Bus full of permit-less Palestinians stopped en route to Eilat vacation

Border police who stopped a bus full of West Bank Palestinian vacationers, among them two Jordanian nationals, on the way to the resort city of Eilat discovered that none of the passengers had permits to be in Israel, police said Thursday.

The bus was pulled over at a checkpoint north of the southern city on Wednesday after officers became suspicious of the vehicle. Border guards and counter-terrorism officers entered the bus and detained those on board.

Most of the Palestinians were from the cities of Ramallah and Hebron in the West Bank. Two of the passengers were from Jordan.

An initial investigation found that the passengers were the victims of a suspected swindle by a Ramallah travel company, which sold them vacation packages in Eilat without obtaining the permits needed by Palestinians to leave the West Bank and enter Israel.

After they were questioned, the Palestinians were taken back to the West Bank by Border Police Wednesday evening and sent home.

Three suspects were arrested — a resident of Ramallah and the driver and tour guide on the bus, both residents of East Jerusalem — and were being questioned, police said.