| Page 2 of 3 < > |
A Crisis of Conscience Over Refugees in Israel
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Avner Shalev, chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, said Israel had taken the "moral approach" by allowing 500 of the refugees to stay. European countries with more room should take in more refugees, Shalev said.
At least 1,700 African refugees, an estimated one-third of them from Darfur, have streamed into Israel this year.
Most Darfur refugees outside Sudan live in camps in Chad, where they have been attacked. Some of the refugees have gone to Libya, which has deported them, leaving them to face persecution, according to Human Rights Watch.
At least 2 million Sudanese, including many from Darfur, have come to Egypt, where they have found little support and occasional discrimination. Twenty-seven Sudanese died in 2005 when Egyptian riot police charged a protest by the Sudanese, beating some refugees to death and causing a stampede that killed others, rights groups and medical officials said.
This summer's influx presented Israel with its largest arrival of non-Jewish migrants in its history. Israeli officials said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert jointly had agreed that none returned to Egypt would be sent back to Sudan, where the migrants say they risk death.
Israel sent the first 48 Sudanese to Egypt on Saturday. Egyptian officials said the expelled refugees included some from Darfur.
Sudanese community leaders in Cairo and an Egyptian official said they believed the 48 remained in Egyptian custody. The Egyptian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied that Egypt had agreed not to return any refugees to Sudan.
"We interpret what we said in a different way," the official said.
Egypt accepted the 48 Sudanese on humanitarian grounds, without committing to take more, the official said.
Sudanese in Egypt protested Israel's decision.
"How can Israel send them back?" asked Mohammed Adam, a Darfur community leader in Cairo. "They have escaped from an Egyptian reality of suffering very similar to that of Sudan -- racism in the Egyptian street, killing by the authorities and . . . receiving a deaf ear from UNHCR," he said, referring to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
Rights groups in Israel accused the U.N. refugee agency there of failing in its responsibilities as the number of refugees surges.
