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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sun Dec 26 2010 - 21:47:08 EST
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/12/israel-african-immigrants-caught-between-israeli-government-and-society.html
ISRAEL: African immigrants caught between Israeli government and society
December 23, 2010 | 7:06 am
Israeli officials frequently say Israel is the only First World economy that
can be reached on foot from the Third World: You can walk from Africa
straight to Tel Aviv. Tens of thousands have done just that -- and if the
country doesn't do something about it, many more will, officials warn.
The large pockets of foreign communities grow in different ways. Foreign
workers, like Filipino nursing professionals, come in the front door but
stay through the window, overstaying their work permits and settling down.
Most Africans do it the other way around. They climb in through the window
of the long, sprawling and largely open border with Egypt and then knock on
the door for asylum. About 15,000 African hopefuls have entered the country
this year, roughly double the amount of last year.
The government is determined to stop the influx. For starters, it is fencing
off its 150-mile border with Egypt. Work began last month.
The border fence will cost about $370 million, but government indecision on
immigration matters is costing dearly. Fear of the impact on politics,
religion, demography, diplomacy and the economy has paralyzed
decision-makers, negating a cohesive immigration policy. Years of Band-Aid
solutions have produced a situation that is rapidly approaching a crisis.
All non-Jewish foreigners challenge Israel's aspirations for a Jewish
majority and character while treating others fairly. But the African
issue offers a test of humanitarianism and international law -- and social
tolerance too.
Largely lumped together as "infiltrators," many of the Africans come from
war-torn regions. Most come from Eritrea; Sudan is a close second, with a
number from Ivory Coast and other countries. All asylum seekers undergo a
process of "refugee status determination, " or RSD, except for Sudanese and
Eritreans, who enjoy a temporary sweeping protection. Last year, the RSD
process passed from the U.N. to Israeli government authorities. Since then,
bureaucratic treatment of asylum seekers has deteriorated, Saed ed-din
Ibrahim, a Sudanese living in Israel, told Israel Radio in impeccable
Hebrew.
Out of 4,000 asylum seekers interviewed this past year, only two met the
criteria, said Yossi Edelstein, who heads the immigration administration's
enforcement branch. Israeli authorities say most are impostors, using
borrowed identities to qualify as asylum seekers.This distracts authorities'
resources from "helping the people who really do need protection," Edelstein
said.
In one case, a man's request for protection was rejected by Interior
Ministry officials, who did not believe he was a Borgo tribesman from
Darfur. He wasn't Sudanese, officials concluded, based in part on his poor
knowledge of "elementary details about Sudan" and his meager Arabic.
But a district judge overturned the decision, which he called biased and
arbitrary. Small wonder that the man doesn't know Khartoum landmarks, the
judge said of the petitioner who never left his village 300 miles away until
escaping it at 24. And the Borgo tribe speak their own tongue, not Arabic,
the judge noted, granting the petitioner the residential and working rights
to which Sudanese are entitled.
The government is moving to bar employers from giving asylum seekers work.
Some municipalities forbid renting to them, threatening eviction. Some
Israelis complain they take jobs and housing; others say they spread crime,
even disease. "This isn't racism, it's survival," read banners in a
demonstration held this week in southern Tel Aviv, where locals said they
were now afraid to let their children out after dark. Politicians have
entered the controversy, some jumping on the bandwagon with nationalist
agendas.
Public atmosphere is approaching panic, breeding xenophobia and
violence. A few African men barely escaped when their Ashdod apartment was
torched recently. A group of teenage girls -- Israeli-born with
African parents -- were beaten up on their way home from a Scouts activity.
"Citizens must not take the law into their own hands," a stern Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Israelis via Youtube Wednesday, amid
concerns the heated debate would spur more hotheads into action.
Netanyahu listed a number of steps the government was taking to stop the
flow of illegal immigrants, including returning them to their home
countries. Last week, Israel returned a planeload of Sudanese to their own
country, via a third one that wasn't named.
Non-governmental organizations have quietly coordinated smaller returns
before. This time, reportedly, the government was involved in providing
travel documents and money, though other bodies -- one believed to be the
International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem -- helped. Government
spokespeople did not want to talk about the operation, which leaked to the
media. Too sensitive, too dangerous, sources said.
Sudan's future is unclear, with a key referendum in January. So is the
future of the returnees, who some fear could be endangered if their children
let their native Hebrew slip. William Tall, a U.N. refugee official in
Israel, told media last week that the organization was "satisfied" that the
individuals had "made a voluntary choice" to return and were not "coerced to
go back."
-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem
Video: African refugees in Israel, via YouTube
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