Israelis return home from Jericho

JERUSALEM, Sept. 23 (JTA) – Ten homeless families have returned to Israel after spending nearly a month in Jericho, where they had sought – and received – asylum from the Palestinian Authority. The families had sought refuge in the Palestinian self-rule area after being evicted from the Jewish Agency for Israel’s absorption center in Mevasseret Zion, where they had illegally moved in with other families. Palestinian Preventive Security Service head Jibril Rajoub had welcomed them, and set the families up in a Jericho hotel. However, the arrangement seemed unsuitable to Gesher Knesset member Maxim Levy, who, in the reconciliatory spirit of the upcoming holidays, urged the families to return to Israel. “As someone who witnessed their eviction, there were certain mistakes made, and now we want to work to bring them home and give them a house in Mevasseret,” he said.