Habla, Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim)
Irtach Checkpoint
We arrive at 5:20. The entrance to the parking lot is a big mess, though this time the lot is pretty full. The new lot hasn't led to more orderliness. Hundreds of people have passed through already. Some of them are lying down sleeping, others sit on the curb. Some minibuses have already loaded up their passengers and are leaving.
By the separation fence, the gates are closed. As nearly as we can tell, all the lanes are full. There is no difference between the women's lane and the others – men are in all of them. We hear shouting from inside the building, but not from the lines outside.
After almost five minutes the gates open. A man passes back into Palestinian territory. Maybe he was the cause of the shouting and the delay.
Edith picks a man and a woman to time.
5:30 On the Israeli side. Hundreds of people stand around in the square, there's a line for the single toilet next to roofed area. The second toilet stall appears to be locked. The toilets near the exit from the building haven't been replaced yet. Last week the checkpoint manager said he knows there's a shortage and he plans to bring in more stalls, but it hasn't happened yet. The commercial center still isn't open.
The man we were watching for passed through in seven minutes, the woman in eleven minutes.
A man who worked as a night watchman is trying to get through to go home, but no one hears him calling to the guards. On our way out we mention his request to a guard, who reports it on his walkie-talkie.
A man approaches us to say that his brother is ill and needs to go to a hospital in Israel, but he doesn't have the documents he needs. We aren't sure what he needs or who is in charge of it, but we give him contact information for Buma Inbar and Yad LeHachlama, and hope that will help.
5:50 We leave for Hable.
Hable Agricultural Crossing
We arrive at 6:25 (there were traffic jams on the way.) The gates are open for pedestrians. Around twenty people are waiting to pass through, and more arrive while we watch. The soldiers check them at the gate. Later we learn that the computers are down, which is why the soldiers are checking the permits by hand, and not making anyone go through the building. Most of the people passing through are men of all ages, but we also see a family with three children, and a man with a young son.
It turns out that the first check at the gate is performed by a Palestinian, who allows only permit holders to get in line for the soldiers to check again. Who is he? What is his position?
The officer in charge speaks to us. In answer to a question he says that this group of soldiers is reasonably permanent at the crossing, and they know by name a lot of the people who use it. They are polite to us and to the Palestinians.
Habla
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Habla CP (1393)
The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that
connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Habla: The gate is in the process of closing
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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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