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KTSIOT, Israel — In the empty desert, workers are building an answer to a difficult question: What should Israel, a nation built by Jewish refugees, do about the 55,000 African migrants who entered this country illegally, fleeing famine, bondage and war?
The newly constructed “open facility” is designed to hold up to 3,300 illegal immigrants. It is not a prison, but not exactly a shelter, either. Residents will be required to answer roll call three times a day. They are not allowed to seek work. The facility is surrounded by a fence topped with spools of razor wire, and the migrants will be locked down at night.
The Israelis do not want to forcibly deport the “infiltrators,” as they are called here. Nor do they want them to stay. The country is looking for ways to push the Africans to leave voluntarily, and the detention facility is one way to give them a shove.
The struggle over what to do with the asylum seekers, refugees and others who entered the country illegally parallels similar debates in Europe and the United States. But in Israel, the issue is further complicated by religion.
As a Jewish state, the country welcomes Jews from around the globe who would like to move here, providing generous subsidies and language training to ease their way. Israel absorbed tens of thousands of Jews from Ethiopia over the past three decades, spending billions to integrate people who had been living an agrarian lifestyle into this fast-paced, high-tech society.
But the Africans who have poured into Israel in recent years are Muslim and Christian. They arrived in a land already engulfed in a struggle between two peoples, Arabs and Jews. Israel is especially attractive to migrants from Eritrea, Sudan and other African countries, officials here say, because Israel is the only Western-style democracy with a thriving economy that Africans can reach on foot. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that the influx could imperil Israel’s ability to remain both a Jewish and a democratic state.
“There are currently around 30 million people moving around Africa, people who have left their home countries and are looking for a place to be,” Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said at a hearing in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. “We can all understand that pressure, but if we are too liberal, then we will lose the country. We will lose the only Jewish country that exists.”
Legislation that would have allowed illegal migrants to be held up to three years in detention centers was struck down in September by Israel’s Supreme Court. In response, lawmakers this month passed a law that calls for one-year detentions in the open facilities and other punitive measures. It, too, is being challenged in court. The cabinet also approved increasing, from $1,500 to $3,500, what Israel is willing to pay illegal migrants who leave voluntarily. But it is not clear where the migrants should go.
The government is seeking third-party countries in Africa to accept them, and negotiations with Uganda are ongoing, according to Israeli news media..........http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/israel-says-it-wont-forcibly-deport-illegal-african-migrants-but-it-wants-them-to-leave/2013/12/20/1c81d8be-5cf2-11e3-8d24-31c016b976b2_story.html?wprss=rss_homepage
21/12/13
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Africans face uncertain Israeli future after perilous migration...
ReplyDelete(Reuters) - Angesom Solomon had to dodge bullets and tear his way through barbed-wire fencing to get into Israel across its testy border with Egypt after a two-month trek from his native Eritrea.
Six years on, he is married, a father and holds a coveted menial job in Tel Aviv. But a sense of security still eludes him, as one of 60,000 African migrants living in Israel who face indefinite jail time under a law parliament passed this month.
Solomon, 28, got a rare work permit that allows him to earn 6,000 shekels ($1,500) a month as a school custodian. It is due to expire next month and may not be renewed - a situation he fears would expose him to police round-ups as an illegal worker.
"I wanted to change my life (but) in Israel I am also afraid," said Solomon, who absconded army conscription in Eritrea in 2007 to make the two-month trip via war-ravaged Sudan and then Egypt.
In Egypt's Sinai desert, he hid for two days while Egyptian troops fired at other African migrants, then successfully dashed into Israel.
At the time, he was briefly detained by the Israelis and then released to Tel Aviv, the coastal metropolis in whose lower-income south many Africans have carved out a tenement network including clinics, cafes and churches.
Israel's right-wing government has cracked down on the migrant influx, however, seeing a threat to public order. It fortified the Egyptian border fence and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to deport migrants in Israel.
SOCIAL FABRIC
On December 10, parliament approved a measure to incarcerate migrants indefinitely in new desert facilities under construction, unless they voluntarily leave Israel.
The measure describes the migrants - deemed by the government as job-seekers though migrants say they want asylum or safe haven - as doing "harm to Israel's social fabric and safety of its citizens".
Human rights groups and left-wing politicians denounce the amendment to an anti-infiltration law as undemocratic. They have petitioned Israel's Supreme Court to outlaw it. In September the court struck down a similar law that enabled the jailing of migrants for three years.
Israel grants automatic citizenship to Jews, while denying refugee or residency status to many others. Some social activists complain this is a result of discrimination while others cite a shortage of legislation governing immigration.
Hotline for Migrant Workers, an organization that advocates for the Africans, accuses Israel of pressuring hundreds in its jails to accept payouts and leave. More than a dozen left earlier this year for Eritrea to win release from prison................http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/22/us-israel-africans-idUSBRE9BL02Q20131222?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
22/12/13
Thousands of asylum seekers protest in Israel...
ReplyDeleteProtesters call for Israel to give them refugee status, and condemn the detention of hundreds of African asylum seekers.
More than 30,000 African asylum seekers have taken to the streets of Tel Aviv in the largest-ever protest by migrants in Israel's history, demanding the government to recognise their status as refugees.
Mickey Rosenfeld, a police spokesperson, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that most of the demonstrators were asylum seekers from Africa who wanted to stay in the country.
"There are thousands of people assembling in central Tel Aviv and they are mostly Africans who are requesting to stay in the country," Rosenfeld said.
Participants chanted "We are all refugees" and "yes to freedom, no to prison!".
"We have fled persecution, dictatorships, civil wars and genocides," Dawud, an Eritrean asylum-seeker at the protest, told AFP news agency.
"The Israeli government must study our requests for asylum and treat us like human beings," Dawud said, without giving his full name.
About 60,000 African asylum seekers currently live in Israel, with the majority coming from Eritrea and Sudan.
Under legislation passed on December 10, the authorities can indefinitely detain migrants who entered the country illegally for up to a year without trial. Israel has also opened a new detention facility in the Negev desert in which to hold the asylum seekers.
Since its creation in 1948, Israel has recognised fewer than 200 people as refugees, human rights groups say.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/01/thousands-asylum-seekers-protest-israel-2014151093415535.html
5/1/14
Dozens of migrants to leave Israel voluntarily for Sweden....
ReplyDeleteIn a first, the Scandinavian country has accepted asylum-seekers from Israel.
The voluntary deportation was carried out in coordination with the Swedish government after an agreement between Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar and the United Nations High Commissioner on Human rights and marks the first time Sweden has accepted asylum-seekers from Israel, according to Israel’s Channel 2.
As part of their voluntary departure, the asylum-seekers were transferred to Sweden by Israel’s Immigration Authority and received $3,500.
In 2013, 2,612 asylum-seekers, 1,955 of whom were from Sudan or Eritrea, left Israel as part of a voluntary departure program, up from just 461 in 2012.
Thousands of migrants on Tuesday continued their work-strike and gathered for a demonstration in Tel Aviv’s Levinsky Park for the third consecutive day to protest against Israel’s immigration policies and treatment of asylum-seekers. Organizers also plan for a march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Wednesday.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/dozens-of-migrants-to-leave-israel-voluntarily-for-sweden/#ixzz2pj7tM13O
7/1/14
Israël: plus 10.000 migrants africains encerclent le Parlement....
ReplyDeletePlus de 10.000 demandeurs d'asile africains entrés illégalement en Israël étaient rassemblés mercredi devant le Parlement à Jérusalem au quatrième jour de leur protestation contre la politique d'immigration du gouvernement, a indiqué la police.
"Plus de 10.000 manifestants se sont rassemblés avec l'autorisation de la police dans le calme en face de la Knesset", a affirmé à l'AFP le porte-parole de la police Micky Rosenfeld. "La police est présente en force pour assurer l'ordre", a-t-il ajouté.
Le président du Parlement Yuli Edelstein a pour sa part interdit l'entrée de la Knesset à quatre représentants des manifestants qui avaient été invités à une rencontre par des députés.
Dans un communiqué, M. Edelstein a justifié sa décision en expliquant qu'il voulait ainsi "éviter des provocations susceptibles de dégénérer en violences et en désordres".
Les manifestants, originaires principalement d'Érythrée et du Soudan, ont manifesté dans le calme en scandant: "Nous sommes des réfugiés, nous avons besoin de protection", en anglais.
Lundi, ils avaient défilé à Tel-Aviv devant plusieurs ambassades occidentales.
Dimanche, plus de 30.000 d'entre eux avaient participé à une manifestation monstre dans le centre de Tel-Aviv.
Ces demandeurs d'asile dénoncent le refus des autorités d'examiner leurs demandes, ainsi que le placement en rétention de centaines d'entre eux.
Mais ils se sont heurtés à une fin de non-recevoir du Premier ministre Benjamin Netanyahu qui a prévenu que leurs manifestations ne "serviraient à rien".
Lors d'un rassemblement mardi à Tel-Aviv, les représentants des protestataires ont affirmé que le mouvement se poursuivrait jusqu'à ce que le gouvernement annule une législation controversée et leur accorde le statut de réfugiés.
Selon une loi votée le 10 décembre, les immigrés clandestins peuvent être placés jusqu'à un an en centre de rétention sans procès.
Les autorités israéliennes, qui estiment à quelque 52.000 le nombre d'Africains entrés clandestinement qui sont encore en Israël, ont lancé en 2012 une campagne ayant abouti au départ ou à l'expulsion de 3.920 d'entre eux.
La clôture électronique construite par Israël, qui s'étend le long des 230 km de frontière avec l'Egypte, a réduit pratiquement à néant le nombre d'entrées illégales en Israël à partir de la péninsule du Sinaï.
http://www.rtl.be/info/monde/international/1060431/israel-plus-10-000-migrants-africains-encerclent-le-parlement
8/1/14