Ro'i Barak left for New York 16 months ago to earn some money.

Like many young Israelis, the 23-year-old from Upper Nazareth
moved furniture to make a living. On September 11, Barak was in Ohio on a
job. He and his partner, Moti Butboul, 26, from Rechasim, headed toward
Chicago, from where they had planned to return to New York.

On the way the next day, however, they were stopped by a police
officer in Pennsylvania for a routine inspection, and were eventually
sent to jail. The two were released to Israel only last week, while five
of their co-workers are still under arrest in the United States.

At the time they were stopped, the policeman held them for a few
hours, after which another squad car arrived followed by four FBI
agents. Barak, speaking from his parents' home, said he does not know
what prompted the policeman to call the FBI - perhaps their foreign
accent or the previous day's arrest of their five friends who worked for
the same moving company in New York. He said the FBI may have been
tracking their truck after their co-workers' arrests.

The U.S. immigration authorities quickly discovered that Barak's
visa had expired and that Butboul was working without a permit. First
they were taken to an immigration authorities vehicle and then to a jail
in southern Pennsylvania. "When you're working illegally in the United
States, especially moving long distances, you always have it in the back
of your head that you might get arrested," said Barak, who arrived in
Israel with Butboul on Friday. "The usual procedure is that you get
arrested for a day or two, and then you're deported. We weren't
worried."

They understood from the FBI agents that they were not under suspicion for involvement in the terror attacks.

The two Israelis were taken from one section of the district jail
to another, but as illegal aliens before their hearing, they were not
held with violent criminals.

"The prison was pretty full," said Barak. "A lot of illegal immigrants were arrested after the terror attack."

Two days later, they were moved into isolation. The FBI agents
returned and began interrogating them, this time more firmly, concerning
their possible involvement in the terror attacks, about their army
service and about the possibility of their being spies.

After the interrogation, they were returned to isolation and
following yet another set of questioning, it was clear they were not
connected in any way to the terror attacks. At their request, they were
taken out of isolation and moved to the illegal aliens' section.

The two do not know why they were kept in isolation, although it
may have been in order to protect them from other prisoners, some of
whom were Palestinians.

In the illegal alien section, they had almost total freedom and were not kept in locked cells.

Although it appeared the investigation was complete and the two
Israelis would be deported immediately, they were kept in jail for over a
month for reasons that are also unclear. The Israeli consulate told
Barak and Butboul that the delay was due to the fact that information
regarding illegal aliens was being sent to Washington for thorough
examination.

Barak's parents, Moshe and Hava, said yesterday the delay was the
result of Washington's demand that Israel provide authorization that it
was willing to accept the two men as well as the fact that the FBI was
in no rush to end the investigation. Barak claims that he and his friend
were held longer than other illegal aliens.

The five Israelis arrested in New York after the September 11
attacks are still being held, although deportation orders have already
been issued. According to U.S. law, authorities can hold detainees for
90 days after issuing such orders. It is expected the authorities will
retain the five in custody until the end of the period, after which they
will be released.