Jenin, West Bank, May 12: Forty Palestinians were released from a Israeli jail today and allowed back into the West Bank, according to a news agency report. The 40 were released from Megiddo Military Jail, just north of the West Bank, and held at Salem checkpoint for several hours before being allowed back into the Palestinian territory.
Among the group, 38 were workers who were handed short prison terms for entering Israel without a permit and refused or could not pay the fine. "I was working in Israel and I slept there sometimes. They caught me and sentenced me to a 1,000-Shekel (200-dollar) fine and two years in prison," said 33-year-old Mahmud Abdel Hafez, from a village near the southern West Bank city of Hebron.
Abdel Hafez, who had served only one month of his sentence, said that sentences varied depending on whether workers without permits were caught staying overnight in Israel, crossing the green line illegally or were arrested at a checkpoint. The two other Palestinians released had been detained or security reasons and their sentences expired today. Bureau Report