Israel to Release 127 Palestinians Confined to Jericho
Israel will allow 127 Palestinians it has confined to the Palestinian self-rule enclave in the West Bank town of Jericho to return to their homes within a week, Israeli security sources said Friday.
“Forty-one have already been allowed home, and 127 more will go within a week,” one security source said.
The freed men, barred from home and stuck in Jericho with nothing to do, have become a source of friction between Israel and the Palestinian Authority running self-rule. Jericho residents have demonstrated alongside the men demanding that they be allowed home.
Under the May 4 accord setting up self-rule in Jericho and the Gaza Strip, Israel pledged to free 5,000 Palestinian prisoners. Most have been released.
Israel forced about 550 freed Palestinians it had convicted of certain offenses who had homes elsewhere in the West Bank to stay in Jericho until their sentences ran out.
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