Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim) - Complaints about prolonged standing in the mud without protection from rain
4:00 The parking lot is very crowded.
4:01 The first laborer is already through the checkpoint and heading for the parking lot.
Until 4:20 passage through the checkpoint is fast, no pressure. A woman we watched for got through in 8 minutes, men took 12 minutes. At the exit gates wooden pallets have been placed on the ground, evidently last week’s heavy rain caused a deep puddle. The pallets aren’t needed today, but they show thoughtfullness.
The turnstiles at the entrance to the checkpoint shut down briefly when the entry gets too crowded. We tried to check how long it took people at the back of the crowd to get through, but we failed – after half an hour of waiting at the exit, and not spotting anyone we were watching for, we gave up and returned to the entrance.
Several people complained about problems. First, pressure and quarrels at the entrance to the covered lines waiting to get into the checkpoint, especially on Sundays. The roofed area can hold a few hundred people, and on Sunday mornings about fifteen thousand pass through. When the pressure is greatest, around 5:00, some are left standing out in the rain and mud… The other problem is delays in the afternoon, on their tired way home. They asked why there are any limits on their free movement back into Palestinian territory.
People who entered the checkpoint at 5:10 got through in 12-15 minutes.
We left at 5:30
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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