Etzion DCL, Mon 11.4.11, Afternoon

Etzion DCL: Retribution:  The Palestinians at the Etzion DCL are being punished because of us.  For a number of months the personnel at the Etzion command post have refused to speak to us, following D.’s orders, who apparently had been reprimanded after we complained about him.  The medical office, which we had contacted to ask about one of the Palestinians, also refused to reply, telling us: “We don’t provide information to certain organizations.”  “Certain organizations,” that is, us, are boycotted.  But the ones whom the boycott harms are the Palestinians who, in the past, we’d sometimes been able to help, but now are able to no longer.

When we arrived at 14:15, ten people waited at the revolving gate.  They complained they’d been waiting since 7 AM, and said that only around 13:30 were about ten people let in.  Why didn’t they admit all of them?  Why did they have to wait for many hours?

We contacted the humanitarian office.  They might have made a difference, because the process speeded up.  At 14:25 two people came out who’d received magnetic cards.  Three more came through 15 minutes later, and three more at 15:00.  Then a gap until 15:30, when one man who’d received a magnetic card came out.  A few more came out intermittently; all those waiting were then let in, and it was announced that the DCO was closed and no more would be admitted.  People who’d arrived, and hadn’t been admitted, left.  They’ll have to return next week.

An elderly man approached us.  He said he’d applied for an entry permit to Jerusalem on behalf of his four-year-old nephew, to visit the zoo.  The boy’s friends had received permits to visit, and the uncle thought his nephew would have no problem obtaining one.  To his surprise, he was turned down.  He said they told him that “the GSS has forbidden it.”  A four-year-old boy!