Israel FM encourages US Jews to assist in Sudanese refugees

By Herb Keinon, The Jerusalem Post

JERUSALEM, Aug 07, 2004 — The Foreign Ministry is encouraging North American Jewish organizations to mobilize and assist relief efforts for refugees fleeing the atrocities in Darfur in Sudan, according to Israeli diplomatic officials.

The officials said it has been “important for the organizations to know where Israel stands on the issue.” Israel, he said, has encouraged them to become heavily involved.

Israel, often a leader in extending humanitarian aid around the world, is limited in its ability to help in this situation because Sudan is a fundamentalist Islamic state implacably hostile to Israel, and neighboring Chad – where some 200,000 refugees have fled – is one of just a handful of non-Arab countries around the world with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations. Chad severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 1972. In 1988 Chad recognized “the State of Palestine,” which maintains a mission in the country’s capital, N’Djamena.

In recent months, an estimated 35,000 people have been killed, and about one million displaced by the violence in the western Sudan region of Darfur, where government-sponsored Arab militiamen have been slaughtering, raping and terrorizing black Africans.

“Ethnic cleansing” and “genocide” are words that have been used to describe the situation in the region.

Jewish organizations have established an umbrella group to deal with providing humanitarian aid. Beyond encouraging Diaspora organizations to get involved and extend aid, Israel, according to government officials, is weighing what steps it can take to help.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom addressed the issue at Sunday’s cabinet meeting, saying Jerusalem is working “to continue to assist international efforts to deal with this humanitarian tragedy. As a nation that has suffered greatly in the past, we cannot be apathetic to the suffering of others.”