Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim)
Dawn, routine
After almost three months’ absence, we were surprised to see, as soon as we got to the checkpoint, a new set of toilets, doubling the old capacity. The new stalls aren’t open for business yet, but there’s hope….
The gates opened promptly at 3:45, and four minutes later the first Palestinians got out into Israel. At this stage, around 4:00, the line isn’t long and it moves quickly. We picked people to watch for.
On the other side, the entrance to Israel, only one turnstile was working. I tried to tell the guard about it, but he insisted vehemently that both turnstiles were fine, and the workers chose to use only one of them. Even when I reported that I had checked, one turnstile was out of order, he kept claiming that everything was open. He said if I wanted I could talk to the shift supervisor. I didn’t insist, but when I returned to the exit I found that the side gate was open, and it stayed open until we left. The people we were watching for got through in 8-10 minutes.
4:15 By the separation barrier we met four Spanish volunteers. Their English was very poor, and we couldn’t understand what organization they were from. They peered suspiciously at our badges through the wire fence. They had never heard of MachsomWatch. They didn’t try to make conversation, but did mention that this was their first day at the checkpoint. At 4:30 The gates at the entrance from Palestinian territory close periodically, but for less than a minute each time. They are open for longer periods, indicating that the facility is working with reasonable efficiency. However, we already see a few people climbing over the barriers to get a better place in line.
At the exit into Israel, people tell us there’s “balagan” – a mess, confusion, on the other side. The people we watched for came out in 10 minutes.
Towards five o’clock, at the separation barrier, we see the mess. A number of people, mostly young men, climb over the barriers and jump to the heads of the lines, in spite of the objections of the people waiting there. Now the people we timed took 15 minutes to get through.
We didn’t see anyone being sent back.
5:20 We left.
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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