Etzion DCO: waiting for the Shin Bet investigation

We arrived at about 11   to  find many people waiting. They had been called in for questioning and so far no one had been called in. After all, most of the Palestinians are not working so they have plenty of time to spare.  Maybe because the  soldiers inside are  overburdened with work? The question: what are they doing there from 9 am. At 11.10 there was an announcement that people would be called in.  At 11.20  the first people  went in and then also only one or two at a time.   One man was waiting for his two sons who  had gone in but  at one o'clock we left  no one had exited. We asked how people were managing....he said he was one of the lucky one as he had worked at the municipality in Hebron and had a pension

We took his name  and phoned  today to ask what time his sons had come out from the interrogation. He said that they only came out at 16.00. Even if he  exaggerated,  the fact remains that they had been waiting since 9 am and when we left at 13.00 no one  had come out. Also why call them in at 9 am? And probably, once they get  into the offices, they  also  have to sit and wait. Again we wonder how many soldiers are inside and what they are doing until 11 am

|The area with the confiscated vehicles is nearly empty which is also a sign of how the Palestinian economy has been  affected. 

No one has come for a magnetic card and one wonders if once again they have changed the rules. 

One young man said he was "prevented" but did  not want to take Sylvia's number. He seemed very suspicious of us. 

As always, except for the stories we hear, we wonder if we are really doing  anything by going each week. The father of the young men, when we were leaving thanked us and, when as always we say, that we have not helped, said simply, "the words."

At Ricardo, the shop at Beit Jala, we were told by the lady who works there that this year also they had not been allowed to harvest their olives. And friends in Hebron have had the same experience. We are sure the olives can be found in some settlement.