Irtah (Sha’ar Efrayim), Wed 18.11.09, Morning
Irtah 4.25
The checking area has not been open. Everything is wet as until a short while ago it rained. The people stand in the dark with no shelter except for some nylons which the workers themselves hung on the fences.
4.30 The turnstile opens and people run madly towards it. The loudspeaker shouts at people not to run, not to throw their bags over the fence but to go through with them. In the beginning the stream of people was reasonable but soon it stopped for a long time. We went to the exit and there we saw that those checking were doing so by hand because all the computers had failed. (Yesterday we understood that the computers had been working and that the passage had been reasonably swift. In the beginning there were mainly women and afterwards the men came. But the women still asked for a separate line. The workers came out very angry and showed their contempt for us saying that we do not help. Many asked that the booths be opened at 4.00 as is done at Ayal. We phoned the centre at Tulkarm who said that they were aware of the problem. We tried to persuade them that in light (rather darkness) of the situation, they would help to solve the problem. But to no avail.
6.45 About 1000 people still wait. Many had gone back because their employers were not prepared to wait for them.
Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)
See all reports for this place-
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.
-