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Israel to Block New Refugees From Darfur
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Egypt has sent before military tribunals about 50 refugees caught while trying to cross the border, sentencing them to up to a year in prison. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry official said Sunday that Egypt was holding the refugees expelled this weekend for questioning, but did not intend to try them.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said earlier this summer that Darfurians among the refugees would be absorbed into Israeli society. Government spokesman David Baker said Sunday that Israel would give some members of that group special treatment. "Israel is certainly aware of the unique and dire situation of these refugees from Darfur, and it is based on our humanitarian concerns that we've decided to take in 500 Darfur refugees," Baker said by telephone.
"Regarding those who in the future" are "coming from anywhere . . . they will be sent back to Egypt. That would include anyone coming from Darfur," Baker said.
Israel sent back the first group of 48 African refugees through the Karm Abu Salim, or Kerem Shalom, crossing with Egypt late Saturday night, Egyptian and Israeli officials confirmed. Egypt said the deportees included refugees from Darfur.
Israel apparently expelled them without hearings, in contravention of a refugee accord it has signed that requires countries to determine whether deportation will subject asylum-seekers to mistreatment, said Ben-Dor, the Israeli refugee lawyer.
More than half the members of Israel's parliament, including opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, signed a petition earlier this month urging Israel not to send the refugees back to Egypt.
"The refugees need protection and sanctuary and the Jewish people's history as well as democratic and humanitarian values make it a moral imperative for us to give them that shelter," the Israeli lawmakers wrote.
"The expulsion is an inhumane act that violates international law," said lawmaker Dov Khenin of the Hadash party, according to the Haaretz newspaper Web site.
Israel's previous largest influx of non-Jewish refugees came in the late 1970s, when nearly 400 Vietnamese boat people arrived legally under U.N. auspices. This summer's influx was far larger, Ben-Dor noted.
Special correspondent Nora Younis contributed to this report.
