Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Sun 18.10.09, Morning
Translator: Louise L.
3.50 It is dark. There is a huge line in front of the turnstiles. About 30 women, some of them old, are sitting crowded together. They greet us saying good morning and waving. And then they immediately start complaining about the fact that they have to stand in the same line as the men to be checked. They ask us to help separating between them and the men. The muezzin is calling from the Faron village. At this hour it is still rather cool in spite of the “khamsin”.
4.12 The standing workers are getting ready to enter. An army jeep arrives and one of the soldiers gets off asking if he can help with anything. The coffee vendor has informed us that the Palestinian television will come tomorrow morning to film the checkpoint and the workers.
5.10 Two young women from the EAPPI – The Worldwide Council of the Christian Churh– an Ecumenic Program in Palestine and Israel – appear on the other side of the fence. One woman is from South Africa and the other from England.
6.45 We leave.
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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