Herding workers like cattle

Taybe Checkpoint for Palestinian workers entering Israel near Tulkarm

Kabob stand at entrance

In three hours early this morning I saw over 5,500 Palestinian workers herded like cattle through cages to pass an Israeli checkpoint to get to their jobs in Israel. Most were understandably angry and frustrated.

At the entrance to the Taybe Checkpoint near Tulkarm there are 25 flourishing food stands that fortify the workers for the pushing and shoving nightmare in the cages.  Then the workers must pass through a wide cage about 80 feet long, followed by four narrower short bends of cages before they reach two turnstiles that enter the checkpoint proper. I did not see the inside of the checkpoint, because internationals are not allowed to enter. EAs monitor it only from the West Bank side.

The long cage

The short bends of cages

Women's fire

When we got to the checkpoint just before it opened at 4 a.m., we found some women warming  themselves by a fire and others standing at the humanitarian gate, which puts them into the last bend of the cage just before the turnstiles. One woman told us that Friday the humanitarian gate was not open at all, so they were jostled by thousands of men in the main gate, which is culturally repulsive. Before the opening today the main lane was filled with men all the way back to the food stands.

Opening of checkpoint at 4 a.m.

The checkpoint opened promptly at 4, as did the humanitarian gate. Unfortunately the humanitarian gate was closed in four minutes after the last of the 78 early women went through, so later women entered through a hole in the fence in the long gate.

Some men decided to follow the women's example and cut in line through the same hole, evoking screams of protest from others in the line.  Some also tried to get ahead by walking on top of the narrow concrete foundation of the chain link fence.

Men cutting in line through the hole

The caged faces of frustration and despair

Oher EAs from Tulkarm who regularly monitor the checkpoint said it was slower than usual this morning. In the fastest half hour we saw 1,272 go through, but in the slowest half hour there were only 512. We like to think it was more than a coincidence that the pace improved after two calls to the humanitarian line.

A couple hundred workers sulked outside the cages as the line dwindled, because with the slower processing they were too late to make it to their jobs.

Landscaper Nipham explains his problem to EA Roland from Sweden

One such worker was Nipham, a landscaper from the northern West Bank city of Jenin. He says he has to work in Israel to support his family, with two sons in the university, because he cannot find a job in the West Bank. He must get up at 3 a.m. to get to the checkpoint by 4. He says he earns about $30 a day in Israel, but has to spend $10 of that on bus fare to get to the checkpoint.
Today he said the line was too slow for him to make it through the checkpoint in time to get his employer's bus to the job on the other side of the barrier at 6:15, and the bus would not wait for him. He just gave up, and went  home to sleep, $10 poorer for the bus fare.

With Father Ibrahim Nairouz in Nablus

I felt overwhelmed by the visions of the men and women in the cages, sharing their anger at the unfairness of the system. If only the 45-year occupation of the West Bank could end and the barrier could come down.  If only the United States could stop giving $3 billion in unconditional military aid to Israel every year.

My spirit was refreshed by worshiping with nine other EAs from the northern placements at St. Philips Anglican Church in Nablus with Father Ibrahim Nairouz, my good friend from former visits. He encouraged the EAs to continue working for a just peace.