Two dozen more Lebanese refugees return home from “Israel”

“ Twenty-four Lebanese who had fled to “Israel” following its troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon in May returned home overnight, police said Tuesday.

Eight men, five women and 11 children were taken in buses of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) into this town on the Mediterranean coast and turned over to Lebanese police, they said.

Among the men were three former members of the now-defunct “Israeli”-allied militia who were immediately detained, they said.

The other five men where kept for questioning while the women and children were allowed to return to their homes in the villages of Qlayaa and Rmeich, in the former “Israeli”-occupied border zone in south Lebanon.

Some 6,500 Lebanese followed the “Israeli” army as it withdrew from Lebanon in May.

According to police figures, about 600 of those who fled to “Israel” have returned to Lebanon.

More than 2,200 Lebanese are in the process of being tried before the military court in Beirut, or have already been convicted, for collaboration with “Israel” or simply having "contact with the “Israeli” enemy."

AFP, 12-9-2000.