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.