Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)
Rainy and empty.
4:02. We arrive. Groups of people have already passed through the checkpoint. The gates
opened before 4:00. The parking lot has been surfaced, but it isn't open yet and the road is badly jammed.
By the separation fence: there is no line waiting. People walk in as soon as they arrive. Some progress is visible at the new entering facility site.
By the turnstile leading into Israel: the flow of traffic is smooth. People say that today was okay, except for one angry man. He’s elderly, says he's been working in Israel for thirty years. Today he happened to be routed through a room instead of a magnetometer.
He says that an employee young enough to be his daughter harassed him, shouting take off your shoes! What do you have in the bag of documents? Take everything out! He says, can't she speak politely to her elders? And what could be hidden in an ID card, which she didn’t even look at? He says he told her that her attitude causes anger and hate--she said she doesn't care, she just wants to put in her hours and go home.
He also said that when we observe from the outside, we can't see the attitude of some of the employees. Some of them take time to chat with each other or talk on their phones, while people are waiting and not daring to criticize their behavior.
4:25 We leave.