Etzion DCO and CP, El Khadr, Biet Jala

Bethlehem Nov. 28, 2004 PMObservers: Hagit S., Ilana H., (reporting)We first drove to DCO Etzion. There were about 50people waiting in line. Movement was slow. The hut wascold and unpleasant. One man requested a permit tovisit a clinic in Ramla, and was denied because thedoctor's letter did not specify a time and his stampwas not clear. We made several phone calls but wereunable to help. We put a notice in Arabic on thebulletin board about help in paying police fines inJerusalem for people barred from entering. This helpis offered by Haya and Ada, and the notice arousedmuch interest.There are three groups waiting for permits to enterIsrael: medical cases, people who need magnetic cardsbut are refused by the police, and people that theSHABAC rejects. Some of the latter category told usthat they had been coming to the DCO for months in anattempt to get the cards.The police window was closed (we arrived around 14:00)even though the note at the entrance says it opens13:00-16:00. No one answered our phone calls, exceptsome secretaries who claimed that everyone was in ameeting. When we left the DCO around 15:30, there wereonly a few people. Those waiting for the police hadgiven up.We went to the police station at the nearby army baseand spoke to captain Raphael Ullo, the Etzion- Hebron commander. Wecomplained about the closed window. While he wastrying to track down Maher, the latter appearedexplaining that he had been in a meeting. Why weren'tthe people told? That's really a shame, but thishappens very rarely. He reminded us that the window isopen Sun. through Wed. 9:00-4:00 except for lunchbreak. In reply to our question, he said he was theone to answer all questions regarding cumulativepolice fines.Etzion CP - not manned. El Hadr. The CPwas not manned. A jeep was stationed on the hill,observing. The place teemed with cabs and vans. Thedrivers fought over passengers.Beit Jalla - The two soldiers present insist that thisis not a Checkpoint, just a "supervision point". Thelines in both directions were not long. The carspassed one by one, not all were required to show IDs.There was no tension.Bethlehem CP 300 - The soldiers were quite aggressive andwould not let us approach. We saw from a distance that on the south side there were about 15-20 detainees.The soldiers said the responsibility for the detaineeslay not with them but with "those roving jeeps". TheIDs had been taken by the BP policemen at Tantur andfrom there the people were sent here to wait. Theywere unwilling to expedite the process and claimed tohave no contact with the jeeps. We were not allowed toget near the few pedestrians that were present there.Eventually, we called the PC commander and heexplained, politely but vehemently, that there is noreason to detain the people beyond what securitydictates . He insisted this was not a form ofpunishment and the people should soon be released. Wesaw the detainees standing in the dark and the coldfor about half an hour. We're not sure when they gotthere. However, 5 minutes after our phone call a jeeparrived and handed them back their cards. Coincidence?On Hebron Road we saw no detainees, but we were toldthat yesterday there were detainees, who had beentaken off a bus. We should always check, so they knowwe keep track of what goes on in the town.