Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim)
Dawn. The new entrance building is open.
3:55 When we arrived, a few people had already come through into Israel. The gates opened at 3:45. By the fence, even before entering the facility, people smiled. The women are pleased, at last they have a separate line. There is also a humanitarian line, which isn't open this early. There is no crowding or pushing at the entrance turnstiles. Is the Messiah coming? We meet the checkpoint manager, who came out to observe the first real use of the new building (it opened on Friday, but less than 500 people used it then.) Today is the test. We notice that the messages on the loudspeaker are calm and polite.
4:00 We pick an individual for observation and go around to the Israeli side. It takes him nine minutes to get through the checkpoint.
Most of the people we meet are at ease, smiling. An acquaintance of ours stops to say he thinks the new lanes are too short, there isn't room for everyone to get under the roof at once, there is crowding at the new entrance so in all the situation isn't improved very much. (He says he's in the process of emigrating to
Canada, he's leaving in a few weeks, he can't take conditions here.)
4:25 By the fence: the turnstiles close down and stay closed for five minutes, until 4:30. Finally a man comes back into the open area. He has a permit but got turned back. He doesn't speak Hebrew or English, we couldn't understand what happened. The handicapped access is still closed. The women's line is open, but
empty. The men waiting in line have room to stand in relative comfort, but we hear a fuss from beyond them. We pick another man to observe and return to the Israeli side. An angry group greets us: The new building was a waste of money, there is still a mess outside and it takes longer to pass through. Someone complains about puddles on the floor, and water getting into his shoes. We ask if they can choose which line they go through – they say the crowding is so bad that they can't control where they go.
The man we picked takes fifteen minutes to get through.
The new parking lot still isn't open. We asked the site manager – he said he isn't satisfied with the quality of the work, and won't approve it until it's fixed. The roofed prayer area isn't finished either.
We're thinking of coming once later in the morning to see how the humanitarian line operates.
Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)
See all reports for this place-
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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