Israel on Monday, April 9, expelled more than 3,000 Palestinian laborers staying illegally, army radio said, following an earlier easing of restrictions on workers from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Palestinians working in Israel are required by military order to return to their homes outside Israel proper at the end of a workday, but these laborers were permitted by their employers to spend nights in Israel, the radio reported.
The employers have been questioned and fined, it added.
At the same time, Israel said it has decided to allow 3,200 Palestinians to return to work in its territory from Monday, with some 1,400 permits so far being issued.
The Palestinians authorized to return must have had a permit for Israel before the outbreak of the intifada at the end of September, be over the age of 35, married and with children.
More than 120,000 Palestinians worked in Israel before the Jewish state clamped a blockade on the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a bid to contain the violence. — (AFP, Jerusalem)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
