- International law protects refugees and asylum seekers,
Article I of the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
calling them:
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- "A person who owning to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a
particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of
their nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling
to avail him/herself of the protection of that country."
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- Post-WW II, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
was established to help them.
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- To gain legal protection, they must:
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- -- be outside their country of origin;
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- -- fear persecution;
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- -- be harmed or fear harm by their government or others;
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- -- fear persecution for at least one of the above cited
reasons; and
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- -- pose no danger to others.
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- The Knesset's 1950 Law of Return grants every Jew worldwide
the right to live in Israel as a citizen. Yet no refugee law exists, despite
Israel being a signatory to the 1951 UN Convention. Instead, unpublished
Ministry of Interior procedures and secret inter-ministerial determinations
are made on a case-by-case basis.
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- As a result, Israel has the lowest percent of requests
granted (for temporary, not permanent status) compared to western states
- 1% in 2005, under 0.5% in 2006, and in 2007, 350 refugees got temporary
protection, 805 others were denied, and 863 were under review, after which
most were rejected.
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- Legitimate refugees aren't granted permanent status.
At best, they get temporary limited stay permits, bi-annually renewed if
it's determined that country of origin dangers remain. Most often, however,
they're summarily denied (including for women and children) or imprisoned
for extended periods under very harsh conditions.
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- Yet according to international law, Israel is legally
and morally bound to help them, although it may establish laws and procedures
to do it. Consistently, however, its record is shameless as the least hospitable
nation compared to western ones.
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- Israel's 1954 Prevention of Infiltration Law was enacted
to criminalize fedayeen freedom fighters, deny Palestinians their right
of return, and deport them if they came. Now there's a new proposal to
replace the old law, the Infiltration Prevention Law, one the Association
for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) calls:
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- "one of the most dangerous bills ever presented
in the Knesset." If passed, Israel's international law obligations
will end under proposed provisions to imprison refugees for up to 20 years,
even if they committed no crime, or summarily deport them to potential
death in home countries. In addition, human rights organizations and activists
helping them may also be criminally prosecuted.
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- Besides mocking democratic freedoms (including for Jews)
and international laws, this bill takes Israel one step closer to fascist
rule, an accelerating track fast with each new policy.
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- In its February 2010 report, titled "The Infiltration
Prevention Bill: Lies and Reality," ACRI separates truth from fiction,
explaining the bill's dangers.
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- Background
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- Advanced by the Defense Ministry, Deputy Minister MK
Matan Vilnai presented it to the Knesset plenum in May 2008, after which
it passed its first reading by a 21 - 1 majority. In June 2009, under a
new government, a continuity rule was applied to consider it. On February
3, 2010, the MK-headed David Azoulay Internal Affairs Committee began deliberations.
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- Its main provisions include:
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- -- "infiltrators" (including legitimate asylum
seekers) may be imprisoned for up to five years;
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- -- those from adversary states (including Darfur, Sudan),
may be imprisoned for up to seven years;
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- -- ones with weapons, including an ordinary pocket knife,
may be jailed for up to 20 years;
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- -- organizations or individuals providing medical care,
food or water, legal help, and/or shelter are subject to the same penalties;
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- -- border crossing officers may summarily deport infiltrators
to Egypt, giving them no chance to apply for asylum;
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- -- if not immediately deported, they'll be detained indefinitely;
even if their home country is a war zone, they won't be released;
- -- they may be held up to two weeks or longer before
judicial review if they even get one; and
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- -- women and children will be treated like men.
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- If the bill passes, Israel's notoriously shaky safe haven
status will end for non-Jews.
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- According to estimates, up to 20,000 asylum seekers are
currently in Israel, 85% from Sudan and Eritrea - the latter country Israel's
Justice Ministry calls a dictatorship with widespread violations of human
and political rights, including imprisonments without trial, religious
persecution, and disappearances.
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- Sudanese refugees come mainly from two conflict zones
- Darfur and South Sudan.
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- "Lies and Reality:" Fiction and Facts
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- Fiction:
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- "They aren't refugees. They are labor infiltrators."
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- According to former Immigration Authority head, Yaakov
Ganot, "In our examinations, I would say that 99.9% of them are here
for work. They're not asylum seekers. They are not at any risk."
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- The prime minister and various other officials repeat
the lie. Israel's media report it, and people believe it. In contrast,
the UN gets a different story - like keeping two sets of books, one real,
the other fake.
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- Fact Check:
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- Israel tells the UNHCR that 90% of asylum seekers are
legitimate refugees, the world body then publishing what it calls "accurate,
relevant and up-to-date statistics." In contrast to Israeli policy,
it says Islamic Shari'ah affirms the right to asylum. It represents:
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- "the deep-rooted Arab traditions and customs which
have served as a solid foundation for the protection of those in need,
and stresses that Shari'ah embraces a number of humanitarian principles
which are at the heart of international refugee protection (UNHCR 2010
Regional Operations Profile - Middle East)."
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- Fiction:
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- "Based on our examinations, they are not refugees."
Israel claims it follows accepted asylum review procedures and makes honest
determinations.
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- Fact Check:
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- Israel lies. In fact, 90% or more of applicants aren't
checked, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea. In contrast, according to a UN
report, 96% of Eritrean requests were granted worldwide, and many western
states routinely admit Sudanese refugees.
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- Israel grants collective "temporary protection,"
what ACRI calls:
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- "an unstable status without any real rights - that
protects them from deportation, and refuses to conduct individual examinations
of asylum requests, which would allow it to recognize asylum seekers as
refugees."
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- Previously, Israel followed the same procedure for legitimate
Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, and Ivory Coast refugees, and by
so doing, claims "there are no refugees in Israel" - by excluding
them from the asylum system.
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- Currently, only a small number of requests are reviewed,
most rejected. In fact, since 1948, Israel accepted only 190 asylum seekers
as legitimate refugees.
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- In 2008, according to UNHCR figures, France accepted
9,648, Canada 7,554, Germany 5,902, and Israel 4.
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- Fiction:
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- Israel protects refugees. On January 21, 2010, Ynet quoted
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying, "Israel will remain open
to war refugees," at the same time claiming the state rejects illegal
migration, not legitimate asylum seekers it won't abandon.
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- Fact Check:
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- Following its "Hot Return" policy, Israel summarily
deports refugees, including ones legitimately fearing grave harm or death.
The Infiltration Prevention Bill formalizes this practice, without review,
at the discretion of untrained soldiers - in violation of international
law.
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- Fiction:
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- Israel bogusly claims the Infiltration Prevention Bill
won't alter its Refugee Convention obligations.
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- Fact Check:
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- Israel never observed them. The proposed bill makes it
policy with provisions in fundamental violation, including prohibitions
against:
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- -- deporting refugees to home countries where their lives
or freedoms could be threatened - the principle of non-refoulement;
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- -- discriminating against asylum seekers based on nationality;
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- -- denying them free access to judicial review and legal
help;
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- -- denial of review requests;
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- -- restricting free refugee movements;
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- -- their access to employment; and
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- -- imprisoning them.
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- Fiction:
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- The bill is the only way to detain criminals or security
threats.
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- Fact Check:
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- The 1952 Entrance to Israel Law addresses these issues
fully. Suspects may be detained if they threaten Israeli security or its
citizens, ACRI noting:
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- "....the proposal to formalize the 'Hot Return'
policy indicates that the (proposed) law's objectives do not relate to
security. The State of Israel detains individuals that threaten (it) and
is not quick to deport them."
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- Fiction:
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- Refugees pose a security threat. On January 21, 2010,
Ynet reported that:
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- "IDF officers told Netanyahu that Al Qaida and its
offshoots may attempt to send Sudanese refugees across the Egyptian border
and into Israel with the aim of setting up terror cells in the Jewish state."
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- Fact Check:
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- No Israeli asylum seeker was ever charged with terrorism
or an attempt to commit it. Claiming it is a lie. In 2006, when Darfur
refugees began arriving, Israel detained them as security threats, later
lifted, as unjust and unwarranted, by court order in August 2007. Making
false claims now is an attempt to gain public support for the oppressive
new bill.
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- Fiction:
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- Illegal migrant workers enter Israel from Egypt and must
be stopped, Netanyahu quoted by Ynet on January 21, 2010 saying: "Israel
will not let its borders be used to flood the country with illegal migrant
workers."
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- Fact Check:
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- In 2009, Israel gave work permits to 25 times more migrants
than refugees requesting asylum. In fact, numbers seeking work are rising
while those wanting refuge status are declining.
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- Fiction:
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- Refugee arrivals deteriorated employment conditions in
cities like Arad and Eilat, again Netanyahu quoted by Ynet on January 21,
2010 saying:
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- "They are causing socio-economic and cultural damage
and threaten to take us back down to the level of the Third World. Anyone
walking around Arad, Eilat, or even south Tel Aviv today, can see this
wave, and the change it is creating, with their own eyes."
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- Israel claims they work for low wages, displace Israelis,
force down pay scales, and cause social unrest.
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- Fact Check:
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- The Olmert and Netanyahu governments, in fact, sent refugees
to Arad and Eilat. In 2007, the "Gedera-Hadera" restriction was
introduced, was binding for 18 months, and prohibited refugees from living
north of Gedera or south of Hadera. Violators were arrested, the idea being
to force them to less desirable peripheral areas against their will and
keep them there.
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- They're not given formal work permits or rights so employers
can freely exploit them with below minimum wages, no benefits, and poor
working conditions.
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- On October 22, 2008, a Jerusalem Post.com report headlined
"Israel has the highest poverty in the West," saying:
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- "OECD report(s that) 1 in 4 Israelis (live) below
the poverty line - 2.5 times the average in the developed world....The
report also stated that Israel's socioeconomic divide was the third highest,
below Turkey and Mexico, and Israel was criticized by OECD for the failure
of its fiscal policies to bridge the gap between rich and poor. (In recent
decades) economic growth....benefitted the rich more than the poor,"
what's been happening in America since the 1970s at an alarming rate, Israel
mirroring its closest ally.
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- Fiction:
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- OECD demands a tough infiltration policy. Again Ynet,
January 21, 2010 quoting Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz saying:
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- "Even OECD representatives who visited last week
noted that the large number of foreigners here hurts Israeli society."
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- He and Netanyahu also claim cracking down on infiltrators
will make it a stronger candidate for OECD membership.
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- Fact Check:
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- OECD criticizes Israel's asylum policy and recommends
it be elevated to international standards. Mentioned is the low number
of recognized refugees, no "public integration or support program,"
and other serious flaws need correcting.
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- Fiction:
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- All refugees want permanent Israeli residency.
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- Fact Check:
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- Of the 190 refugees Israel accepted since 1948, over
100 left according to UNHCR figures. In 2007, the Olmert government granted
temporary status to the first 500 Darfur arrivals. Since then, many left
and others plan to as well. The reason according to ACRI:
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- "Many western countries have refugee and migrant
quotas. Unlike Israel, they understand their international obligation and
invest resources in absorbing refugees. A main condition for filing an
emigration request is legal residence in the country (where) filed. By
refusing to review asylum requests by Eritrean and Sudanese refugees, Israel
is withholding their chance to emigrate to another country, where many
of their relatives have already settled."
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- Most asylum seekers trapped in Israel "can not return
to their home countries and can not emigrate to other countries that absorb
immigrants."
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- In sum, ACRI calls the proposed Infiltration Prevention
Bill "a form of abuse, not a policy." It bogusly says legitimate
refugees are security threats.
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- During the Olmert administration, an inter-ministerial
team was established to formulate clear asylum policy, including status,
health, employment, welfare, education, and other issues. In August 2009,
it was disbanded with no conclusions after its head, Yaakov Ganot (also
in charge of the Immigration Authority) was appointed Transportation Ministry
director general.
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- With no clear policy, the Netanyahu government now promotes
the Infiltration Prevention Bill as a "magical solution," one
that will harm refugees and for many returned home cause their deaths.
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- The following human rights organizations call on Israel
"to withdraw this bill and formulate a proper asylum policy:"
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- ACRI, Amnesty International, Aid to Refugees and Asylum
Seekers (ASSAF), Hotline for Migrant Workers, African Refugee Refugee Development
Center, Israel Religious Action Center - Israel Movement for Progressive
Judaism, Kav LaOved (Worker's Hotline), and Physicians for Human Rights.
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- Israel mocks fundamental international law principles,
and won't consider them unless nations with enough clout apply strong pressure,
something very much absent in giving its government a free pass.
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- New Military Order Defines West Bank Palestinians As
"Infiltrators"
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- On April 11, a Hamoked Center for the Defense of the
Individual (hamoked.org) press release headlined:
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- "A NEW MILITARY ORDER DEFINES ALL RESIDENTS OF THE
WEST BANK AS 'INFILTRATORS' WHO MAY BE JAILED AND DEPORTED"
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- It requires all West Bank residents (including native
born ones) get IDF-issued permits. Order No. 1650 (Prevention of Infiltration)
and Order No. 1649 (Security Provisions) were issued in October 2009 as
amendments to a 1969 Order No. 329 (Order regarding Prevention of Infiltration)
declaring "infiltrator" state enemies from Jordan, Syria, Egypt
and Lebanon would be imprisoned and/or deported.
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- Potentially, the IDF may now "empty the West Bank
of almost all its Palestinian inhabitants."
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- Further, this was done quietly, raising concerns about
secret implementation "without public debate or judicial review."
The term "infiltrator" was substantively redefined, applying
it "to anyone (in) the West Bank without an Israeli permit."
It refers to "person(s) who entered the Area (meaning the West Bank)
unlawfully (or) who (are) present in the Area and (do) not lawfully hold
a permit."
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- Effective April 13, anyone without an IDF-issued one
is "presumed to be an infiltrator."
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- Up to now, with few exceptions, Palestinians didn't need
one. That's changed, and so is their residency status, Hamoked explaining:
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- -- the order's language is broad and vague, giving the
military wide discretion;
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- -- this action was handled secretly;
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- -- no valid permit definition is given;
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- -- it violates Fourth Geneva's Article 49 prohibiting:
- "Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well
as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory
of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country...."
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- -- the military may prosecute, imprison, and/or deport
anyone called an "infiltrator" - without judicial review;
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- -- deportations may be executed within 72 hours of order
issuances or sooner, and those affected may be imprisoned until deported;
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- -- individuals first affected may be Palestinians Israel
wishes to transfer to Gaza, even those born in the West Bank or legally
relocated there;
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- -- foreign passport-holding spouses of West Bank residents
abroad are likely to be targeted; "This category includes tens of
thousands of individuals;"
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- -- foreign nationals called "infiltrators"
may be jailed for up to seven years; and
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- -- potentially the entire Palestinian West Bank population
is vulnerable, including legitimate East Jerusalem residents.
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- Besides HaMoked, other Israeli human rights groups condemning
the new military order include B'Tselem, the Palestinian Centre for Human
Rights (PCHR), the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Rabbis
for Human Rights, and others.
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