Translation: Bracha B.A.

4:25
We arrived a short time before the checkpoint opened. There is a large crowd of laborers - men and women - on the road leading to the checkpoint, trying to be first in line.

We stand on the other side of the barbed wire – “The shrine to the women of Machsom Watch.”

The checkpoint opens on time, at 04:30. Groups of 20 people run towards the magnometer at the entrance to the facility.

We went to the exit from the checkpoint where the first workers were beginning to come out, five minutes after it opened. We heard the same familiar but justified complaints about the early hour people must get up, about delays in the checkpoint for no apparent reason, but we also heard many people say, “Today’s a good day”.

Hanna counted the people coming out within five minutes. There were about 100, approximately 3,000 during the morning.

05:50 – We went back to the entrance of the checkpoint. It is still very crowded. We alternated between observing what was going on in the parking lot, talking with workers who were working in the pick in the area of Ramleh, looking at the booths for selling coffee and cigarettes, and talking to the people who have come out quickly but now have to wait for an hour and a half until their employers come to pick them up and take them to work. We listen but cannot do anything to help.

06:20 – We returned to the entrance road to the checkpoint. There is little traffic. Another morning went by without any noticeable events. It is depressing. I almost forgot – the sign or welcome announcement is still working but is almost over.

Location Description

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.

Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim), Mon 21.12.09, Morning

Translation: Bracha B.A.