Habla, Eliyahu Crossing, Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Mon 31.1.11, Afternoon
12:55
Habla
The gates are shut. Very few are waiting
.
13:00 A military hummer arrives with 4 soldiers but without the key. We try to find out that the reason for the delay is and
understand from the soldiers that the fence had been
touched somewhere and the soldiers have been summoned for checking.
13:10 A military vehicle arrives with a soldier and the key, and the two grey gates are opened. Within five minutes the first group of five passes to the checking post. When they finish the pedestrian passage from the village too is made possible. But the main yellow gate is still locked and vehicles are delayed.
13:25 Another military vehicle arrives, there is a key and the gate is opened late and enables the passage of two vehicles and one cart hitched to a horse and loaded with cauliflowers.
13:30
We leave (there are no busses – the children are on leave from school)
13:35
Eliyahu Passage –the sparse traffic in both direction flows
13:50 Giyus. We fixed an appointment with A' from Tul Karem, a a police detainee, whose passage authorization has been taken away. Until he arrives we drive to the agricultural gate which, unlike the past, is not opened during the noon hours.
At the taxi stand we meet Naim, friend of the Machsom Watch women ("they all know me"). He tells us that during last night the army walked around the village and searched ten houses.
A' arrives and gives us 500 shekel for the lawyer who deals with his case. We bid him goodbye and go on to Palmiya.
14:30 At the Palmiya CP there are three bored soldiers. There is nobody coming or going.
14:40 Kafr Jamal – we enter the grocery. We are offered juice and white seeds (wonderful) and hear:
There are 3000 people in the village and about 2000 live abroad. Heads of family over thirty have work permits to work in Israel, and only some make a living from agriculture: olives, oranges, vegetables in hot-houses. They don't have special problems with the army, There are two schools in the village, one for boys the other for girls, and they all learn till the age of 18.
15:20 We buy local products, bid the grocery owner, wife and lovely children goodbye and continue by way of Beit Lid, Safarin and Shufa to the Fig Passage.
16:05 Irtah – Efrayim Gate. A long queue and crowding in front of the turnstile. We gather that from time to time they close the entrance for a few minutes and only when a large crowd accumulates the red light turns to green, the gate is openend and a never ending stream of Palestinians passes. We try to find out what the reason for the closing and for the creation of the congestion is, but get no answer from the guards.
16:30
We bid Irtah good bye. End.
Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing
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Eliyahu CP (109) / Crossing This checkpoint, also known as the Fruit Crossing, is one of the main checkpoints between Israel and the West Bank. It is located on Route 55 between Alfei Menashe and the turn to Qalqilya and Zufin, more than 4 km east of the Green Line, in the separation fence, which separates Qalqilya from its lands to the south, thus leaving Alfei Menashe West of the fence - the Seam Zone. This checkpoint, a few kilometers across the Green Line, is intended for "Israeli settlement in the West Bank and the population of the Seam Zone." It is managed by a civil company. Palestinians with a special permit for their lands in the seam area are also allowed to pass through it, on foot, and sometimes by car.
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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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