Irtah and Jubara, Sunday AM, February 12, 2006 Watchers: Yael A., Leah S. (reporting)6:40: 700-Irtah checkpoint — “Lucky” laborers, who passed through the checkpoint relatively early, are marching along the road from the terminal to Taibe. At the inspection area, there are dozens of cars of employers who wait for their workers delayed at the checkpoint, delayed because only two (!!!) inspection posts were opened. (MachsomWatch observation: it is imperative to open a larger number of posts, especially on Sunday, when there’s a lot of pressure). Near the turnstiles there are hundreds of anxious workers, who have been waiting in the bitter cold since the very early morning hours.We asked to speak to the person in charge of the checkpoint [i.e. civilian employee of a security service], but he let us know that he would be able to talk to us only after the pressure is off. 7:05 Jubara checkpoint — from now on it is called the “figs [leaf?] checkpoint.” At the southern side, the one closest to Jubara, there are a few detainees and they too pass through the checkpoint quickly, some to Jubara and some to the Israeli side – to Taibe. On the northern side there’s still that well-known, enormous puddle, but it’s impossible to see the number of people waiting or to take care of the detainees. We went to see what’s going on at the road below the bridge, but it was impossible to see anything and there was no roadblock in sight.Israeli cars speed wildly and honk, on the road intended for Israeli residents (meaning Jewish settlers?), this in comparison with the snail-paced cars on the parallel road, intended for residents of the Territories (and Israeli Arabs?).7:40: Irtah – checkpoint 700 — We came back to check out the gate. We stopped by the turnstiles. The pressure was off and the queue was almost gone. The person responsible for the checkpoint, plus the person responsible for security, approached us and explained again that the number of operating inspection posts is dictated by the budget set for that purpose by the Ministry of Defense. If the budget increases, additional posts would open. In addition, or, perhaps, an alternative explanation is that at the moment there aren’t enough trained security personnel to open more posts (it takes a few weeks to train security personnel). (MachsomWatch observation: It’s necessary to check this with the brigade commander and to ease the pressure, at least on crowded Sundays).At this stage the terminal for back-to-back transfer [of merchandise between vehicles that can’t cross the checkpoint] was also in operation, and many trucks were queued up. Buses [a regular arrangement] for transporting families going to visit inmates in Israeli prisons also arrived.7:55 — we left the area.