Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim)
The Sunday routine
03:57 From far away we hear the gates opening, and the roar of the crowd. This usually indicates intruders climbing over the barbed wire to get to the head of the line. By the fence: indeed, many line-jumpers have found ways over the barbed wire. The cans and cardboard, that the early arrivals sat on while waiting by the entrance, block the turnstiles. It takes time to push them into the intake area and permit smooth entrance. Some progress has been made on the new facility since Tuesday when we were here last. We hope the rate of building will continue to be good, and the new facility will open soon. An extra tin fence now blocks off view of the the back part of the building site, but the line-jumpers still come through on their way to the barbed wire.
04:07 On our way around to the exit, we see dozens of workers who have already passed through the checkpoint. Some smile and wish us a good day. The flow of traffic is smooth and heavy.
04:20 Back at the entrance, there is still a lot of crowding, a lot of people climbing over the barbed wire. The loudspeaker speaks politely to the crowd, and threatens to call the army to deal with the line-jumpers, but everyone knows it won't do any good. They aren't deterred. The rate of intake is fast and regular. We pick an individual to time.
04:35 We're back at the exit. The man we're timing comes out eighteen minutes after he went in, relatively slow. There is a big crowd at the one exit turnstile, the gate next to it is opened to relieve the pressure. One man says, our life is the pits. I ask if he had trouble in the checkpoint and he says no, it was okay today. Another man requests help getting compensation for an injury suffered at the checkpoint. I refer him to the Center for the Defence of the Individual – maybe they can help.
04:55 By the fence again. Three young men are waiting to go back. One says his permit expired yesterday. Another doesn't want to say, but his companion suggests that he also doesn't have a permit. There is still a crowd at the turnstiles, still line-jumpers.
05:30 On our way around the building we notice there has been no progress on paving the parking lot. The traffic jam on the road is severe. Groups of people wait at spots along the road – maybe employees of different workplaces making it easier on "their" drivers, or maybe the drivers refuse to get into the mess.
We leave.
Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)
See all reports for this place-
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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