Irtah, Thur. 17.03.11 morning
Irtach 17March 2011
Irtach, dawn shift
The roadblock works quietly and quickly,
At 5:30 a.m., there was a stream of people entering quickly without waiting at the eastern entrance. They go through the rooms quickly and there are no complaints.
At the Jit – Kdumim road to the east, two soldiers stopped Palestinian cars and sent them back. We asked why and were told that there was about to be prayers on the road in sympathy with the murders in Itamar. We waited at the Kdumim petrol station to observe. Very slowly some people with all the prayer equipment arrived and waited for a 'minyan'.
Meanwhile an armoured personnel carrier (or some other kind of large IDF vehicle) stopped the traffic at Jit from the north and another one stopped cars from the direction of Punduk from the south. There was also a police patrol car and all of this to avoid friction between the sides, i.e.: "The settlers who are praying may throw stones at passing Palestinian cars, so we won't allow Palestinian cars to pass". The officer at Jit said that it may take about half an hour. There is a long queue of cars.
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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Jit Junction
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The checkpoint is located on Route 60 near at the junction with Route 55, near the village of Jit. There was a checkpoint for vehicles passing between the north and south of the West Bank, which was abolished towards 2010. Since then, surprise checkpoints have been set up there from time to time with a police or Border Police vehicle, and vehicles and their passengers are inspected.
Anat PolakJul-17-2025Yitzhar Road, Jit Junction: traffic jam
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