Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Sun 14.11.10, Morning
We arrived at 4.00 when the passage was opened. 55 people went through together. The soldier shouts and hurries the people up.
At the first gate 93 women and 400 men passed through.
Ruthie went to the exit of the passage and there she saw that the first people were already coming out and that the women were getting into their transport.
4.12 The entrance is closed.
4.15 The passage was again opened and the soldier tells them to hurry through.
Until 4.23 300 more people went through.
Someone returned but we did not ask why.
In the first half an hour 947 people went through (105 women).
At 4.45 there were 6 or 7 booths open.
In the next half hour 830 people went through.
At 5.00 the passage closed again.
During the morning the passage was especially quiet and less people went through than on an ordinary day. One passer-by explained that it was a holiday. Id Al Adha.
The passage again opened and between 5.00 to 5.30 316 men and 10 women went through.
5.45 No queue and we left.
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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