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Israel in process of rounding up thousands of African migrants ahead of deportation
A South Sudanese boy holds onto the arm of an Israeli aid worker as he boards a bus at the south Tel Aviv bus station to be delivered to Ben Gurion Airport, 17 June 2012, as Israel deports hundreds of African migrants. PHOTO/Jim Hollander/EPA
Israel is in the process of sending thousands of African migrants to an unidentified country, according to a court document obtained Monday, a plan that has elicited criticism over its potential harm to the migrants.
Many Israelis believe that the Jewish state, founded in part as a refuge for Holocaust survivors after World War II, has a responsibility to help the downtrodden. But others fear that taking in tens of thousands of Africans “will threaten the country’s Jewish character”.
Most of the migrants have come from Eritrea or Sudan. Over the past year, Israel has taken a series of steps to halt the influx of Africans. It built a fence along the border with Egypt that has reduced the number of new arrivals from hundreds each month to just a trickle. Since last summer, it has imprisoned new arrivals while officials determine whether they meet the criteria for refugee status. Last year, Israel offered some migrants cash to leave voluntarily, warning they would be expelled otherwise.
According to the court document, a state lawyer told the Israeli Supreme Court on Sunday that a deal was reached with an unidentified country to absorb some migrants and that Israel was in talks with two other countries to secure a similar agreement. The details of the arrangement were not disclosed, although the state’s lawyer, Yochi Gnesin, said the return of migrants would be “gradual.”
Later Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voted in favor of a bill prohibiting migrants from removing money from the country before their final departure.
“We have stopped the infiltration phenomenon into Israel. Last month only two infiltrators entered Israel, compared to more than 2,000 a year ago. Now we are focused on the infiltrators leaving,” he said in a statement.
Critics said the deal reflects an abdication of responsibility by Israel and that Israel will not be able to properly monitor the migrants’ conditions once they are deported.
Few other details on the deal were immediately available. Israeli Army Radio reported the country was in east Africa and did not suffer from any unrest that would harm the migrants. Kritzman-Amir said that would make Uganda and South Sudan, which both have good relations with Israel, likely candidates, but she did not have inside information, however, a recent report has revealed that a total of 22 African migrants who were deported from Israel to South Sudan in 2012 have died, the Ma’ariv daily reported Wednesday.
Early this week, Israel’s supreme ordered the government to provide details of the deportation arrangement, including the name of the African country, within seven days.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press