Habla, Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim)
Irtah
4:25 Most of the minibuses are lined up in the parking lot. Dozens, maybe hundreds of people have already passed through the checkpoint. At the entrance to the facility the turnstiles are closed, a sign that they've started limiting access earlier than usual. When the gates open a very strong flow of people mobs the first magnetometer, for about five minutes. After that the flow tapers off.
4:30 On the exit side, the people sitting outside are smiling. I ask how they're doing, and one says it's all good. The flow of people at the exit turnstile is strong, and the guards periodically open the side door. A woman who we picked to watch as she went in came out in ten minutes. A man we were looking for did not come out even after twenty minutes.
4:55 At the entrance again. The turnstiles were closed again. They opened after three minutes, to a lot of pressure. The opening lasted two minutes, then it closed for four minutes. As usual, the women's line is full of men. We picked some people to watch for.
5:15 At the exit: The people we were watching for got through in twelve to seventeen minutes. Two people asked us for help with blacklisted individuals, and we gave them Sylvia's contact information (printed in Arabic.)
A man exited angrily and said, What are you doing here? You don't accomplish anything. Another said, Why didn't you answer him? He evidently saw some use in our presence.
We saw a line waiting outside the new toilets, and we noticed two other toilet cubicles standing in the parking lot. We wondered why they weren't in use, and when we went to check we discovered they were locked. A few men urinated in the bushes behind them. People sitting nearby said the cubicles had been there for a while, and they didn't know why they weren't in use. The shortage of facilities needs to be solved, and we were promised months ago that more toilets would be added. Where are they?
5:55 We went around again. The flow into the checkpoint had tapered off, but a lot of people were still coming out. We went on to Habla.
Habla
6:25 The gates are locked, no soldiers are present. Two weeks ago at this time the gates were already open.
6:42 The soldiers arrive. The people who have been waiting are querulous. The soldiers move slowly (the problem is evidently the computer system, because soldiers ask occasionally if they can start letting people in.) When we ask what caused the delay, the woman soldier say she doesn't have to tell us anything, it's a military matter, if we want to know we should enlist…
6:55 The first group of five people went in to be checked. After two groups came out,
we left.
Habla
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Habla CP (1393)
The Habla checkpoint (1393) was established on the lands of the residents of Qalqilya, on the short road that
connected it for centuries to the nearby town of Habla. The separation barrier intersects this road twice and cut off the residents of Qalqilya from their lands in the seam zone.(between the fence and the green line).
There is a passage under Road 55 that connects Qalqilya to the sabotage This agricultural barrier is used by the farmers and nursery owners established along Road 55 from the Green Line and on both sides of the kurkar road leading to the checkpoint.
This agricultural checkpoint serves the residents of Arab a-Ramadin al-Janoubi (detached from the West Bank), who pass through it to the West Bank and back to their homes. The opening hours (3 times a day) of this agricultural checkpoint are longer than usual, about an hour (recently shortened to 45 minutes), and are coordinated with the transportation hours of a-Ramadin children studying in the occupied in the West Bank.
Nina SebaAug-18-2025Habla: The gate is in the process of closing
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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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