Around 950 African migrants have illegally entered Israel since the beginning of
November, including some 620 this past weekend, the Population, Immigration and
Borders Authority announced this week.
PIBA said the figures highlight
the need for the government “to hold an urgent hearing on this matter, in order
to find immediate solutions to stop this phenomenon.”
RELATED:Less than half of border fence to be built by 2012MK Katz: 10% of Tel Aviv to be infiltrators in 2012PIBA also said that
the number of migrants illegally entering the country across its southern border
with Egypt has increased significantly in recent months, and that until Israel
finishes construction of a detention facility for illegal migrants in the south,
the country will have no way of dealing with the issue.
In February, PIBA
released a report stating that in Israel there were some 33,273 “illegal
infiltrators” as of December 23, 2010. This sum included 19,442 from Eritrea,
8,256 from Sudan and 5,575 from elsewhere in Africa.
The number has
climbed since then, and in some cities in the south, in particular Eilat,
African migrants represent a very high percentage of the local
population.
Despite the PIBA announcement, United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees representative in Israel William Tall told
The
Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that his organization had not witnessed any noticeable
increase in the number of refugees they had dealt with in recent
months.
“We interview people once they arrive in Israel and we don‘t see
any dramatic rise.
The numbers tend to go up and down. There may have
been an increase lately; that wouldn’t be unusual because at times it goes
lower, as well.”
Tall’s statement was echoed by Ran Cohen of Physicians
for Human Rights-Israel, which operates a Jaffa clinic that treats migrants free
of charge.
Standing in the office on Tuesday, Cohen said so far this
month they have seen nothing out of the ordinary, and they have treated on
average 60-70 migrants per day, in keeping with the average in recent
months.
With respect to the PIBA statement, Tall said that in his
experience: “usually when they announce this type of thing it usually precedes
something else, to create a climate to support something else, some
policy.”
Tall mentioned the detention facility that Israel is building in
the south, which was supposed to be finished by this summer, and could cost
hundreds of millions of shekels. He also spoke of upcoming deliberations on an
anti-infiltrators bill, which passed its first reading at the end of the Knesset
plenum in March.
If it goes into effect, the law would allow authorities
to detain infiltrators for up to three years. They would also have no right to a
speedy trial, and those who assist them could face time in prison as
well.
Tall said that in regard to the detention facility, the UNHCR
“understands that the government of Israel must take measures to handle the
influx of asylum seekers, and if Israel does build the camp we want it to meet
all standards. But we also see how there’s a perceived linkage between the
anti-infiltration legislation and the camp. But we want this legislation to
exclude refugees.”
On Tuesday, Amnesty Israel issued a statement that was
cosigned by five human rights organizations in Israel, which said “the plan to
build the world’s largest detention facility in order to jail asylum seekers and
their children is a Draconian plan and immoral, and goes against Israel’s
international obligations.”
Israel is a signatory of the 1951 United
Nations convention on refugees. Under the convention, the country to which a
refugee has arrived must protect their freedom of movement and right to work,
and is responsible for their health and welfare as well.
If the migrants
are considered refugees, then the detention facility could be a violation of
that convention.