Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim), Fri 23.11.12, Morning

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Place:

Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)

Observers:

Annelin K. , Leora S., Varda Z. (reporting)

Nov-23-2012

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Morning

Translator: Hanna K.

05:05 Irtah

The gate has just been opened with a five minutes delay. The quue is not terribly long, similar to the one two weeks ago. We chose two men for the surveillance of the length of their stay at the installation. They leave after 16 minutes. Out of five existing checking rooms four are open. A man who talks Hebrew and is waiting for a friend who has not yet arrived tells us, upon Annelin's request what the procedure is: Fourteen men are put simultaneously into one room. The papers are presented at a porthole. A door to a side room is opened and everybody has to deposit all his belongings there. The door is shut and they are waiting. After some time the door is opened again and the men are asked to collect their belongings and their papers and are allowed to proceed to their work.

A man who left the turnstiles, that's to say has been checked, tries to re-enter hurriedly. At this stage the turnstile is open for exiting only. He waits resignedly. The Hebrew speaker explains that the man has forgotten to collect his papers when leaving, and remembered only when he was in the turnstiles. He cannot go on to his works, an probably also fears for the fate of the papers. Leora and I decide to try and ask in the offices that the gate be opened for him. We talk with the guard who promises to open immediately. When we get back to the turnstiles – they were indeed opened for him and he got back again (he was asked to leave his belongings outside..) The turnstiles on the other hand are closed in both directions, we cannot understand why. After some time it is re-opened and our man is among the people coming out, radiant. When the traffic becomes sparser a green light is lit over the turnstiles and whoever wishes to get in is enabled to do so. The movement in both directions is possible. Quite a few people return – because of the rain there is no work.

A man approaches us and tells us that although he has all the necessary authorizations he is detained every day for an hour of more for special and lengthy checks – and he wishes to know why. We took his details and Leora undertook to clarify with Sylvia what could be done.

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.