‘Anabta, Irtah, Jubara (Kafriat), Thu 2.4.09, Morning
Translation: Galia S.
Irtah
04:25 – At Karin L.'s request, we get up very early and arrive at the checkpoint when all is still dark. The lamp-posts that are in the area in front of the entrance to the checkpoint aren't lit and it is barely possible to discern behind the fence the dark pack of people that are standing there waiting for the checkpoint to open. Once every few minutes the turnstiles open, two posts, and another pack of workers dash inside toward the facility. Outside the area is packed with workers – men and women – and drivers who have come to take them.
The whole time we are there, up to 06:30, a stream of people approach us to tell us the story of their daily trials, starting with getting up very early hoping to arrive at the checkpoint at a reasonable hour (02:00 – 03:00) in order to catch a good place in the line of thousands of people who fill the area, continuing with the low number of posts opened to check the entering people, the rooms they go through where they have to take off their clothes for the check, which is both degrading and time consuming and sometimes result in the loss of a work-day when the employers don't wait for them. In addition they have to swallow the curses and the insults hurled at them by the soldiers who stand on top of the facility. The way back is the same process in the opposite direction. Life at home is reduced to eating and sleeping.
The main part of the story is the way they stand there so crammed that they are close to being choked or running over one another. A week ago ambulances came to get out the wounded that had been run over in the crowd. People are hurt both physically and mentally in this pressure.
Having finally made it, the workers come inside to discover only few open posts. Two to six posts out of 16 that exist are supposed to handle the passage of thousands of people. At the time we watch there are 6 open posts.
In the teeming lot outside, a security man stands with a pointed gun and a haunted look.
Dignity, time, the value of human beings exist elsewhere, not her.
"Do something, say something, you just stand there and do nothing. Look what's going on here. Talk to people. Bring the media". This is what we keep hearing from people. A kind of helplessness that seems to imply: We are treated like animals. Your leaders and our leaders double-cross us and we can do nothing to change anything.
We have been going to checkpoints for 5 – 6 years. Maybe it's time to turn the searchlight here, demonstrate, protest, meet people, bring the media and show all those who don't wish to see another backyard with tuff and olive trees what's going on.
Who of us is responsible for this? Tsviya and I will be there too.
Later we also go to Jubara, Anabta and the new checkpoint at Deir Sharaf. There hasn't been any activity worth mentioning.
'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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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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Jubara (Kafriat)
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The Jabra checkpoint was on Road 557, south of Tulkarm, on the side of the Figs Pass, which is located within the Palestinian Authority (a few kilometers east of the Green Line), and serves as an entry barrier from the territories to Israel. The checkpoint to the village of Jubara, which until 2013 was in the seam area, blocked and surrounded by a fence, was intended for the passage of the family members of the house next to the checkpoint, and also for the MachsomWatch volunteers (with special permission only), on their way to checkpoint 753. on the other side of the village. The soldiers supervising the "fig crossing" also supervised the crossing at this checkpoint, in our shifts we often waited a long time until the key was found and the gate opened. The checkpoint was abolished and became part of the separation fence that was moved west following the High Court.
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