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Sudanese refugees (photo: flash90)
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| By Israel Insider staff August 9, 2007 |
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Israel is working closely with the United Nations to determine what to do with Israel's estimated 2,400 African asylum-seekers. The government and the UN are working to decide who will receive refugee status and what countries will agree to accept the thousands of African refugees already in Israel.
It is likely that Israel will absorb the roughly 300 refugees from Darfur.
The recent planning with the UN is a big step from what Israel had originally intended to do, and one more pleasing to human rights activists. Olmert initially wanted to deport the refugees to Egypt, a country notorious for sending refugees home to face unsafe and sometimes fatal conditions.
"In coordination with the UN, Israel will set a quota and absorb the refugees with the same compassion that we absorbed the Vietnamese refugees," said Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit, referring to the 300 Vietnamese boat-people who were absorbed by Israel. "It appears most likely that the refugees who ultimately remain in Israel will be those from Darfur, since it seems clear that they have suffered the most."
Michael Bavli said, the representative for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Israel, said that the UN is interested in both finding a home for the refugees and securing the Egypt-Israel border, which the refugees are illegally crossing to enter Israel.
"We are working in full cooperation with the Israeli government to try and find a solution for both the uncontrolled boundary between Israel and Egypt and for the refugees that have already entered Israel," Bavli said, according to the Jerusalem Post. "The UN is involved in every aspect of the situation."
The influx of African refugees has mushroomed from several hundred for all of 2006 to the current 50-60 a day.
"The more refugees who arrive, the more the problem is exacerbated, and the more difficult it is to come to a solution for those already here," said Sheetrit. "A top priority for me is to establish a fence along the Egypt-Israel border."
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