Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)

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Place:

Irtah (Sha'ar Efrayim)

Observers:

Edith M. (English translation), Varda Z. (reporting)

Jul-2-2017

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Morning

Dawn. Not much is new

When we arrived at the checkpoint, at 3:45, we noticed a new electronic sign facing towards Palestinian territory. The bright red writing that flowed across it was only in Arabic, but from the numbers we noticed in the text it evidently listed the hours when different kinds of permits would be allowed through.

The gates info-icon opened at 3:47 and the people who had been waiting ran towards the building. The first ones came out the other side just three minutes later; it pays to be first, and to hurry.

Until about 4:30, we saw no pressure or any build-up of a line of people waiting. Women got through in 4 - 5 minutes, men in 6 - 7 minutes.

Around 4:30 we saw an unusual occurrence: the magnetometers shut down, while the turnstiles in the separation barrier stayed open. In less than five minutes the open area filled with hundreds of people. When traffic flows smoothly, we don't notice what a large number of people passes through each minute. When the magnetometers opened again, it took several minutes for the area to return to normal. Men whom we picked out to watch for, who were 'caught' in the crowd, got through in 12-14 minutes. A woman took 7 minutes.

Just before 5:00, the gates began to open and close, as usual. The coffee-sellers took advantage of the opportunity to hawk their wares to the people waiting in line. A few people climbed over the barriers between lines, but there wasn't a lot of pressure. Once the gates opened, a woman passed through the checkpoint in 9 minutes, men took 10-11 minutes. At this point pressure increased at the turnstiles leading out into Israel, and the side gate was opened to ease matters.

On two separate occasions people spoke to us, saying that Sundays are fine, but we should come to see the problems on other days of the week. We plan to do that.

5:25 We left.

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.