Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim)
"A good day"
3:45 When we arrived at the entrance to the checkpoint the gates were already open, and the crowd flowed smoothly into the area in front of the building, which gradually filled up. The gates to the building itself were still closed, and opened when we arrived. The turnstiles leading into the area stayed open in spite of the crowd, an unusual situation.
3:57 The lines leading to the checkpoint were all empty when the turnstiles closed. We don't usually see this until about 6:30 on other Sundays. A woman returned to Palestinian territory – we called to ask why, but couldn't hear her answer.
We went around the building several times to watch for specific individuals. They got through in 4 to 15 minutes. In general, women got through faster than men.
One of the exit turnstiles stopped working, and a crowd developed behind the one in use. We reported the problem to the guard in front of the building. He thanked us and took care of it. Cooperation…
Every time we went to the entry side, we saw that the lines were not full, there was no anger or annoyance, no climbing over the barriers, none of the usual problems.
The last time we went to check the entrance, at 5:30, the lines were empty and people walked through freely. "A good day," a man told us, though he had a lot of criticism about the checkpoint in general. Later we read in the newspaper that today the Palestinians were commemorating the Nakba. If fewer people than usual came to work, that could explain the easy passage.
As usual, there was a line for the toilets.
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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