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Show D A I Sunday, March 2, 20C'S t Y 'HERALD- A9 Israel struggling to deal with influx of African asylum-seeke- rs - Government vows to deport thousands of illegals Aron Heller most of the Africans are formally seeking asylum, entitling them to a lengthy legal review. TEL AVIV, Israel -Sit- ting Even if an order is approved, on a thin manress in an it's unclear where Israel can send them. underground bomb shelter that reeked of urine, Tasfa Egypt, the most likely destiMara said he's happy where 2003. nation, has made clear it does he is. The not want them. Last year, IsEritrean Israel took in many of the escaped forced conscription, early arrivals, providing shelter rael sent 48 African refugees, beatings and a treacherous trek and even arranging menial jobs mostly from Darfur, to Egypt across three countries before after receivingassurances they in hotels and on kibbutz collecwould not be harmed. Twenty tive farms. It recently granted reaching his promised land. of those "asked to leave," an "Only Israel safe," he said in temporary residency status, to 600 refugees from Darfur patchy English, his hands and Egyptian Foreign Ministry offifeet heavily bandaged from cial said, without saying where and gave work permits to lacerations he suffered on the about 2,000 Others from Eritrea they went. barbed-wir- e barricade between whose lives would be endan"Egypt is dealing with the refugees in line with the interEgypt and Israel when crossing gered if sent home. national law and for humanilast week. "All African counBut Israel has vowed the tarian purposes," the official tries the same." rest will be deported, claiming "5 Mara may not have a safe said, speaking on condition they are in the country purely he of because haven much longer. This week was On anonymity foj economic opportunities. not authorized to speak to the Israel plans to begin deporting Sunday, Prime Minister Ehud thousands of African migrants Olmert directed authorities to press. "Israel has no right to who have slipped in through the expel 4,500 Africans, including return them." Human Rights Watch said porous southern border with people from Ivory Coast, Ghana the Israeli and Egyptian actions and Nigeria, by the end of the Egypt. It remains unclear how the expulsions will be carried were "unconscionable," because week. ,"; out and where Israel will send Since its independence in the migrants faced likely persethem. cution in Sudan because of their 1948, Israel has granted autoFounded six decades ago in matic citizenship to Jews, intime in Israel, which is considthe wake of the Nazi genocide, cluding many from Ethiopia, in ered an enemy country. Israeli advocates say governIsrael finds itself torn between recent years, however, it also a sense of duty to help people has opened its doors to others, ment policy has been inconsis-- : tent. fleeing persecution and fears including tens of thousands of of an onslaught of illegal imworkers from Asia and Africa Shevy Korzen, executive director of the Hotline for . migrants. The result has been a to fill a void left by Palestinian confused policy. laborers banned from entering Migrant Workers in Tel Aviv, The Africans began trickling said imposing an arbitrary following the outbreak of fightinto Israel in 2005 after neighquota was "ridiculous" and the ing in 2000. Israel has about 7 million people, and the foreign boring Egypt violently quashed government was obliged to let a demonstration by Sudanese the UN. evaluate each case. workers traditionally do gruel"There are personal considerrefugees, in which at least 27 ing manual jobs that Israelis are were killed The number of reluctant to do. The new Afriations, religious considerations new arrivals has surged in recans have quickly joined this and gender considerations," she cent months as word spread of workforce. said. "Israel is bound to international conventions." Olmert's office declined to safety and job opportunities in Israel. discuss its expulsion order. But On Monday, immigration More than 7,000 have enofficials said privately it would police raided several Tel Aviv be difficult, if not impossible, to shelters and detained more than tered the country illegally in 200 migrants, many of whom just over a year , including more carry out the order in the comthan 2,000 this year alone, said were shipped to squalid prisons. ing days. Michael Bavly, a representative Israel's prison authority denied Just finding them will be difin Israel of the U.N. High Comficult. Newly arrived Africans an AP request to visit the main missioner for Refugees. are scattered in shelters, while holding area, located in a re- mote desert location. The vast majority hail from earlier migrants have moved into apartments in Tel Aviv and Sabine Hadad, a spokeswomEritrea, where the U.N. says men are often forced into milielsewhere. an for Israel's Interior Ministry, In addition, the U.N. says said those with permits would tary service, and Sudan, where THE ASSOCIATED 2.5 million people have died in "' A civil war. Some of the Sudanese have come from the western region of Darfur, where fighting has killed more than 200.000 people and dis- placed 2.5 million since Febru-ar- y a PHLSS X Associated TARA Press the hallway of a shelter in Tel Aviv, in this photo taken on Feb. government plans to begin deporting thousands of illegal African migrants. Founded on the heels of the Nazi genocide, Israel finds itself torn between a sense of duty to take in people fleeing persecution and fears of an onslaught of illegal immigrants. An African child stands in 28. This week the Israeli be released, and those whose refugee status is being reviewed by the U.N. would get a limited stay. Mara and his friends escaped the police raid Monday, then returned to the dilapidated shelter, nearly empty after the roundup. Speaking in broken English and pointing to his bandaged hands, Mara said he had nowhere else to go. "Eritrea bad. Egypt bad. Sudan bad," he said. He declined to discuss his past, saying only that two of his six traveling companions were shot down by Egyptian troops near the border with ' Israel. v Egyptian troops have killed at least six Africans since late January, according to Amnesty International. Last week, the human-right- s group accused Egypt of using "excessive force!";.';, Israeli defense officials said the army is working to fortify the border to stop the flow of infiltrators, which now number about 50 a day. Defense Minister Ehud Barak inspected the border Tuesday and vowed to coverbuild a fence d of the ing roughly one-thir- within two years. The African migrants said they paid about $750 to human traffickers to cross into Israel. Once inside, they were rounded up by army patrols, who either placed them in prison or released them. Many were bused to Tel Aviv, where volunteers often helped them. Tel Aviv has embraced them warmly. Most Darfurians now live in apartments, enjoy the city's welfare services and have their children attend its schools. Volunteers have raised hun border ; dreds of thousands of dollars and helped arrange thousands of work permits. "They have been through such traumas. Their motivation is not to come here, it is to escape their fate at home," said Yael Day an, deputy mayor of Tel Aviv. "Whoever gets here, we take them in, but the government has to decide on a policy ... It will hot happen by itself." Israel is not a common destination for refugees, but the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin set a precedent in 1977 when he offered asylum to nearly 400 Vietnamese boat people. Human rights groups e and figures like Nobel laureate and Holocaust sur-- . vivor Elie Wiesel have urged the Israeli government to give Darfurians fleeing genocide a home. high-profil- ..the Savvy- Shopper ' Every great business opportunity has it s root in a relat onship. Making Your Money Buy More! SAVVY SH0PPEH PEJUS 33 through 38 V, Price good Price good through 34 A' a n : Albertscms' t C&H Suave Shampoo or Conditioner 15 Granulated Sugar 5 lb Sale Price: $1.75 oz Sale Price: $0.69 210 32 Final Price Final Price $0.42 ea $1.48 ea (Use 2 coupons) Price good through H& J;-fc;- f) fromlcpt;'. : tt-s'- ' ;Pc-- :- 38 .". ',:.r. : ',.;'. 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