Israel Border Police officers arrested 256 Palestinians illegally residing within the Green Line over the past week, nearly half of them in the Jerusalem area.
An additional 81 people were arrested on suspicion of providing those detained with transportation, employment or accommodation in Israel.
Israel last year started granting Palestinians in Judea and Samaria a new kind of entry permit designed to decrease the number of illegal crossings.
The Job Seekers permit was being issued to Palestinians who pass security screenings, and enables them to enter Israel 15 times over the course of two months in order to seek employment.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) unit in the Defense Ministry released a statement at the time saying that the defense establishment has been working to decrease the phenomenon of Palestinians illegally entering Israel, including by securing the seam zone (the area between the Green Line and the security barrier) in Judea and Samaria.
“In the context of the overall effort,” the statement continued, “it was decided to adapt criteria to issuing employment permits in Israel, with the goal being to tighten security supervision on Palestinians entering Israel for work, and to boost enforcement against those in Israel illegally as well as those who transport and employ them.”
The Israel Defense Forces similarly works to prevent Palestinians from attempting to cross into the Jewish state from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
