State: 500-600 refugees infiltrate Israel each month
State Prosecutor's Office strongly objects to High Court issuing injunction against deportation of African asylum seekers from central Israel to periphery. 'There are potentially thousands of infiltrators currently staying in Israel, mostly in the heart of the country,' says State
The policy of deporting African refugees from central Israel into the periphery should continue as long as the matter is being debated by the High Court of Justice, the State Prosecutor's Office said in a response submitted to the court on Wednesday.
The "Hadera-Gedera law" states that foreign workers and African refugees must live outside of Israel's central area, bound by Hadera in the north and Gedera in the south
The information was provided in response to a petition filed by a group of human rights organizations in Israel seeking an injunction that would prohibit the Interior Ministry and the police from carrying out enforcement efforts against asylum seekers while the case is being discussed.
According to data presented by the State, 500-600 Africans infiltrate the country every month. More than half of them are from Eritrea, and 30%-40% come from Sudan.
While only a small part of the infiltrators come from Darfur, all of them are defined as asylum seekers because they are unable to return to their country of origin. Almost all refugees enter Israel through the Egyptian border.
Asylum seekers' daughter in Beersheba (Photo: Tsafrir Abayiov)
In 2007 some 7,500 infiltrated Israel through its southern border, and in 2008 the number rose to 8,500. "There are potentially thousands of infiltrators currently staying in Israel, mostly in the heart of the country," said the State.
According to statistics released last week by the Population Administration's newly-founded Oz Unit, in the first three weeks of operations the unit has arrested 141 of those asylum seekers.
The State claimed that the interior minister has the authority to determine where asylum seekers should be allowed to stay, as long as there is reasonable justification for it. In this case, the prosecution said, the decision was justified.
The policy of limiting the stay of infiltrators within the Hadera-Gedera geographic area has gone into effect a year and-a-half ago, said the State. The fact that the human rights groups only filed their motion for an injunction now indicates they wish not only to "freeze the situation," but rather change the Interior Ministry's policy altogether.
