PALESTINIAN WORKERS GO THROUGH SECURITY AT EREZ BORDER CROSSING, 2002-10-22 (photo)

An elderly Palestinian worker goes through security at the Erez border crossing early October 22, 2002. Several thousand Palestinian workers rise in the middle of the night to make it into a huge queue before a revolving metal gate marking the start of the maximum-security border strip between the Gaza Strip and the Jewish state where they go for daily work. An army spokesman said Israel had granted new work permits to 18,702 Palestinians, 11,966 of them from Gaza, a poor desert strip whose economy depends heavily on migrant work and trade with the Jewish state frozen at the start of the revolt. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj DS