Etzion DCL - a closed door
This is how we were greeted when we arrived at DCO Etzion today. We soon found that the door was locked and that there was no notice on it in any language. Before we had been there half an hour, we were inundated with requests for help from those who had suddenly found that they were prevented and those who had received a courtesy visit from the army asking them to kindly present themselves to the GSS for questioning. There were at least 20 and people kept arriving while we were there. By the time we left there must have been about 40. Isn't it nice to know how the army is protecting us. Again, two fathers had brought their sons to be questioned. It is so easy to write this, but one can only imagine what a father must go through during the night wondering what will happen to his son. I am sorry and I probably should not write this and it can be deleted.......but it makes me think of times when we were summoned by a knock on the door. Here of course it is for questioning. But fear is fear. And what if afterwards, the man does not come home, the son does not come out.
We phoned Hanna Barag who checked and said that the army was holding a massive zoom meeting, dafke about the permits. What better time to have this than when Palestinians have been told to be at the DCO in the morning. It was bitterly cold and the wind was so strong that twice when I, Natanya, got out to speak to someone I had to ask one of the Palestinians to help me back to the car.
And then the plot thickened. Three members of the GSS came out and explained that there was a problem with the computers. They were very polite but I, Natanya, had to delete the photos I had taken of the crowd because they included the GSS people. They took the IDs and told the Palestinians to wait in their cars and that they would call them. Which they did and, it must be said, not after a long delay. Though, of course, we do not know how long the Palestinians were inside for and if afterwards they all went home.
Later Shlomit spoke to Z. who said that there was a problem with the electricity. He also was very pleasant. But the question is, if in a small DCO, the army does not have its act together and each one has its own version of what has happened.......what is going to be in Israel if one day we have an earthquake.
Three men arrived in despair as they had been sent all over in search of a car which had been confiscated because it had stood on a white line or something like that. S. also gave Shlomit a phone number that the men could phone and arranged a meeting at the DCO to liberate the car.
A father arrived with his son who is a trader but for some reason....he is not prevented.....has not managed to get a permit.
About there being no notice on the door.....Hanna very sensibly asked us what we should have thought of....to put a notice on the door ourselves. Shlomit went to three different drivers to ask them to write the note for us in Arabic and all three refused. One said he could not write, the other was told by a friend not to do so. We showed them our tag but they refused....very politely. Eventually Shlomit wrote in English. But it was horrible. How often do we use that word in reports? What a reign of terror we have imposed on the Palestinians that they are scared to even write a note. They know that there are cameras all over the show. She also asked S. why the army had not put a notice on the door. He said there had been a note but the wind had blown it away and promised to do so officially. But this is not the first time that we have encountered this situation.