Bethlehem, Etzion DCL, Tue 30.12.08, Afternoon

Etzion DCL: when we arrived before 02:00, because of the war in Gaza we were afraid that there would be many people and a lot of disorder. We found 8 persons who were waiting for an interrogation by the secret service.

“Today hardly any people came, maybe thirty” explains a young man who waits for his friend who is inside the compound.

“How do the Palestinians explain this emptiness in the DCL’s ?” the officer from the DCL in Beth-El asked me.

Also the Giloh passage is empty. We met police officers who are in charge of the passage: “Normal routine” they said; at this time there is nobody at the passage. In the morning everything flows as usual, all the workers from here pass – so they say.

We asked about the pressure of the controllers and about the medical crews and the humanitarian passage that is not working .

“The passage is not built and not intended for a number of 3000 persons all at once” ( 5 in the morning). Certainly not 10,000 or 100,000.

“I don’t know who passed, whether it is a medical surgeon or a streetcleaner, all stand in the same line”.

So I don’t know what the answer is of those Palestinians who come to the DCL to receive magnetic cards when there is a general strike, and why they continue to come to work.

Maybe because they have children who need to eat? Maybe because they want to live?