Israel to absorb 498 Sudanese refugees from Darfur
September 23, 2007 (JERUSALEM) — The Israeli government agreed on Sunday to grant residency to some 500 Darfur refugees after months of public debate, but said it would expel all other Africans who had entered illegally from Egypt.
“All other refugees from African countries who are already in Israel, as well as those who enter after today, will be expelled to a third African country,” another official said.
It was not immediately clear what exact legal status the Darfur refugees would be granted. A committee headed by former police chief Yaakov Ganot will examine the issue in the coming weeks.
Interior minister Meir Sheetrit recently said that he supported naturalizing the Darfur refugees who have crossed into Israel in recent months, along with about 3,000 other Africans.
Israeli authorities have been grappling, in recent years, with a steady flow of refugees from Darfur, African, and Asian countries, who cross from Egypt.
After Israel agreed with Egypt to send refugees back across the border, their numbers have declined – 150 Africans entered in September compared with 900 in July, the official said.
In addition to the Darfur refugees, there are currently around 1,700 refugees from other regions in Sudan, along with 700 from Eritrea, and 600 from the Ivory Coast, according to the United Nations.
About 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur since conflict broke out between government and rebel forces in 2003, with a further 2 million people forced to flee their homes.
Many in Israel have argued that the Jewish state – founded, in part, as a refuge for the victims of the Nazi Holocaust – has a moral obligation to offer sanctuary to those fleeing what some have described as a genocide in Darfur.
(AFP)