‘Anabta, Beit Iba, Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Visits to Villages, Tue 1.1.13, Morning
09:00 Since there’s no English lesson in Hars this week either, we leave Rosh Ha’Ayin to visit checkpoints. Our first stop is the Sha’ar Efrayim terminal. We met a very well-dressed Palestinian, beaming happily. He’d received a New Year’s present: an entry permit to work in Israel. H. is 28, from Irtach; he’s been blacklisted by the Shabak for ten years (because of an informer, he says). He speaks fluent Hebrew, from having worked in Israel when he was 13 (!) to 17. During the past ten years he married, had four daughters and barely was able to support his family by meager allowances from the UN and help from his father living in Jordan. Now he has only six days to find a job. And if he fails – he’ll have to wait a few months to receive six more days. If he succeeds, H. will be one of more than 5000 people crossing through this terminal every day from 4 in the morning until 7 in the evening.
One of the guards is a polite young Ethiopian. He’s already met women from Machsom Watch who’ve been to the terminal. It’s good thing, he says. He has very moderate political views: he’s in favor of a Palestinian state. Against a bi-national state. He invites us to return; we leave feeling it’s good there’s someone like him here at this explosive location.
From the terminal we continue to the village of Tzabara. After the inhabitants refused annexation to Tayibeh they’re getting a fence “of their own.”
The next stop – the Anabta checkpoint, leading to Area A. Traffic here is light; the checkpoint opens only when the occasional vehicle arrives.
11:30 Deir Sharab. There used to be a checkpoint at the entrance to this village where Palestinians were treated terribly. Today the checkpoint is open and not manned. The restrictions on development that were imposed on the village have also been lifted and it’s bustling, many shops are open, there’s a small café where elderly men sit engaged in a lively conversation. A pleasant atmosphere.
Then to Beit Iba. That checkpoint has also been removed; only the concrete barriers remain as souvenirs at the entrance to the village. A refreshing innovation at the exit from the village: a restaurant that provides children who accompany their parents with something to do – a playground with colorful equipment.
Via Jit junction to Nabi Elias, then to the Elliyahu gate. A manned army jeep by the roadside brings us back to reality. Vehicles go through the gate without problems.
12:00 Back to Rosh Ha’Ayin.
'Anabta CP
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'Anabta CP
The checkpoint is located south of the village of 'Anabta, at the intersection of Road 60 (leading to Nablus at the entrance to Area A), with Road (57, 557, 5576) facing west towards the Einav settlement and the checkpoint at the exit from the West Bank - Figs checkpoint. Until 2010 we used to watch the intersection and report the long columns created due to a slow inspection of the vehicles in both directions.
Oct-28-2011Anabta checkpoint 24.10.11
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Beit Iba
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A perimeter checkpoint west of the city of Nablus. Operated from 2001 to 2009 as one of the four permanent checkpoints closing on Nablus: Beit Furik and Awarta to the east and Hawara to the south. A pedestrian-only checkpoint, where MachsomWatch volunteers were present daily for several hours in the morning and afternoon to document the thousands of Palestinians waiting for hours in long queues with no shelter in the heat or rain, to leave the district city for anywhere else in the West Bank. From March 2009, as part of the easing of the Palestinian movement in the West Bank, it was abolished, without a trace, and without any adverse change in the security situation.
Jun-4-2014Beit-Iba checkpoint 22.04.04
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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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