzion DCL

Etzion,

14:25 Like last week, many people were waiting outside and in the waiting hall. They said they arrived at eight in the morning. A man who came out said that there is only one soldier working inside and he handles singlehandedly the many people waiting at the windows.

After phone calls to the Humanitarian Center and with the help of Hannah B., two more soldiers arrived, all the people waiting were allowed inside and were all promised to leave with a magnetic card. After a short while people began to leave. People came out and said this is their second time in DCO, because previously they were not let in. An elderly man approached us and said he is a merchant whose permit expired and he cannot renew it. From the Palestinian DCO they sent him to the Israeli DCO and from there back to the Palestinian DCO. Perhaps the number of permits issued to traders is limited and when the quota is full additional permits are not granted. It is possible that today’s quota is full and therefore he didn’t get a permit. But if this is the reason, it’s unclear why no one bothered to tell him. We were unable to find out.