Etzion DCO

The hall was full when we arrived, more than we had seen in a long time. The scene was so unexpected that it took a minute to understand what was happening. A soldier stood at the entrance and, thinking it might be someone I could ask about the raucous music and news which greets us each time we come, tried to ask him something and he answered surly that he was "not of the place." His words. Inside there were two or three soldiers and many Palestinians, one of whom was blindfolded. In answer to the question of what was happening, we were told that it was a matter.....what else....of national security. I asked if they were all detained and security risks and was told that it was so and to leave the hall at once. It turned out that the only one who was really detained was the blindfolded Palestinian. Evidently a soldier cannot even tell the simple truth of what was going on.

We did not try to photograph as it would probably have triggered sheer hysteria and being old ladies, we did not want to scare the pants off the soldiers.

Evidently at some stage the detainee must have been taken through the turnstile as when we next looked, he was no longer there and the rest of the men were the usual crowd of those who were prevented and whom we afterwards helped. 

Can someone explain to me why the detainee was dafka brought into the waiting hall and not taken straight to the closed area? After all, if the situation was so dangerous then the soldiers should not have surrounded themselves with other potential attackers. 

Seeing that the detainee was no longer there, we tried to enter the hall but the two soldiers were adamant that we could not do so and we had to sit outside in the car in the heat. The one soldier, an Ethiopian, said bitterly that, although he was "in the land"...his words....his family is still in Ethiopia and yet all these Palestinians are here. Sic! Eventually another soldier passed of higher rank and told them to let us sit inside.