Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)

04.35   The parking lot at Eyal Terminal is still shrouded in darkness, unknown quiet and deserted except for a few transit-cars in which the drivers are asleep. The Terminal is not open yet and will probably do so, as at Irtah, at 05.00.

04.50   Irtah. All the side-fences of the covered walkway that, on the Palestinian side, leads towards the ”snake”, the queue- creating- railing  just before the turnstiles, have disappeared.  As the so called “women’s-gate” is now so close by the other entrance it is difficult to see if indeed this gate was opened (at  5.00 punctual today) for the (sometimes) few minutes: all the laborers  now crowd together and  the women keep their distance.  Some extra pushy workers try to jump the queue by climbing high over it. We can only hear the shouting that it causes and not see if they succeed.  Through the fence, a nice and outgoing Palestinian woman, Huda, talks with us in almost perfect Hebrew. It puts us to shame in our ignorance of Arabic.  She tells us that she works already more than 25 years in Beth Halevy, a village in the Emek Hefer region; although she looks quite young to be a grandmother she has 7 grandchildren.” I was married when I was 15” she tells us. We see that she enters the terminal at 5.17 and when we go at  5.20  to the exit gate at the other side of the terminal we meet her again at 5.32. It took her one quarter of an hour. As there are already for quite some time no “Ecumenicals” we could not ask anyone to give a note with the entrance time to one of the laborers and have no idea how much time it takes for the men to pass the terminal. Realizing how many people entered at the same time there must be masses waiting to pass the checking booths as there are only 3 or 4 of these open! (Why isn’t it possible to add some personnel at this peak-hour even only for one hour ; a lot of suffering could be avoided.) The shouting inside is deafening! We try to catch the attention of the security guard inside to ask him what is happening, but he pretends not to hear us. From one of the exiting workers we hear:one of the computers does not work.  The angry Friday-morning-comment we get from everyone: “Balaghan, balaghan!”

At 5.40we try to call the office of the terminal-management (Ronen Kariv) but no answer; (we try again at 6.05: no one to talk to).   We hear from some women that an older man fainted inside. Someone else tells us that several workers are kept inside for a while as a punishment (for pushing?) and their permits withheld (temporarily). On the wall just outside the exit turnstile there is a notice in Arabic saying that merchants are not allowed to pass the terminal before 6.00 AM or their permits are being withheld (nottemporarily!). We try to understand why after so much pressure to pass the terminal so many stand idle waiting on the parking-lot. On Friday mornings Israeli’s are looking for workers to do some odd jobs; not every Palestinian has work on Friday-morning and tries to find some extra earnings; the earlier the better and the first ones may indeed be lucky. We now understand too why proceedings at the Eyal terminal are more orderly on the Palestinian side. Not just because Qalqiliya is “closer” to its terminal than Tulkarm, as we were explained at our last meeting with Ronen Kariv, but because the Irtah terminal is de-facto in area C which means  that there is no Palestinian police allowed (to assist with keeping order) as is the case near Qalqiliya’s area A..

6.10   We go back to the fence near the Palestinian entrance side. There are no laborers waiting. Behind the fence we see our Danish acquaintance, Peter, and his Palestinian friend, Yusuf, we were planning to meet, so they could show us the Palestinian side of the terminal. We arrange to meet near the Jabara-checkpoint, park our car there and they will drive us to the Terminal. For the first time we see that the (“coffee”-) house near the checkpoint is, at last, no longer in Israel’s territory: the Separation Wall is finally moved.   From the checkpoint we walk a few hundred meters and cross a field to join Yusuf and Peter. First we are- naturally!- invited to have coffee at Yusuf’s house, a lovely “micro-cosmos” of urban and rural life (sheep, goats and more animals in their yard with fruit-trees etc.), and get a taste of the delicious homemade yoghurt which Yusuf’s father produces on a small scale to provide part of their livelihood.  After meeting several members of the family Yusuf takes us in his car to the Terminal. The road leading towards it is in an extremely bad shape: full with potholes, as is the parking lot. The contrast with Israel’s side is poignant!  The large –dusty, unpaved- area in front of the walkway that leads towards Israel resembles a Chinese open-air-food-market with not only all kinds of food being sold but being cooked on the spot as well. It is now empty of customers and, as much as possible, being swept clean.

8.30Yusuf takes us back to the spot near Jabara-checkpoint, we thank our hosts and return home.

We beg that it be checked at Kafr Jamal who the persons were who weren't able to reach their plots

13:10 Habla -          The gate is open and there are no people waiting. A truck leaves

                                   And after it the children's bus. The  luggage trunk is checked and a

                                   soldier gets on the bus for additional checking.

13:40                         Arb a Ramadin – there are earthworks going on at the village. We were

                                   not able to find out what was being done there. The school area is

                                   clean, well groomed and quiet. The school day is terminated.

13:45                         Eliyahu Passage – we park the car at the parking lot and cross over at

                                   the pedestrian crossing. Immediately a security man dashes towards us.

                                   You have no right to be here. For whom is the pedestrian crossing         

                                    intended? We ask. Only for security personnel is the answer of the

                                   security mean. We are headed to the bus station we reply. This is

                                   permitted only with the accompaniment of a security man. Even before the meeting with the security people I take photos of the

                                    new dog kennels at the margin of the parking lot. 

There are good conditions for thedogs waiting for their shift of foraging and sniffing in the cars of the Palestinians entering Israel.

14:00  At Izbat Tabib      There still stands the protestation tent in front of the school which

                                            received a demolition injunction.             

14:20  Azoun                   A visit in the shop of Z. and  the unloading of the parcels and a toy for  his son.

                                         At the exit from Azoun there is a military jeep and two soldiers.

15:00  Palmiya               It is quiet at the CP. Nobody passes. At the village we shop at the

                                          grocery but don't succeed in talking with the grocery owner who

                                          talks only Arabic.

15:20 Kafr Jamal -          We take a hitchhiker who directs us to a grocery owner who talks

                                           a bit of Hebrew. We explain to him the aim of our visit. We ask

                                           that a list of all the Palestinians who cannot reach their plots we

                                            prepared for us, together with a detailed map. Petahya will contact  them for further explanations and we promised to arrive in a                                fortnight.

We continue through Kafr Sour, Beit Lid and the Anabta CP – there are no searches at the CP and the nice coffee vendor is still here with his jar.

16:25  Jabara CP -           All the turnstiles turn and the flow of people returning home is interminable. Near the fence (on the side of the DCO) a Palestinian  hands a request to a DCO officer who arrived especially to meet him, with the fence dividing between them.

03:55  We arrive before the gates open

  Annaline notices new work on a sewer and a security fence.  Solid structures intended to last a long time.

04:02  The gate opened on time, more or less.  The women’s gate opened at the same time and closed at 04:09 after all the women on the separate line had entered.  Women who arrived late had to join the regular line.

The ecumenicals reportthat there are again holes in the corridor fences, on both sides, at two places.  We heard again, from one of the guards, the story of how they repair the fence and the Palestinians come with professional tools and make holes to go through.  The new holes will be repaired soon…

On our way to the exit Israel guards approach us requesting we notify them when we arrive, before we go to the separation fence on the Palestinian side.  That’s a new request.  They say the army has the fence under observation to prevent it from being breached and it disturbs them when we move around the area…

At the exit gate,  the flow of people exiting is interrupted from time to time.  Occasionally the gate stops turning for about thirty seconds.  When it’s open about thirty people per minute go through.  And as expected when the corridor fences have been breached – people report an uproar on the line, say that two Palestinian Authority ambulances were called to collect persons who’d been trampled.  One man tells us he fell down and would have been trampled to death had not his two friends pulled him free.

A man comes out, extremely upset, saying that one of the staff accused him of talking on a cell phone (is that forbidden?), and when he said he hadn’t – he was removed from the line and made to stand off to the side and threatened he’d be handcuffed if he didn’t behave properly (an example, says Annaline, of the saying in Proverbs 30:22, “when a servant shall reign…”).  He told us he had to stand there 45 minutes until he was allowed to continue along his Via Dolorosa to the exit.

05:20  We left.

On her way home, Annaline stopped at the Eyal checkpoint and counted six Afikim company buses waiting to take Palestinians to various destinations (some minivans also).  Why aren’t there similar buses at the Efrayim gate?

Regarding health insurance for Palestinian workers in Israel:  they pay Bituach Leumi, which in Israel provides accident insurance and makes them eligible for health insurance in a Palestinian HMO.  When the Palestinian Authority has no money – they can’t obtain medications, even though they’re insured…

The gates open at 04:05, five minutes late.

The women’s gate opens at the same time.  All the women who had crowded around go through in 4 minutes and the gate is locked.  Whoever arrives a minute later (at 04:10) must join the regular line.  Women claim that Friday (15.3.13) the women’s gate didn’t open at all!

Among those crossing to Israel, a man we’d chosen to time at 04:15 came out of the facility at 04:25.  In other words – the crossing goes quickly.  A man who’d been given a slip of paper by the Ecumenicals when he was still in line came through in 15 minutes.  All six booths are operating.  A man tells us about an elderly man who was delayed inside; a second person tells us that the elderly man was sent back.  It isn’t clear why.

The flow of people coming through diminishes.  The Ecumenicals report by phone that the entry gates have been closed.  They remained closed for 15 minutes.  Why?  The congestion at the entrance increases; people become angrier!  The Ecumenicals report that there’s confusion and fighting at the gate.  Two weeks ago, 1118 people entered the facility during the first half hour; today, only 750 went in.

People tell us it’s difficult to obtain prescription drugs as part of their health insurance  (drugs are available privately but they’re too expensive for the laborers).  We tried to find out what health insurance they had.  It isn’t clear to us.  Everyone with an Israeli work permit pays NIS 95 per month for insurance.  The people we spoke to didn’t know whether they were covered by Nat==nal Insurance (Bituach Leumi) or by the health insurance law.  Annalin tried for a week to find out what insurance they had, and what it entitled them to (that’s why this report has been delayed).  We haven’t yet been able to understand what’s going on.  If anyone knows – please tell us.

05:15  Jubara crossing.  We were asked to find out about the relocation of the fence’s route.  The new route hasn’t yet been completed; we see double fences – both new ones and old ones in a confusing tangle.  At this hour all the gates in the fence are open.  Cars go through the vehicle crossing without stopping.

05:35   We left.

 Translator: Hanna K.

Azzun, Kafr Tsur, Irtah CP

11:25 Eliyahu crossing – three cars are being checked with their engine-hood raised. There are no queues and the traffic is sparse.

Izbat Tabib -  The barbed wire hoops on the left of the road still exist, and the road itself has been enlarged lately. Opposite the school there is a protestors' tent, made of green sheets.

11:35 Azzun – A meeting with Z. in his shop, to unload parcels of clothes and toys. Z. tells us that sales are declining because the Palestinians, who didn't receive their fees because Israelis withholding the transfer of the tax payments which she collects for the Palestinian Authority, don't buy. It is quiet in Azzun. The settlers do not arrive in order to perform riots. Without understanding medicine we can discern that his condition has deteriorated and the trembling has intensified throughout the whole body.

A phone conversation with M. from  Falamiya – the troubles have ended and the gate is open (it was closed for a single day only).

12:30 Kafr Tsur – A meeting in G.'s house – he wanted to talk with us about the residents who hadn't received permits to process their plots. He worked over thirty years in Israeland speaks fluent Hebrew. He has a passage permit at the Sal'it CP (agricultural gate #839)which is open in the morning from 05:45 till 06:15 and at noon from 15:00 to 15:50 only.  If a Palestinian leaves in the morning to his plot for a task that takes three hours only (for spraying, for instance) he cannot return home at the end of his task. He is obliged to remain in the field till the opening hours of the gate in the afternoon. An unbearable situation.G. was yesterday at the DCO and received an additional permit for passage at the Jubara CP (fabric of life gate #753) which is open all the 24 hours. But not everybody has the same luck.

He turns to us in the name of three Palestinians, residents of Kafr Tsur, who had permits which expired and were not renewed. The reply which one of them got, after he applied through the regular channels to the Palestinian linkup who transferred his request to the DCO, was that his plus had received already many permits on which it was written "working", and therefore they refuse to issue him a permit. He is the single owner of the plot, as all the members of his family moved to Jordan, and in his opinion it is impossible that permits had been issued for his plant to others, unless their were forged. This is a phenomenon that repeats itself.

We received his papers and were asked to transfer them again to the DCO. We decide to change the program of our shift and to drive to the DCO with A.'s "application for an entry permit to the juncture area". Our host G. joins us. On the way he tells us that they are no more a local council, but that their have a municipality which operates in a three stories building opposite the village of Zibad, and unites all the villages of the neighborhood.

We stop at the outskirts of the village to see Sal'it(a cooperative workers' settlement in the east of the Sharon, about 8 kms south of Tul Karem) which is so near, to our left is the separation fence which is adjacent to the houses of the settlement. When one person from the village of kafr Tsur wishes to enter Sal'it for work, he contact his liaison person and he arrives with a key and opens the gate for him. G. calls this "Good neighborly relations".

We observe the villages of Ar-Ras and Jubara. Their plots were, according to him, included in the area of the West Bankby the new separation fence, as a result of a ruling of the High Court of Justice. The completion of the works is expected in about two month, one has to rebuild a part of the road. On the other hand a great part of the plots of the village of Kafr Tsour will remain beyond the fence, because of their vicinity to the settlement of Sal'it.

After one passes under road 557 and turns left there is a long queue of vehicles with yellow number plates – Israeli Arabs who return to Israel. We continue northwards, turn right and by way of Farounreach Izbat Shufaand continue to the T intersection which was blocked in the past, the big blocks are still on the side of the road. Our host leaves us. In the intersection there are 4 military vehicles. We try to find out from the many soldiers who walk along the road which turns right (to road no. 557) what the reason is, and they answer "a secretmaneuver".

13:30 The Kafrtiat/Te'enim CP – no queues.

13:40 We go to the DCO at the Irtah CP with A.'s papers. There is a sparse traffic of Palestinians who return home. The gate of the DCO is shut. We ask about Adal but don't get any cooperation. We contact Adal and he surprises us and arrives to meet us beyond the fence. He refuses to take A.'s papers. "Tell him to contact me. I will explain to him that he has to approach a hearing committee at the Palestinian Authority".

14:00We continue on road 444 in the direction of Kfar Saba. We did not successfully accomplish our mission. Disappointment. 

Efraim gate (Irtach),

04:05  We arrive at the checkpoint (sorry – “the crossing,” as the official newspeak now calls it).  As we walk to the compound we see many women coming out.  That means the women’s gate had been open, but it was already closed when we reached it and the women who arrived late stood in the regular line (remember, the checkpoint manager said he doesn’t have the budget to keep the women’s gate open for more than ten minutes when the checkpoint opens!).  We meet the representatives of the Ecumenical mission, as usual; a new group, inexperienced and flabbergasted at what goes on.  The line seems less congested than usual for a Sunday; there’s a hubbub of conversations, not shouts.  It’s apparently because of the rain preventing the farmers from working in their fields.  There aren’t any holes today in the fence at the entrance to the lane.

04:15  We move to the entry to Israel.  A man asks for a phone number to call to get help for someone who’s blacklisted.  We gave him Sylvia’s number…  Another man says that on Friday, in addition to the fact that the checkpoint opens an hour later, fewer booths are open; they open and close intermittently making people who’ve already waited move from one to the other.  The general opinion of those crowding under the canopy because of the rain is that the Efraim gate is worse than the one at Eyal.

Someone’s seated behind Window 14 talking on the phone, and no one goes through there for ten minutes.

A man who’d been given a chit by the Ecumenicals at 04:15 comes through at 04:33 – that is, it took him about half an hour (including time waiting in line before entering the building).

To sum up the morning, here’s what one of the laborers has to say:  You’ve been active here now for ten years, and not much has changed.  What good are you?  And we really felt helpless…

05:00  We left.

04:05  We arrive at the checkpoint (sorry – “the crossing,” as the official newspeak now calls it).  As we walk to the compound we see many women coming out.  That means the women’s gate had been open, but it was already closed when we reached it and the women who arrived late stood in the regular line (remember, the checkpoint manager said he doesn’t have the budget to keep the women’s gate open for more than ten minutes when the checkpoint opens!).  We meet the representatives of the Ecumenical mission, as usual; a new group, inexperienced and flabbergasted at what goes on.  The line seems less congested than usual for a Sunday; there’s a hubbub of conversations, not shouts.  It’s apparently because of the rain preventing the farmers from working in their fields.  There aren’t any holes today in the fence at the entrance to the lane.

04:15  We move to the entry to Israel.  A man asks for a phone number to call to get help for someone who’s blacklisted.  We gave him Sylvia’s number…  Another man says that on Friday, in addition to the fact that the checkpoint opens an hour later, fewer booths are open; they open and close intermittently making people who’ve already waited move from one to the other.  The general opinion of those crowding under the canopy because of the rain is that the Efraim gate is worse than the one at Eyal.

Someone’s seated behind Window 14 talking on the phone, and no one goes through there for ten minutes.

A man who’d been given a chit by the Ecumenicals at 04:15 comes through at 04:33 – that is, it took him about half an hour (including time waiting in line before entering the building).

To sum up the morning, here’s what one of the laborers has to say:  You’ve been active here now for ten years, and not much has changed.  What good are you?  And we really felt helpless…

05:00  We left.

09:40  We stopped at the Palestinian workers' crossing at Irtach. It was empty and quiet at that hour. It was also dirty with lots of trash strewn around.

We went through Te'enim Gate as we noted that Jubarra is completely blocked from that side. There is a new fence that includes Abu Khatem's house. And the old fence is still there also. Double security.

As we drive we note the beautiful almond trees in bloom. Anabta is open and empty. There is a military jeep at the road leading to Shavei Shomron. It's a lovely spring day and we pass a number of shepherds with their flocks of goats and sheep. We have to stop to let them cross the road.

Habla is empty and quiet. At the plant nursery we see many full grown olive trees for sale. We wonder where they came from.

11:00  We left through the Eliahu Gate.

03:45-04:50  Irtach

The Palestinians’ entry courtyard to the inspection building has been reorganized.  The inner gates have also been electrified.  The spirals of razor wire along the fence dividing the general checkpoint area from the part considered Palestinian have been removed.  There’s now no way to bring women up to the revolving gate without their first joining the main line.  The concrete cubes along the exit from the inspection building have been replaced by higher walls that look like stone tiles; the lower portion is made of broad, flat straight surfaces resembling benches.

Congestion is terrible in the fenced lane before the entrance. There is  a  large group of women bunched around two small bonfires to warm up on this very cold morning.

The electric revolving gate at the entry plaza begins operating at 04:07.  A few women manage to enter in the second wave going through the revolving gate.  The rest enter only 7-8 minutes later and the congestion is great.

The first few people exit on the other side about seven minutes later  From then on, the revolving gate at the exit (constructed, as we recall, according to the venerable checkpoint principle of one-at-a-time) doesn’t stop turning quickly and at a fairly consistent rate.  Those coming out can be seen putting more than one layer of clothing back on as they leave the document inspection booths – not only coats, but often the layer beneath as well.  Men and women complain to us about the terrible congestion in the lines.  Women stress the crowding; they can’t deal with the men or with the undesirable physical contact and touching while on line.  Most of the women are adults.  They began exiting the other side, in groups, only about 20 minutes after the checkpoint opened.  Many of them work picking strawberries during this season.

Many of them arrive an hour or even an hour and a half before the gates open to ensure they’ll get to work on time, because it’s impossible to estimate how long it will take to go through the checkpoint.  Some say that yesterday one of the laborers had to be hospitalized because of the crowding.

They say that inspection takes longer than necessary; there aren’t enough inspectors to handle the hundreds and thousands trying do go through in a relatively short period of time and the clerks at the final stage of document inspection work slowly.

At 04:35, the revolving gate at the entrance stopped for about three minutes.  We think it was because so many people were crowded into the inspection building.

At 04:50 we drove to the Eyal checkpoint.

People were crowded all through the checkpoint area when we arrived.  People came out fairly quickly.

We met Na’im, from Jayyus, who thought it would be good to enable Machsom Watch women to see things from the other side – the congestion, the long wait, etc.

05:30  We drove to the Eliyahu gate

We arrived and parked in the lot.  We walked down toward the checkpoint.  First one of the security guards stopped us.  We waited on a sort of large traffic island adjoining the sidewalk running the length of the parking lot.  A particularly extreme example of ornate checkpoint architecture with stone flower pots, ramps resembling mosaic and swaths of artificial grass, though there aren’t multicolored lights illuminating the grass like at the Eyal checkpoint.  Then the person in charge appeared and didn’t allow us to walk to the checkpoint, claiming that we “are interfering with people doing their job.”  He allowed us only to stand on the sidewalk on the other side of the road, dozens of meters from the checkpoint itself.  He was very assertive in his demands which are, in our view, illegal, and we wrote down his particulars in order to file a complaint.

06:15  Habla agricultural gate

The inner area of the checkpoint was illuminated by two giant projectors.  In a plastic bag on the gate, so it wouldn’t get wet, was a printed page in Arabic listing the new opening hours of the checkpoint and the telephone number of the humanitarian office in Jerusalem.  The projectors were turned off when the gate opened.  The soldiers told us that they turn on and off automatically; the gate isn’t illuminated all night long.  The area here has also been reorganized; the barbed wire fences that used to be on the inner side of the ditch surrounding the checkpoint area have been removed, the ground leveled and new razor wire spirals have been placed on the external fence on the other side of the ditch.  (The garbage surrounding the checkpoint hasn’t been removed).

The gate opened at six-thirty.  At 06:35 people in groups of five began coming through the inspection building.  Inspection was quick, also for a man and young son in a horse cart.

Tightly packed rows of pruned olive trees were planted temporarily in mounds of earth along the path leading to the checkpoint gate and behind the bus stop.  They were about 12-15 years old.  At the exit from the village and on the other side of the main road running past it we saw rows of much older olive trees.  No one could tell us at this hour of the morning where they’d come from; people only pointed to the plant nursery to which they belonged.  Because the crossing operated in a reasonable manner and the soldiers didn’t seem stressed and weren’t unduly pedantic . We left at about 07:30