‘Anabta, Irtah, Sun 23.11.08, Morning
Irtah checkpoint
06:50 – Congestion on the Palestinian side of the turnstile. Groups of about 100 people pass every 5-7 minutes. Yet, at 07:00 it is still very crowded with people waiting. A great number of employers; cars are waiting on the Israeli side as the inspection takes a long time. Some of the Palestinians approach us to show they have been physically hurt because of the horrible overcrowding earlier when the number of people gathering at the passage was even greater and the waiting time was extremely long.
When we visited there two weeks ago, the complaints were similar. We had a long talk with Yaron, the checkpoint commander, who explained that the delays were due to some malfunction at the checkpoint. Answering our question, he said that owing to the fact that an increased number of people pass at the checkpoint, more inspection posts were added. It didn't seem convincing even then and it seems that it is a matter of profitability, meaning that the number of people passing there (olive and fruit picking) has grown more than the inspecting system has.
We should report about it and demand that the facility be adjusted to the extent of the traffic in the place.
Anabta
07:20 – A long line of cars heading south. According to our measuring, it took a bus 20 minutes to pass from the moment we sighted it. The reservists at the checkpoint are nice to us. One soldier at the checkpoint draws our attention to the mess in the line, which is the cause of the delay: taxis overtake other vehicles, Arabs with Israeli licence plates overtake everyone, so does a car of the Palestinian Authority and a UN vehicle. North bound traffic proceeds in an orderly manner.
'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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