Lower Age Limit Lets In More Palestinians

The army lowered the age limit for Palestinians working in the Jewish state, allowing thousands more to work legally. Avi Benayahu, a spokesman for Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai, said married Palestinian men ages 23 and older will now be eligible for work permits in Israel. The previous minimum was 25. The move could allow as many as 10,000 more Palestinians to work in Israel and give an additional 1,500 businesspeople permits to enter, officials said. In the early 1990s, more than 100,000 Palestinians worked in Israel. But following a series of suicide bomb attacks by Palestinians in Israeli cities, their freedom to enter was severely restricted.