Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Wed 15.7.09, Morning
04:15 Very dark. All the workers are seated on the ground.
04:16 The tumult begins. The men rise and prepare to enter.
04:23 The women stand and get ready.
04:26 The turnstiles open. The turnstile operates for a few seconds; there's a long line outside.
04:32 An innovation: The turnstiles remain open for a long time. A large number of people go through one after another. Now there's a long line from the turnstiles to the first inspection.
04:38 The line gets shorter. Whoever arrives enters immediately.
We move to the other side, where people exit after inspection.
Many workers approach us. They say hello. They mention that inspections have been rapid for the past two days. They say it's because of us, and ask that we continue to come.
They said that they also go through the rooms more quickly. A worker we talked to said he doesn't have to go through the rooms because he's older (51). Only younger men have to go in.
05:12 We counted 160 workers exiting in five minutes.
A man named Fuad approached us – he's in charge of The Palestine Democratic Organization, and invited us to visit them in Tulkarm. He repeated the invitation a number of times; he said they'll arrange an escort by the Palestinian police. His phone number is 052 420 8491.
Another man asked whether he could obtain medical help for his sick daughter; we referred him to Micky Fisher.
05:30 We returned to the checkpoint entrance. There's again a line. When the turnstiles opened, 40 people went through in a few seconds, and they remain open – whoever arrives goes through immediately.
Today no one was turned back, nor were there any problems about bringing food in.
To summarize: Noticeable improvement in the rate of inspections.
05:45 No line at the entrance to the checkpoint. We leave.
Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)
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The checkpoint is for Palestinians only. It is the main barrier to the passage of workers from the northern West Bank to Israel. Workers with a permit to work in Israel and also for trade (with appropriate permissions), medicine, and visiting prisoners. One can cross the checkpoint only on foot. The checkpoint is located north of Road 557 and south of Tulkarm. Operated by a civil security company, opening hours: between 4:00 and 19:00 on weekdays. As members of Machsom Watch, we began our shifts to this location in 2007. We arrived before it opened at 4 in the morning and report since, on the harsh conditions and the long and crowded queues of workers. The workers who pass by continue their journey by transportation to work throughout Israel. In the first period of its activity, about 3,000 and then 5,000 people passed through this checkpoint every day. Due to the small number of checking points and arbitrary delays for long periods of time in the "rooms", workers feared losing their transportation. Hence workers leave their homes at 2:30 at night to be among the first. Today, 15,000 pass and the transition is faster. Workers are still leaving their homes very early to get past the checkpoint at 7 p.m. In an adjacent compound, there is a terminal for the transfer of goods on a commercial scale, using the back-to-back method.
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