Israel orders crackdown on African migrants

Eritrean Miri Asamar is surprisingly upbeat as she crouches in a dimly lit Tel Aviv bomb shelter that stinks of raw sewage and rotting vegetables.

Like thousands of Africans trying to escape poverty or war at home, the 18-year-old woman braved a perilous journey through Egypt and Sudan in pursuit of a better life in Israel. Despite the poor conditions, she is relieved to be here.

"When I crossed the barbed wire fence I knew I was safe," said Ms Asamar, speaking through a translator at a shelter run by volunteers where she is living with dozens of other African migrants days after her arrival in the Jewish state.

But Ms Asamar's dream of a safe haven in Israel could be short-lived.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert this week instructed authorities to deport illegal migrants, and police rounded up 200 people in raids on Tel Aviv shelters in the first wave of a crackdown that could affect thousands.

Sudanese refugees started sneaking into Israel through Egypt regularly in 2005 and the numbers increased as violence raged in the troubled Darfur region. More came from Eritrea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and Chad, some hoping the Jewish state would provide a gateway to Europe, some eager to stay.

New arrivals have surged in recent months after the government granted about 2,000 Eritreans temporary work permits.

Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said this week some 7,000 migrants, mostly from Africa, had entered Israel illegally from Egypt since early 2007, including 2,000 so far this year.

"The government instructed the police to arrest illegal migrants with the aim of deporting them," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

The plight of refugees has stirred debate in Israel, created six decades ago after the Nazi Holocaust killed six million Jews. Some Israelis believe the country has a moral duty to provide a safe haven for refugees, while others are worried an influx could threaten its character as a Jewish state.

More than 12,000 migrants live in Israel, most of them illegally. The government says many migrants come for purely economic reasons and should not be allowed to stay.

The government made exceptions for 600 Sudanese who were granted temporary residency after fleeing fighting in Darfur, and for the 2,000 Eritreans granted work permits. An Interior Ministry spokesman said the Darfuris would be allowed to stay in Israel "as long as necessary".

Sharon Harel, a UN refugee officer, said it would be "almost impossible" for Israel to send Sudanese and Eritrean refugees back as this would breach the Geneva Convention on Refugees, of which Israel is a signatory.

Most Sudanese and Eritreans have been granted protection by the UN refugee agency pending a decision on their fate by the Israeli government.

Sudan considers Israel an enemy country and most Eritrean refugees say they face forced conscription to the army back home. They are worried about their safety if deported to Egypt.

"Egypt is not good for us. There are no jobs for us there and if we're caught the (Egyptian) authorities will send us back to Sudan," said Ms Asamar, pointing to head bruises he said were inflicted by Egyptian border police. Anat Ben-Dror, a lawyer with Tel Aviv University's Refugee Rights Clinic, said Israel was making blanket decisions to grant status to some groups based on their country or region of origin, while failing to address individual cases. "An inter-ministerial committee was set up to deal with the problem, but the government has failed to address asylum cases on an individual basis," Dr Ben-Dror said.

Israel's high court last year ordered the government to "create a protocol" to deal with the refugees after the Hotline for Migrant Workers filed a petition decrying what it said was the illegal detention of hundreds of refugees in a makeshift centre near the border with Egypt.

Despite the confusion within government institutions, some migrants have started to build new lives in Israel.