Description

Palestinian laborers at the Sha’ar Ephraim checkpoint separating the West Bank and Israel, December 22, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Palestinian laborers pray outside the Sha’ar Ephraim checkpoint separating the West Bank and Israel, December 22, 2014. (Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)
____

TULKAREM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian man from the northern West Bank village of Farun died Wednesday morning after he was crushed to death inside an Israeli checkpoint near Tulkarem as he was trying to get to work.

Witnesses said 39-year-old Ahmad Samih Bdeir, who was on his way to a construction job inside Israel, choked to death in extreme overcrowding amid large numbers of people trying to cross the al-Tayba checkpoint, also called Shaar Efrayim.

The witnesses said the crush occurred because of the extremely slow pace at which inspection procedures were carried out by the Israeli soldiers staffing the facility.

The death is the second at al-Tayba this year, after 59-year-old Adel Muhammad Yakoub died in early January as a result of extreme overcrowding at the checkpoint as well.

Inspection procedures at the checkpoint typically take hours as every person must pass through metal turnstiles one-at-a-time.

The turnstiles in turn are controlled by Israeli soldiers from hidden posts, and workers frequently complain about unnecessary delays caused by the soldiers staffing the checkpoints, who are typically 18- or 19-year-old conscripts finishing their compulsory military service.

Following the revolving gates, there are metal detectors and inspection stations. Palestinian are often crowded into metal pens inside the checkpoints, unable to leave or enter, and Israeli soldiers rarely respond to requests for movement from those stuck inside.

Sources in the Palestinian Federation of Trade Unions said that more than 15,000 Palestinian workers pass through al-Tayba checkpoint every day.

They said that the checkpoint is operated by the Israeli military as well as private Israeli security companies.

The group's secretary-general, Shahir Saad, appealed to international human rights groups and trade unions to exert pressure on Israel to remove the "death checkpoints" and protect Palestinian workers.

According to the Palestinian census bureau, around 30,000 Palestinians have received permits to work in Israel and are thus forced to cross the checkpoints on a daily basis.

According to the Israeli rights group B'Tselem, Israel denies permits to tens of thousands of other Palestinians who apply, and up to 30,000 Palestinians work in Israel without permits.

Nine days ago, more than 5,000 Palestinian workers refused to cross the checkpoint in the morning protesting what they called "humiliating" inspection procedures.
_____

By Haggai Matar for 972Mag

Concessions in response to workers protest of overcrowding were short-lived, Palestinians say. A 38-year-old Palestinian laborer dies in Israel’s Sha’ar Ephraim checkpoint in the West Bank.

A Palestinian man died at the Sha’ar Ephraim checkpoint Wednesday, just a week after Palestinian laborers there staged a strike to protest overcrowding and poor treatment from guards.

Ahmad Samih Abdir, 38, from the Tulkarem area of the West Bank, collapsed inside a turnstile in the checkpoint, according to his brother. Medics at the checkpoint declared him dead shortly thereafter. Abdir didn’t have any medical problems, according to his brother, and he leaves behind a wife and five children.

A week ago, thousands of Palestinian laborers refused to pass through the checkpoint in protest of the conditions there. They demanded that more inspection checkpoints be staffed and that the guards, employed by private security contractor “White Snow,” treat them better.

When I spoke to the Palestinians who use the checkpoint last week, a day after their strike, they explained that people often faint, are injured and trampled there, sometimes resulting in death.

The security company that runs the checkpoint on contract from the Defense Ministry responded to the strike by promising to improve conditions. Indeed, when we visited the following day, more inspection points were open.

The Palestinian laborers were satisfied with their achievements last week, but they all expressed that the improvements wouldn’t last long. According to a report from the Worker’s Hotline NGO and laborers with whom we spoke, overcrowding returned within a matter of days.

Between 6,000 and 9,000 people, all of whom have Israeli work permits, pass through the checkpoint every day in the pre-dawn hours in order to make it to their workplaces in the center of the country.

Abdir was one of those workers, waking up at 3 a.m each day in order to make it to his construction job in the center of Israel.

His body was taken by a Palestinian ambulance to the West Bank pathological center in Abu Dis, near Jerusalem. His funeral was expected to take place on Thursday.

Worker’s Hotline executive director Ala Khatib responded that, “Abdir’s death must be a red flag reminding policy makers of their obligation to protect the lives and security of tens of thousands of Palestinian laborers on their way to work in Israel each morning.”

Israeli authorities must lengthen the checkpoint’s operating hours and number of inspection points, Khatib added. The Worker’s Hotline is considering filing a court petition to force the Defense Ministry to ensure the safety of Palestinian workers, it said.

This article was first published on +972′s Hebrew-language sister site, Local Call. Read it in Hebrew here.