The Sheikh Abdalla Ibrahim / Wadi Rahal Checkpoint is located on the access road to the Efrat settlement.
The road also leads to land owned by Palestinians from Wadi Rahal and manned by the security guards of the Efrat settlement. The checkpoint is open to passing Israelis 24 hours a day. Palestinian workers and cleaners can pass only according to a list of contractors and in their presence.
In light of the enormous expansion of Efrat, it sounds reasonable that about 1000 workers pass there every morning.
We met a laborer on his way to the checkpoint and asked whether he had a work permit. He showed us a permit that was bought from a contractor for a considerable amount of money.
The last time we visited this checkpoint (07:00 in the morning) we could witness the "slave market" held there. Contractors "sell" each other workers and professionals. The workers come mainly from the surrounding villages and they are spared the detour through the Bethlehem checkpoint. The eastward expansion of the Efrat is a link in a broader plan that aims to create a territorial continuum between the Gush Etzion bloc and the Dead Sea area while crossing the occupied territories (thereby preventing continuous Palestinian control of the West Bank." (From a MahsomWatch report, 2022)
