950807

Israel deports

43 Jordanian

workers

JERUSALEM: Israel has deported 43 Jordanians caught working illegally in the Jewish state since the signing of a peace treaty with Amman last October, officials said on Monday.

The labour ministry said some came to visit Arab relatives and later found jobs, but denied reports in the Hebrew media that hundreds of Jordanians are now working in Israel.

Employers of the illegal Jordanians were each fined 700 dollars. About 70,000 foreigners work legally in Israel -- mostly for eastern Europeans and Asians -- as well as more than 30,000 Palestinians.-AFP