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Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim)
Place:
Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)
Observers: Tzvia S., Idit M., Rahel A. (reporting) Judith Green (trans.)
4:11 – arrival at checkpoint
Sunday, crowded and more noisy than usual. The first turnstiles were closed and opened at short intervals. Closed for a long time, more than usual, and open for a short time. In this way, only small group could enter. A long of noise from within the checkpoint, an area which we cannot see, but close to the entrance. This is the usual setup of the gate whose upper half is broken, and the line of people who are climbing on it and entering through the opening which was torn.
At a certain point in the morning, when the first turnstiles were locked, they succeeded in breaking through the fence and entered the protected area freely. After a few minutes that place was blocked off.
One can see the beginning of work in the exit area from the checkpoint where a meeting area is going to be built for Israeli employers and Palestinian employees (this was explained to us during a recent tour). We hope, together with the Palestinians, that they will shortly build the entrance area for the checkpoint with organized tracks. One would not be exaggerating to say that the workday for an ordinary worker begins every morning with a battle. Exhausting. Daily. Grinding. Sponsored by a totally dark mentality.
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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