Etzion DCO
These are the pictures which greeted us when we drove into the carpark of Etzion. The sewage flows freely, much more than it ever did before and covers nearly a quarter of the area. It is typical of this disgusting place which is supposed to give service to Palestinians. The smell permeates the waiting room and every time there is a little wind it is a little stronger. It is hard not to write what the correlation is between the sewage and the way this DCO is run.
A place where the men's toilet is usually filthy, the women's toilet has been closed for years, there is no water available and when Palestinians come they have to squeeze themselves through the bars of the turnstile. Only the voice of the ISA is heard calling people in for questioning. Pontius Pilot called them in to see if these prisoners of the occupation can be persuaded to wash their hands together with their interrogators......to put it delicately . And we always remember one of those unfortunates who said to them, "No thank you. I want to sleep at night. "
People were streaming in the whole time we were there. Many of them hoping to see the phantom policeman, who was probably so weak from his fast from the DCO that he did not have the strength to drive there. Some of them had been there the previous day and had been told to come again. One was a man whom he had seen before. Although we told him that the soldiers had gone for their so well-earned lunch and would only be back at one he said would wait in the hope that the phantom would materialize. This is the second day that he had taken a taxi to come here. A man over 60 who has suddenly not been allowed into Israel is also hoping to find the phantom. .
A man has a problem with a previous employer and no longer wants to work for him as he evidently had not been treated him fairly. He has now been offered another job but the previous man does not want to release him. He was told to come next week to lodge a complaint. Next week it is doubtful that the DCO will be open in Sukkot. Another example of negligence.
A very well spoken man received an urgent call from his family that the police were in his home. By the way, he mentioned Sylvia who ten years ago had helped him with many thanks. He arrived to find the police and the border police in his home and they had already managed to break and make a general mess. He has a four story house. He could not photograph anything as their phones had been taken from them. The best way of preventing Palestinians from videoing what is being done. He said to them that if they found nothing he would report them to the Department of Police Investigations.
He told us that someone in the village had evidently wanted to make trouble for him as, when he had said that, they forced him to turn to the wall so that he could not see anything but he heard someone making a phone call and asking the person on the other side where to look. He evidently has a bit of a junkyard and there was an old fridge there and the police searched it thoroughly and he again, from the corner of his eye, saw that again a phone call was being made and the police lifted the fridge and found a package underneath.
He is a car dealer and has several cars at his home which were also damaged. He says someone in the village wants to harm his business. As the police gleefully held up the parcel, which he says had evidently been planted there, he demanded that they take fingerprints off the parcel and his fingerprints and his family’s and also to see the videos which the police had taken. They did not open the bag or show him what was in it. He had a lawyer who helped them but both he and his son sat in jail, him for eight days and his son sixteen. He says that they arrested him so that he could not make a complaint.
There has been a court case which was closed. He had a permit to enter Israel which was renewed but four days later denied. He is now "Information Prevented", an army term we’ve yet to comprehend. He has the documents from the court. He has never had a problem before. He himself checked a month and a half ago and there was no problem.
At Ricardo, the shop at Beit Jala, we were approached by one of the assistants who, in the beginning, was very suspicious of us but has since been very helpful. He stopped us as we were leaving with one of his friends who had a problem whom we sent to Sylvia.
On the way home at the checkpoint, we had a sample of what Palestinians go through. After being motioned to stop, both of us thought that we had been motioned to go on, so we did, only to be startled, the next moment, by a tremendous banging on the car. As we stopped again, we were approached by a furious border police who asked us what we thought we were doing, we should have stopped and opened the window and waited to be questioned!! Who were we, where were we from, where were we going… and at that stage I lost it and told him we were going home if he would allow it! A minor incident concerning all else which is written here but had we been Palestinians you would probably be told that we had tried to attack him and you would be coming to our funerals.