Peres to interior minister: Reconsider deporting children
President sends letter to Eli Yishai: 'Who better than a people who have suffered bitterly in exile to be sensitive to the fellowman living its midst.' Peres asked that interior minister find apt solution that avoids deporting children with their families. Ynet learns that Yishai cancelled Gadera-Hadera protocol
President Shimon Peres turned Thursday to Interior Minister Eli Yishai asking him to reconsider the injunction to deport the children of foreign workers living in Israel.
Ynet has learned that Yishai has ordered the cancellation of the so-called "Gadera-Hadera" injunction, which forbids refugees from residing in the central region of Israel, between the cities Gadera and Hadera.
Yishai explained the move as partly motivated by the necessity not to burden periphery towns already facing financial difficulties and plagued by unemployment.
Clinic for refugees in Tel Aviv. Now will be permitted. (Photo: Tal Shahar)
Minister Yishai said to Ynet that the new guidelines have already been passed on to professional actors in the field so that they will go into immediate effect after Tisha B'Av. "The regulation created a compounded social and economic problem concentrated in the periphery towns in the north and south, making it more difficult for those towns to deal day to day," he explained.
"It is also important to hold an urgent cabinet discussion on the issue of halting the infiltration of illegal aliens and Sudanese, which will help keep the problem from growing. The cancellation of the regulation will make it easier for existing enforcement authorities in their national deployment," said the interior minister.
The Ministry of the Interior reported, "The 'Oz' task force will operate according to the minister's decision on the Gadera-Hadera injunction."
Peres: Show sensitivity
In a letter sent to the minister's office, Peres wrote, "I wish to address you on the issue of the deportation of the children of foreign workers in Israel. Who better than a people who have suffered bitterly in exile to show sensitivity to fellowman living in its midst."
"We cannot remain apathetic to the fate of the children and the youth. I am aware of the issue's complexity, but believe a fair solution should be found in the spirit of our people's tradition and legacy within the framework of the law," Peres elaborated.
The president mentioned in his letter his recent visit to Bialik Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, where many children of foreign workers study: "I sensed in them the taste of Israel, where they were born. I heard ringing Hebrew come from their mouths. I felt their connection to and their deep love of Israel and their desire to live here, to serve in the army, and to contribute to its fortification."
Peres visiting Bialik Rogozin School in Tel Aviv (Photo: Yosef Avi Yair Engel)
Peres also drew upon the Bible in his letter, quoting from Leviticus: "You shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I am the Lord your God."
A copy of the letter was sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose office reported earlier this week that it has instructed professionals to find a solution to the issue.
Special session
Various groups advocating the rights of foreign workers also appealed to Yishai, demanding he releases all those detained as part of the now-annulled policy.
"Among those imprisoned are refugees who arrived in Tel Aviv seeking medical attention," eight groups wrote in the petition. "The Interior Ministry had no business arresting them in the first place and now that the policy has been annulled, it has no justification what so ever.
"The Interior Ministry ordered their arrest and must now order their release," added the letter. "In a country which advocates human dignity and liberty as a Basic Law, such aimless incarceration must be disallowed immediately."
Statistics from the Knesset Research and Information Center reveal that 2,800 children of foreign workers and asylum seekers currently reside in Israel, mostly in Tel Aviv. Following a policy change of the newly formed Oz task force of the Interior Ministry's Population Administration, these children will be up for deportation as of August 1.
Following a Ynet investigation showing that many ministers are opposed to the deportation initiative, humanitarian organizations sent a letter to the cabinet minister asking them to take measure to prevent the deportation of the children. In their letter, the organizations asked the minister to support the bill proposed by Education Minsiter Gideon Sa'ar that, if passed, will grant citizen status to the children of foreign workers.
Immediately after the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday, the cabinet is scheduled to hold a special session to find a solution to the issue. "I decided to hear whether there are alternatives that do not necessitate a legislative change or long-term processes in order to solve the problem of the refugees' children," said Minister Yishai. "I have said on more than one occasion that I am very sensitive to the issue of the children."
Yael Branovsky contributed to this report
