A checkpoint on the access road to the Efrat settlement, which also leads to land owned by Palestinians from Wadi Rahal. Manned by the security guards of the Efrat settlement. Open to passing Israelis 24 hours a day. The passage of Palestinian workers and cleaners only from a list of contractors, and in their presence.
"In light of the enormous expansion of Efrat, it sounds absolutely reasonable to us that about 1000 workers pass there every morning. We later met a laborer on his way to the checkpoint and asked to find out if he had a work permit and he showed us a permit that was bought from a contractor for a considerable amount. Last time we came to the checkpoint at the time of the Hapoalim crossing (07:00 in the morning) and witnessed the "slave market" held there. Contractors "sell" each other workers and professionals. The workers come mainly from the surrounding villages and they are spared the detour through the Bethlehem checkpoint. The eastward expansion of the Euphrates is a link in a broader plan that aims to create a territorial continuum between the Gush Etzion bloc and the Dead Sea area while crossing the occupied territories (thereby preventing continuous Palestinian control of the West Bank." (From a Mahsumwatch report, 2022)
