Barta’a Checkpoint:  Not ready to change the opening hour in the morning. 14:30 – 15:40

 15.40 – 14.30

Anin Agricultural Checkpoint

Because of the heavy rain, the checkpoint was only opened at 07:00 this morning (instead of at 06:30).  Only six people crossed through.  Workers from Anin who went to work in Israel and the Seamline Zone were forced, on purpose, to cross at the very distant Barta’a Checkpoint on this rainy day

Barta’a Checkpoint

Y., the Deputy Commander of the checkpoint, told Hagar by phone that it was decided not to open the checkpoint earlier, at 4:00 instead of at 4:30. Likewise, he noted that the women’s track is open 10 minutes before the general entrance.  We met our acquaintance, T. (a seamster), who told us that the women’s entrance in the morning is indeed orderly, but the general entrance is very problematic.  Hundreds wait outside  but they allow only a fixed number of people to enter, and then they close; then again a fixed number of people and then close. . . and heaven forbid, this procedure keeps repeating and causes crowding and pushing.  Why don’t they allow a steady, flowing entry? Obviously, today fewer people arrived because of the rain and in spite of that, one of the people tells us that the crossing continued for an hour to one-and-a-half hours.

At about 15:30, the flow of workers returning home to the West Bank iincreases. Few people return to the Seamline Zone from the West Bank.

Tura Checkpoint

Heavy rain and weak traffic in both directions.