Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Sun 7.6.09, Morning
Translation: Galia S.
We arrive at the checkpoint at 04:00 and, to our surprise, we find it already open and the workers are entering, which proves that it's definitely possible to open the checkpoint at this hour. The workers are pleased and many of them thank us assuming that opening at this hour is the result of our repeated request.
Again and again they say "Well done!"
At 04:20 the women who work in agriculture pass the facility and wait for transportation to their place of work. At 05:10 most of the workers have already entered the facility and there is no line outside. Anyone who arrives enters the facility right away without waiting. About 6 people come back because the machine that scans the hand-print has rejected them (because of scratches, a wound or dirt). Two people have been sent back for bringing food items that haven't been approved by the checkers. One has brought a plastic cottage cheese container with "Knafe" [oriental cake]. The checkers refused to let him bring the "Knafe" into Israel. We take a picture of it. The other has brought a small plastic container full of okra in tomato sauce. The checker hasn't approved.
Is okra in tomato sauce a security hazard to Israel? We ask the man to come closer and we take a picture of it.
Abed el Hai is a professional photographer and he has recorded it all in video.
The workers are very pleased that the checkpoint opened at 04:00.
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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