Published Sunday 04/10/2009 (updated) 05/10/2009 18:06
Men emerge from the refrigerator truck
Bethlehem – Ma’an – Israeli police discovered 70 Palestinian men seeking work in Israel crammed into the back of a refrigerator truck on Sunday.
The workers and the driver, reportedly from the Palestinian-Israeli town of Abu Ghosh, near Jerusalem, were arrested. The men were sent back to the West Bank, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said.
According to the report, Israeli Border Guards stopped the vehicle on Highway Six, a major north-south thoroughfare.
"We honestly didn’t expect to find this many people in the truck," Border Guard Chief-Inspector Yossi Frienti told the newspaper. "It was an inhumane sight, unfortunately. Animals shouldn’t be transported like that, let alone people."
The passengers boarded the truck in Shuafat, north of Jerusalem en route to the Wadi Ara area in northern Israel, the report said. The driver was reportedly to be paid a fee of 250-300 Israeli shekel (65-80 US dollars) for each passenger.
The workers and the driver, reportedly from the Palestinian-Israeli town of Abu Ghosh, near Jerusalem, were arrested. The men were sent back to the West Bank, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said.
According to the report, Israeli Border Guards stopped the vehicle on Highway Six, a major north-south thoroughfare.
"We honestly didn’t expect to find this many people in the truck," Border Guard Chief-Inspector Yossi Frienti told the newspaper. "It was an inhumane sight, unfortunately. Animals shouldn’t be transported like that, let alone people."
The passengers boarded the truck in Shuafat, north of Jerusalem en route to the Wadi Ara area in northern Israel, the report said. The driver was reportedly to be paid a fee of 250-300 Israeli shekel (65-80 US dollars) for each passenger.
