Irtah - Dawn, wet routine
Wet but routine
We arrived at 4:05, and a good number of people had already passed through the checkpoint and were on their way to the waiting vehicles. We saw many private cars in the parking lot as well as the usual vans. A row of cement barricades lined the front of the parking lot, possibly to keep people from slipping into the ditch between the lot and the road.
Very early the turnstiles began to open and close, keeping people in the roofed area until there was space for them to get into the main building. The first time we checked a woman passed through in eight minutes, men in 11-13 minutes. Around 5:00 it took a man 20 minutes.
A group of men, who decided not to go to work this rainy day, spoke to the guard on the Israeli side of the checkpoint, asking to go back. He arranged for one turnstile to spin backwards, his helpfulness is worthy of note.
We noticed a line of fence posts set in the ground along the path from the terminal to the parking lot. Later in the day I phoned Sharon the checkpoint’s manager to ask what was planned. He said they’re widening the fenced area to permit enlarging the staff dining room.
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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