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Barak proposes security fence along Israel-Egypt border to fight infiltrations

Defense minister suggests tackling infiltrators by building special security fence along Israeli-Egyptian border, amending outdated laws. Amendment to address administrative, criminal aspects, offer humanitarian guidelines

Defense Minister Ehud Barak proposed Sunday to build a new security fence along the Israel- Egypt border in order to more efficiently fight the infiltration phenomenon in the area.

 

Barak further intends to push forward a bill concerning the handling of the thousands of infiltrators, and is expected to bring the matter up in his meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, scheduled for Sunday afternoon.

 

Many of those illegally crossing the Egyptian border into Israel are jobseekers from Africa, but many others pose security risks.

 

Besides Barak, IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, as well as representatives from the IDF Southern Command, the Shin Bet and the Justice Ministry, are scheduled to attend the meeting.

 

As part of the efforts to fight the infiltration phenomenon, the Knesset secretariat is expected to debate an amendment, proposed by Barak and Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, to a 1954 law designed to address Israel's past problem with infiltrations and raids coming from the Jordanian border.

 

The current act suggests ways of dealing only with infiltrators who pose a security risk and does not address the humanitarian issue.

  

The majority of infiltrators in the past years, explained Barak and Friedmann, did not pose a security threat, but were mostly jobseekers and refugees.

 

The new act stands to include separate administrative and criminal guidelines, with tougher actions against infiltrators, and includes countries which do not appear in the 1954 act, such as Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Gaza Strip.

 

The administrative portion of the amended act will update and detail the measures taken against infiltrators, their custody and deportation procedures.

 

The amendment further proposes forming a designated tribunal to oversee and review infiltrators' custody, but will not have final say in matters of deportation.

 

The tribunal will be able to hear bail petitions regarding detained infiltrators, which may ease the workload at Israel's courts.

 


פרסום ראשון: 01.20.08, 14:47
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