Promoting Equality For All Israelis

 

A CARNIVAL OF SADNESS

To American eyes, the scene looked more like a carnival, perhaps a New Orleans Mardi Gras, than a protest march.  Hundreds of African refugees, accompanied by a like number of mostly young Israelis, were ambling down Sderot Rothschild in Tel Aviv on an unseasonably hot November day.  The protest signs and chants were solemn, sad, even dismaying. The cheerful attitude of the marchers, and the music that accompanied them from both African and Israeli musicians, were not.

“We are marching for survival, give us our rights.” “Yesterday it was you, today it is us.” “We are not tourists.” “The Jews were also refugees.”  The slogans on the protest signs are highlighted by news and personal photographs, including grisly depictions of children dead or dying from starvation or violence. 

The juxtaposition was dramatic: Africa’s most devastating issues, making their way down a sunny, stylish boulevard in the largest city of the Jewish state.

Not Just Darfur
For some time now, the American Jewish community has been in the forefront of the international movement to stop genocide in Darfur.  But only last year it became apparent that Israel, too, would need to deal with the repercussions of that genocide, not as advocates or onlookers but as inadvertent hosts to some of Darfur’s most determined refugees.

From Sudan to Egypt, and from Egypt through the Sinai to Israel, hundreds of the strongest refugees traversed more than a thousand miles of desert in search of safety.  As citizens of a state hostile to Israel, their presence in Israel presented a conundrum: offer sanctuary to refugees from a genocide, enforce the laws keeping them out – or detain them in prison if they managed to cross the border at all.  Through efforts by NIF grantees, some refugees are now on what is essentially a work-release program at a few kibbutzim and moshavim, while others still linger in prison.  Despite a decision last summer by the Olmert government to offer sanctuary to 500 Darfurians already in Israel, the situation is mired in Israel’s Supreme Court, in pending legislation that may alleviate the situation, and in the always-complex world of Israeli security decisions and politics. 

But Darfur and its refugees are only the best-publicized aspect of Israel’s African refugee issue. Southern Sudanese refugees qualify for asylum in other countries because of that area’s own civil war, but not according to the Israeli government.  At least 1,500 Sudanese, in total, are at risk of deportation to Egypt – which may return them to the bloodshed of Sudan.  Congolese fleeing one of the most brutal civil wars in African history have also come to Israel, not in large numbers, with determination to live and work in a relatively peaceful democracy. Eritrea, Liberia, the Ivory Coast – all these troubled countries have produced waves of refugees, some of whom have washed up on Israel’s unlikely shores.  All in all, it is estimated that more than 4,000 refugees from Africa live in Israel.

And every refugee can find himself in a different legal status, depending on his country of origin, Israeli policy, and where and when he came to Israel.  A coalition of New Israel Fund grantees and other organizations, including ARDC (African Refugees Center); ASAF (Organization for Psychological Aid to Refugees and Asylum Seekers); student organizations; Physicians for Human Rights – Israel; Tel Aviv University Clinic for Refugees; Amnesty International; and the Hot Line for Migrant Workers, has been organized to address the issues and press for a comprehensive solution.   The Tel Aviv march, organized and funded by NIF, was the first step in raising public awareness about an issue that is not well-understood, even in Israel.

‘The Only Democracy We Know’
As the protest march arrived at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, the crowd surrounded a platform for speeches by NGO leaders, organizers and Knesset Member Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), who talked about the upcoming legislation he planned to introduce to remedy the situation.

 

Seven-year-old Hatita did not seem interested in the speeches as she cadged a piggyback ride from Sigal Rozen, the Coordinator of Public Activities for NIF grantee Hotline for Migrant Workers. Hatita, from southern Sudan, came with her mom, dad and three siblings last June, and when they were apprehended crossing the border, her father was immediately imprisoned.

After being helped for a while by activist students in Be’er Sheva, Hatita and her family finally wound up in an unofficial shelter outside Haifa for Sudanese and Eritrean refugees.  The shelter is run by Rita, a native New Yorker who came to Israel 20 years ago, and offers no last name to protect herself and her clients.

“When we met Hatita and her family they were clearly traumatized, we gave them a home and a life,” Rita said. “Hatita and her siblings have seen their father for 45 minutes in the last four months, we schlepped them through the Negev to the prison in Ramon in the desert, but now they have moved him to the [high-security] Ketsiot facililty and they are not allowed to see their father at all.”

“According to Prime Minister Olmert ‘s policy, only some Darfur refugees are getting out of prison and this family is from south Sudan and we’re scared that he will be sent back to Egypt.  We have a job ready for him, a place for them to live, and it seems that he can’t get out of prison.  The government has made a differentiation between Darfur and southern Sudan, but when I hear the stories of women, stories of rape, murder, women who can’t go back to their families, what difference does it make where they come from?”

“During the war in Lebanon the refugees didn’t understand it; they were running into the shelters with us but said they wanted to stay here even as the bombs were falling.  I asked a Christian from south Sudan, why Israel? And he said to me, like it was plain, ‘look around us, where can we go for freedom? This is the only democracy we know.’”

Jewish, Multicultural, or Both?
For Americans with only a basic understanding of Israel’s immigration and refugee laws, the African refugee situation is bewildering. Like every other country, Israel is supposed to abide by UN rules governing refugees; once a refugee is accorded that status by the local representatives of the UN High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), he or she is supposed to have certain rights, including protection from involuntary deportation. 

But Ran Cohen, the intense young director of the migrant workers program for Physicians for Human Rights, says this is just one aspect of the problem. As one of the rally’s organizers, he is clearly intent on clarifying the complexities of the issue, while driving home the desperation of the refugees.

 

“Most of Israel’s African refugees entered legally, asking asylum in Israel,” he explains.  “A few of them have refugee status and have the papers from the U.N., but even those who are recognized this way have no social rights in Israel.  In Israel there are several refugee communities, from Congo, from Liberia, from Cote D’Ivoire, and they have lived here for as much as 15 years, without social rights at all. The only thing they have is the work permit, no access to any other rights.”

Mindful of the raging debate in the U.S. over immigration and citizenship, I asked Ran if his organization’s long-term goal is Israeli citizenship for the African community, and if they balanced these objectives with Israel’s special security considerations.  Ran looked dubious. “Human rights organizations are not pre-occupied with security or the borders, this is up to the army, we realize we are not living in a bubble. Before we even think about  citizenship, if Israel does not want to allow them political rights, then at least allow them social rights, let them be recognized as residents with access to health care, welfare, education, social security,  this is what we mean by equality.  Citizenship is another debate and we in Israel are not there yet.”

But, I persisted, playing devil’s advocate, Israel was founded as the Jewish homeland.  Given that historic identification, and the many unmet needs of Israel’s own citizens, why should Israel take responsibility for solving African refugee problems?

“First of all the refugees are not a problem,” Cohen responded heatedly.  “We think that Israeli society can integrate refugees. We want Israel to be a nation as all other nations, not for Jews only.  We think that immigration policy can allow other people from other countries under certain conditions to come to Israel, or at least allow those who have been here 10 or 15 years legal and social status here.”  The marchers who are here, he explains, are often, like illegal immigrants in the U.S., working in the shadow economy, without work permits and dependent on unofficial and intermittent hourly work.  

Sigal Rozen, the Hotline for Migrant Workers coordinator, has been one of the most visible faces of the refugee-rights movement, and may be best placed to explain the NIF coalition’s strategy and tackle a description of the tactics.  “We deal with the Supreme Court to defend the existing refugees and stop ‘hot return.’ [This controversial policy allows the IDF to pick up and deport any refugees coming in from Sinai within 24 hours of their arrival, in contravention of international law.]  We support MK Ophir Pines-Paz’ legislation, it is not perfect but it is a good start.  And we assist individual refugees in getting out of prison, finding work, reuniting families,” Rozen said.

When asked about Israeli obligations – and the unique challenges facing a Jewish state encountering a multicultural reality, Rozen was firm:

“We are not speaking here about [making Israel] multicultural, we are speaking of helping a very small number of refugees from genocide and….and those who are recognized as refugees by UNHCR and should receive the proper assistance from Israel, according to international law.”

As the rally wound down, the marchers - mostly young African men with the physical strength to have traversed the Sinai – started heading back to their hidden niches of Israeli society. 

The last word, it seemed, was that of one of the refugees’ own emerging leaders, a young man named Adam from Darfur.  Adam became acquainted with the New Israel Fund through his own origins as an activist. Realistic about the process of social change, activism, and integration into Israeli society, he said: “I came here after losing my family in Darfur. When I got out of prison, I was helped to study at school and started to work with the organizations supported by NIF that are helping my people. I hold the idea that our people need to depend not on others, but learn to help themselves.”

“Israel is a European culture and we, as Africans, although it is difficult for us, have to learn how to integrate ourselves here and join the majority culture….that means organizing ourselves.  Almost all the Africans here are not immigrants, they are refugees from wars, and we are determined to gain our rights under Israeli and international law.” 

(This is the first in a series of eyewitness reports on the New Israel Fund’s work in the field, as told by our American communications director.)