The Department of Migrants and Persons with no Civil Status endeavors to protect the immigrants’ rights to health, to have them included in public health settlements, to sever the ties between civil status and entitlement to social rights, and to promote a “social residency” status that will enable immigrants’ entitlement to rights unconditioned upon their civil status. Read More
24.02.2013
End-Child-Detention Project
On route to Israel refugees are tortured for
ransom, in particular in the Sinai. About 1,5% of those held in the desert are
children accompanied by their parents, or single mothers; the vast majority is
from Eritrea. Once arrived in Israel, the Anti-Infiltration
Law foresees detention of refugees, incl. their children for up to three
years. Refugees from a so-called "Enemy State", e.g. Sudan may be
detained indefinitely, also their children. Child-detention is increasing and
prolonged confinement with limited access to legal presentation, health
services and primary education is the norm.
Urgent Appeal: Prevent Deportations of Eritrean Asylum Seekers to Eritrea or Uganda
Israeli human rights groups are gravely concerned for the fate of 23 Eritrean asylum seekers under threat of deportation to Eritrea against their will. While the date of deportation remains unknown, we fear that thedeportations could happen over the next week. We ask that you urgently contact representatives in the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Interior, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to ensure that these deportations are prevented.
After over a month and a half of intensive renovations, PHR-Israel's new and improved Open Clinic is open for business!
After over a month and a half of intensive renovations, PHR-Israel's new and improved Open Clinic is open for business! Over the duration of the renovations, the Open Clinic staff and volunteers encountered numerous asylum seekers and other status-less individuals who were denied access to basic medical and health services in emergency rooms, clinics, and hospitals.
Over 100 Women and Children Received Treatment in East Barta'a Yesterday, at a Special Mobile Clinic for Women Negatively Impacted by Israel's Citizenship Law
The special Mobile Clinic visit was conducted as part of a joint project of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) and Shatil. The project aims to unbind social rights from civil status, and to assist Palestinian women (primarily those living along the Green Line) negatively impacted by the Citizenship Law in receiving social residency status that will enable them access to health and welfare services.
Tortured in Sinai, Jailed in Israel - New Report by PHR-Israel & Hotline for Migrant Workers
A new report by PHR-Israel & Hotline for Migrant Workers.The report aims to present the consequences of the general Israeli government policy toward asylum seekers, as it is applied on trafficking, slavery and torture survivors arriving Israel from the Sinai desert.
The New York Times: Sinai Becomes Prison for African Migrants
AL-MEHDIA, EGYPT — Frisgy Gamienbay, a 21-year-old Eritrean, was emaciated when Egyptian Bedouins discovered him late one September evening in the Sinai Desert near the Egyptian-Israeli border. A few weeks later, he died in an Egyptian hospital near the Rafah border crossing into Gaza.
Open Letter on British Delegation to Sinai, October 2012
Prime Minister David Cameron will be sending an important delegation
of UK military personnel and field experts, including Sir David Richards, to
advise Egypt on the issue of security in the Sinai region. It is paramount that
combating human trafficking and torture in Sinai is seen as a priority by this
delegation.
Israel: Asylum Seekers Blocked at Border; Eritreans Pushed Back to Egypt, Despite Risk of Abuse
The Israeli military has since June 2012 prevented dozens of asylum seekers, most of them Eritreans, from crossing Israel’s newly constructed fence on its border with Egypt, Human Rights Watch, the Hotline for Migrant Workers, and Physicians for Human Rights – Israel said today. Israel has also unlawfully deported dozens more back to Egypt, the three groups said. Israel should stop rejecting asylum seekers at the fence unless its officials determine in a fair procedure that they do not face threats to their lives or freedom or inhuman and degrading treatment because of that rejection.
Human Rights Watch' New Report: End Sinai Nightmare for Migrants'
Theorganization
Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has provided medicalassistance to
thousands of migrants at the open clinic it runs in Jaffa, hastreated hundreds of
people abused by traffickers in Sinai since victims began topresent themselves
in early 2010. Based on an analysis of around 700 of the 1,300 interviews it
conducted with migrants who entered Israel from Sinai sinceOctober 2010, the
physicians’ group reported that 59 percent of the intervieweessaid they had been
subjected to serious abuses including “beating, whipping, burning/branding, electric
shock, burying in the sand/soil, suspension by thelimbs, exposure to
sun, sexual abuse, threat of execution, shooting, [and] threats of organ
removal.”
PHR - Israel' will lead a convoy of medical professionals to asylum seekers at border'
Tomorrow, Thursday September 9th, 'Physicians for Human Rights - Israel' will lead a delegation to the Egyptian border demanding that the asylum seekers stuck at the border be permuted to enter Israel and that PHR be permitted to check on their health statuses. Tomorrow morning we will head to the border, because we can now allow ourselves to stay at home in the face of such horrible injustice.
The "Refugees' Rights Forum" Position Paper - August 2012: African Asylum Seekers Arriving in Israel via the Sinai Desert
Since 2009, smugglers in the Sinai have imprisoned refugees (mainly Eritreans) en route to Israel in harsh conditions, which include severe torture, sexual assault and rape, and demands for large sums of money for their release. 4 Testimonies of over 1,3005 survivors recorded at PHR-Israel's Open Clinic since 20106 revealed that 59% of the interviewees described being subjected to torture7 by smugglers who threatened them at gunpoint while they were chained.
The 'Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land' has launched a renewed appeal in favor of the victims of human traffickers in the Sinai.
The 'Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land' has launched a renewed appeal, published on
August 9, 2012, in favor of the victims of human traffickers in the Sinai. This
comes in the light of the deployment of Egyptian military forces there.
Briefing note: Israeli treatment of African asylum-seekers and refugees arriving in Israel via Sinai
In recent years a sharp increase in the arrival of new asylum-seekers has been recorded in Israel. By March 2012, 58,088 asylum-seekers had reportedly entered Israel, the vast majority of them during the last five years, with most originating in Eritrea (56.46%) and Sudan (25.91%).1 Entry into Israel is via the Sinai desert and the Egyptian border.
Update: Escalating measures against asylum- refugees in Israel
This document provides supplementary information to the April 2012 briefing note entitled 'Israeli treatment of African asylum-seekers and refugees arriving in Israel via Sinai', and its accompanying materials.
Selected testimonies of Sinai victims collected by Sister Aziza in PHR-I open clinic:
"
I was beaten and chained and you can still see the scars on my body. The person who was chained with me died but the smugglers left the body chained with me for two days. They beat me on the soles of my feet and they burned my hands with fire. When I was chained, wounds burst on my legs. I also suffered from extreme hunger and thirst. I got one piece of bread every 24 hours and 1 1/2 liter of water for 32 people." Read More
24.06.2012
Press Release: Azezet Kidane, an Eritrean nun and nurse who volunteers at Physicians For Human Rights-Israel’s Open Clinic will receive today the prestigious U.S. State Department’s Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Heroes Award
Azezet Kidane, an Eritrean nun and nurse who volunteers at Physicians For Human Rights-Israel’s Open Clinic will receive today the prestigious U.S. State Department’s Trafficking In Persons (TIP) Heroes Award
بيان صحفي : عزيزة كيداني، راهبة من إرتريا متطوّعة في العيادة المفتوحة التابعة لمنظمة أطباء لحقوق الإنسان، تُمنح اليوم جائزة تقديرية أمريكية رفيعة خاصة بالناشطين في حقل مناهضة الاتجار بالبشر
YNET: On Cancer, Racism, and Everything in Between - By Dr. Bella Kaufman, volunteer with Physicians for Human Rights
“The infiltrators are a cancer in our body.” In one easy wave of hand Knesset Member Miri Regev tried to intimidate her listeners. I, who meet cancer patients on a daily basis, was horrified.
Hundreds of Refugees Held Hostage in Sinai Torture Camps Need Rescuing
Claims that a large number of refugees have been released from Sinai camps following media reports represents only a partial picture of the current situation on the ground. Human rights organizations worldwide have come together to publish up-to-date information in their possession which shows that the smuggling networks are still up and running and that hundreds of refugee hostages are being tortured by human traffickers in the Sinai.
21.3.12 NPR: As Illegal Immigrants Increase, Israel Plans To Act
On a radio broadcast on NPR, PHR-I is raising it's deep concern regarding Israel's plan to build the biggest detention center for asylum seekers in the world.
Haaretz 25.3.12: Israel's arrest of Bedouin man sheds light on Sinai kidnappings of African refugees
Rahat resident allegedly secured ransom payments for gang that abducted Eritrean and Sudanese refugees; Israel Police says 'well-oiled' system of kidnappers working in concert with Hebron money changers.
Appeal from the Ordinaries of the Holy Land regarding human trafficking and hostages in Sinai
The Assembly of the Catholic Ordinaries of the Holy Land expresses its deep concern about the horrific situation of African asylum seekers who are being held hostage in the Sinai and calls for an immediate end to human trafficking.
19/2/12 O GLOBO ( Brazil) : Until the law separate them: Veto on citizenship for Palestinians married to Israelis divides the country: security or racism?
. Since 2003 thousands of couples have not been able to rectify the situation of their Palestinian spouses. Even those who have managed to receive temporary residence documents - allowing them to reside within Israel- are prevented from working, studying in public schools, opening bankaccountsor driving. They also do not have the right to public health insurance.
The Guardian: Egyptian authorities look the other way as Bedouin kidnap refugees
Over the past 18 months, PHR has interviewed 900 people who have been tortured in the Sinai, and have traced a human traffickingnetwork that extends to the refugee camps in Sudan and Eritrea. Read More
15.02.2012
BBC Radio 15/2/12 – Sinai Torture Camps
Shahar Shoham (PHR-I) tell about the victims of torture from Sinai that we meet in our Open Clinic.
Haaretz: Refugees open Tel Aviv homeless shelter for asylum seekers
On the shelter's second day, volunteer doctors from Physicians for Human Rights came to the shelter, to examine those living in the park and the shelter.
26/1/12 The REAL NEWS: Israel to become biggest jailer of refugees
On January 11th the Israeli parliament passed an amendment to the so- called Infiltrators Law. This revision allows the authorities to automatically imprison asylum seekers for three years. The plan includes constructing a 10,000 person jail to house the refugees. According to Amnesty International, this puts Israel at the top of the Western World for length of imprisonment of refugees. Today Israel is home to nearly 50,000 asylum seekers from Africa, 85% of whom are from Eritrea and Sudan. The Real News' Lia Tarachansky spoke to Nic Schlagman and Johannes Bayu of the AfricanRefugeeDevelopmentCenter, Ran Cohen of Physicians for Human Rights, and "Ibrahim", an Eritrean asylum seeker in Israel for ten years.
Ynet 12/1/12 : 'Citizenship Law – declaration of war on Israeli Arabs'
Israeli Arab says court's decision to reject petition against law will lead to 'expulsion of thousands of families.' Rahat resident: Why are we being treated like enemies? Read More
10.01.2012
Haaretz 10.1.12: "Knesset passes bill that could put asylum seekers in jail without trial"
Lawmakers objecting to the bill say it is undemocratic, and runs contrary to Israel's international obligations to human rights.
Migrant Workers Knesset Committee hearing: transfer the migrant workers’ health insurance from private insurance companies to Public Health Service Providers
On July 11, 2011, a hearing took place at the Migrant Workers Knesset Committee on a bill which is supported by PHR-Israel, to transfer migrant workers’ health insurance from private insurance companies to Public Health Service Providers (kupot holim).
New report: Hundreds of Refugees Need Rescue from Torture Camps
Claims that a large number of refugees have been released from Sinai camps following media reports represents only a partial picture of the current situation on the ground. Human rights organizations worldwide have come together to publish up-to-date information in their possession which shows that the smuggling networks are still up and running and that hundreds of refugee hostages are being tortured by
23.2.2011 Hostages, Torture, and Rape in the Desert: Findings from 284 Asylum Seekers about Atrocities in the Sinai
Groups of refugees, mainly from Eritrea, are being held captive by smugglers at torture camps in the El-Arish area while on the journey through the Sinai to Israel. The smugglers are demanding ransoms of thousands of dollars for the release of each captive. Methods used to apply pressure on the captives’ relatives to pay up include systematic violence and torture of the hostages. Smugglers telephone captives' relatives so they can hear the cries of pain over the phone. Survivors report the use of systemic violence, including punching, slapping, kicking, and whipping. Forms of torture include burial in sand, electric shocks, hanging by the hands and legs, branding with hot metal, as well as rape and sexual abuse.
CNN:Death in the desert: Tribesmen exploit battle to reach Israel
Every year, thousands of refugees, mostly from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, attempt the dangerous journey from their war-torn countries to Israel in search of economic prosperity and stability.
Very few make it, and the results of the failed migration can be seen in the morgue of the central hospital in the Egyptian port town of El Arish.
23.2.2011 Hostages, Torture, and Rape in the Desert: Findings from 284 Asylum Seekers about Atrocities in the Sinai
Groups of refugees, mainly from Eritrea, are being held captive by smugglers at torture camps in the El-Arish area while on the journey through the Sinai to Israel. The smugglers are demanding ransoms of thousands of dollars for the release of each captive. Methods used to apply pressure on the captives’ relatives to pay up include systematic violence and torture of the hostages. Smugglers telephone captives' relatives so they can hear the cries of pain over the phone. Survivors report the use of systemic violence, including punching, slapping, kicking, and whipping. Forms of torture include burial in sand, electric shocks, hanging by the hands and legs, branding with hot metal, as well as rape and sexual abuse.
Yediot Ahronot, Soldiers: "We could returning refugees to their death".
The UN defined this act as illegal. The IDF declared before the High Court of Justice that it no longer commits these acts but soldiers' testimonies reveal: the army continues to return to Egypt refugees who cross the border.
"When we observe them," says a soldier, "we see the Egyptians beating them, kicking them and stomping on them."
The IDF: "The procedure has been frozen. When a deviation is suspected, we look into it.
Hostages, Torture, and Rape in the Sinai Desert - Media Timeline
Following the plight of refugees and asylum-seekers who come to Israel through the Sinai desert Read More
25.08.2011
Appeal for Urgent Intervention to Ensure the Safety of Asylum Seekers in Sinai
Strengthening the forces of the Egyptian army in the Sinai Peninsula, in coordination with Israel, as well as the violent events which recently took place on the Israel-Egypt border drew the public attention to the security aspect of what is going on in Sinai. However, the subject of the hostage and torture camps, where during the last two years thousands of asylum seekers have been held, has been pushed aside and has not attracted the attention which it deserves.
Channel 4: In the Sinai desert, thousands of African immigrants fleeing conscription, torture and conflict in East Africa risk being shot by border guards and held ransom by people smugglers as they try to get to Israel
The Tel Aviv Police Department has
decided not to grant us the appropriate permits for tomorrow's event honoring
World Refugee Day. Therefore we have been forced to cancel the event scheduled
to take place at the Old Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv. We are working on
finding an alternative location. Please check ourfacebookpage for further updates
972+: Migrants tell of grim conditions in holding facility for children
Twenty-six children with their mothers have been brought to a holding facility at Ben-Gurion Airport, and deportations are expected to speed up now that the school year is ending
ahramonline: On World Refugee Day, Egypt's growing refugee and asylum-seeking population comes into sharp focus as the region's shifting political landscape exacerbates humanitarian difficulties on the ground
"In a course on community social work devoted to the promotion of solutions for social problems, I was part of a group which chose to seek solutions for the healthcare problems of asylum seekers." The students decided on a protest action, spreading postcards calling government to implement National Health Insurance on asylum seekers. Avia, a student of social work recalls her experience.
Yaniv Fenig, a student of medicine and volunteer of Open Clinic: "Because of the limited resources, most patients ...do not get full medical treatment in accordance with western standards. This fact is especially frustrating since in many cases, the possibility to affect their prognosis, ...is substantial."
Intl. Refugee Day: Breaking through Language Barrier
Michal who organized translator course and Genet who participated speak about its significance: "Many of the people sitting in the room with Genet struggled to communicate with the volunteers... When these patients discovered that Genet was able to communicate so effectively with the Clinic staff and volunteers, they turned to her for help."
Despite the wide exposure in the media, the Open Clinic continues receiving information and testimonies indicating that the torture camps are still operating. Given these findings, the silence and inaction of the Ministries of Welfare and Health is more than striking.
Intl. Refugee Day: Dr. Lurie on Satisfaction & Frustration
Dr. Ido Lurie, volunteer, medical manager of the Open Clinic: My work at the Open Clinic at Physicians for Human Rights is marked by a combination of plenty of satisfaction and plenty of frustration. Read More
15.06.2011
JPost: 'Questions surround death of Eritrean at Egypt border'
Jpost: IDF says it’s looking into incident; examining doctors, Physicians for Human Rights say injuries not consistent with soldiers’ report. Read More
07.06.2011
IRIN: Tortured for ransom in the Sinai desert
IRIN: "Over the past year, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel's Open Clinic has treated thousands of victims of torture who have entered Israel after surviving captivity and torture in the Sinai desert."
CNN: Two women from Eritrea - whose identities are hidden - came separately to Israel seeking a better future."I thought things would be much different from Africa," say one of the women. "I got information from people who already arrived before me in Israel that the lifestyle is much better than Eritrea." Read More
04.06.2011
Channel 4: Unreported World - Breaking Into Israel
Channel 4: In the Sinai desert, thousands of African immigrants fleeing conscription, torture and conflict in East Africa risk being shot by border guards and held ransom by people smugglers as they try to get to Israel. Read More
27.05.2011
A New PHR-Israel Report - Hostages, Torture, and Rape in the Desert: Findings from 284 Asylum Seekers about Atrocities in the Sinai
JPost: Eilat mayor: Terrorists could infiltrate Israel's border
JPost: Residents shocked as African migrants knock on doors, asking for water; Eilat mayor calls on Barak to take measures to stop influx of African migrants. Read More
13.05.2011
BBC: Eritreans 'being tortured in Egypt's Sinai for ransom'
BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says this testimony has been supported by an Israeli group, Physicians for Human Rights, which has documented the evidence of torture on 300 Eritreans who survived a similar ordeal. Read More
27.04.2011
Haaretz: IDF reserve refuses to carry out return of African refugees to Egypt, 22.4.2011
Haaretz: Soldiers and officers had heard descriptions from colleagues who regularly serve in the area about abuse of the Africans by Egyptian border policemen.
US: Israel is not properly ensuring refugee rights
JPost: Israel has dragged its feet in ensuring the rights of asylum seekers, the US
State Department stated in a report issued last week. The 2010 Annual
Report on Human Rights states that Israel “has not enacted legislation
implementing the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967
Protocol.”
Concern for the wellbeing of approximately 40 Eritrean asylum seekers denied entry into Israel at the Israeli- Egyptian border
On the eve of Pesach 2011, while we are celebrating liberty, we
ask you to join us in a call to the Israeli authorities, to ensure the
safety and well being of a group of approximately 40 Eritrean asylum
seekers, women and man, and by no circumstances return them to
Egypt. Testimonies received yesterday evening (17.4.11) by both
Physicians for Human Rights - Israel and the Hotline for Migrant
Workers, raise grave concern to the lives of the group members.
Haaretz: Two foreign workers and their children nabbed for deportation, 28.3.2011
Haaretz: The organization Physicians for Human Rights criticized the government's conduct in the case, saying: "The State of Israel continues to treat individuals it brought to the country as disposable slaves that can be expelled and deported after they have fulfilled their function." Read More
14.03.2011
JPost: Protesters: Refugee status in Israel, democracy in Eritrea, 11.3.2011
JPost: Eritreans also say recent turmoil in Middle East gives hope that popular uprising could topple regime in Asmara. Shahar Shoham, head of the migrants & refugees department in PHR-Israel : “The refugees demand democracy in Eritrea, status as refugees in Israel and international interference to stop the torture that is going on in Sinai.” Photo By Karen Zack - Activestills Read More
10.03.2011
JPost: Rights group: IDF troops returned African migrants to Sinai, 10.3.2011
JPost: According to PHR-Israel, a 20-year-old Eritrean man who came to the organization’s free clinic in Jaffa at the beginning of March said that in late February, he had been part of a group that IDF caught crossing Egypt-Israel border and were sent men back over to Egypt. Read More
03.03.2011
BBC World: Interview With Eritrean Refugee Who's being Held By Human Smugglers In Sinai
The Jewish Chronicle: People trafficking horror in Sinai , 3.3.2011
The Jewish Chronicle: Just a few miles from Israel's border, a cruel but lucrative business in kidnap and ransom is growing, according to separate reports just released by two Israeli charities. More than 86 women told PHR that they had been raped, the organisation revealed. Some 59 per cent of the trafficked individuals it interviewed were held under guard or shackled to each other, and 52 per cent were subjected to physical abuse. Read More
01.03.2011
Jewish Journal: Oscar winner ‘Strangers’ promises no Hollywood ending, 1.3.2011
Jewish Journal: One day after an Oscar went to the 40-minute documentary “Strangers No More,” about the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel Aviv and its undocumented students from 48 countries across the Third World — a 12-year-old girl named Esther who stars in the movie is facing probable deportation from Israel, along with an estimated 120 of the 800 pupils in the school. Read More
23.02.2011
Haaretz: Majority of asylum-seekers in Israel are seriously abused in Sinai, report reveals, 23.2.2011
Haaretz: A Physicians for Human Rights survey reveals that most sub-Saharan Africans seeking refugee status in Israel suffer horrible violence at the hands of those that smuggle them into the country. Read More
23.02.2011
The Canadian Press: Rights group: Bedouin smugglers rape African women in Egypt trying to reach asylum in Israel, 23.2.2011
The Canadian Press: An Israeli rights group said Wednesday that Bedouin smugglers in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula have raped dozens of African women who they promised to smuggle into Israel over the past year.At least 86 women from Eritrea reported they were raped while in Sinai, which borders Israel, said Ran Cohen, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel. Read More
14.01.2011
Tablet: Exodus, 14.1.2011
Tablet: As southern Sudan votes on independence, Sudanese refugees working in the resorts of Eilat consider returning to their own promised land. Read More
13.01.2011
Reuters Africa: African migrants report abuse on way to Israel, 13.1.11
Reuters Africa: African migrants en route to Israel are subject to torture, rape and assault by traffickers in Egypt's Sinai desert, Israeli Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said, citing interviews it conducted with victims. "From January to November 2010 we referred 165 women who travelled through Sinai to (Israeli) hospitals for abortions. We believe half of these women were sexually assaulted in Sinai," said Shahar Shoham, a case worker in PHR's open clinic in Jaffa.
Open Clinic Emergency Appeal - Newly Arriving Refugees and Asylum Seekers, Ex- hostages and Victims of Torture , Seek Treatment at PHR-Israel's Open Clinic, 30.12.10
Newly Arriving Refugees and Asylum Seekers from Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Sudan, Ex- hostages and Victims of Torture Seek Treatment at PHR-Israel's Open Clinic. During this holiday season, help us provide much-needed physical and mental care.
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information: The Egyptian Government Must Intervene Immediately to Save African Hostages in Sinai
ANHRI.NET: Thirteen Egyptian human rights organizations expressed their distress today about the Egyptian government’s continuing dismissal of reports confirming the detention, torture and rape of hundreds of African hostages in Sinai by human trafficking gangs over the last few months. The Egyptian organizations call upon all government authorities to live up to their obligations under national and international laws and take immediate action to secure the release of the hostages currently detained.
BBC: Fears over African migrants held by Sinai Bedouin, 31.12.10
BBC: Human rights groups say Bedouin smuggling gangs are holding over a hundred African migrants for ransom in the Sinai desert. The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes has had rare access to smugglers close to the Israeli border (The article includes a BBC video report).
Forward: Eritrean Tells of His Cruel Odyssey to Israel, 29.12.10
Forward: Tel Aviv — On a bed in his tiny shared apartment in Tel Aviv, Mekonen Kefete bares his right leg to illustrate the story of his journey to Israel. It is dotted with dark black marks where red-hot iron bars were cruelly poked into his skin. More than 35,000 illegal African immigrants have reached Israel via Egypt, and most are thought to have paid traffickers at some point to help with their journeys. The traffickers did their part, but in early 2010 Israeli medics began to see signs of a sinister new business venture: Sinai traffickers holding their prey for ransom for large sums and using extreme abuse to nudge such “deals” along.
The Examiner: African migrants protest Israeli detention center, 24.12.10
The Examiner: Hundreds of Israelis and African migrants marched down Tel Aviv's main boulevard on Friday to protest a government plan to build a detention facility to hold those who enter the country illegally. The government estimates that more than 30,000 Africans, mostly from Sudan and Eritrea, have entered Israel through the porous southern border with Egypt since 2005.
LA Times: EGYPT: Report claims African refugees face kidnapping, torture in Sinai. 16.12.10
LA Times; More than 200 African asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are being held captive by smugglers along the Sinai border with Israel, a report issued by Physicians for Human Rights Israel claims.
Hundreds of Refugees Fall Victim to Rape, Slavery and Torture in Sinai
Ha'aretz: Hundreds of asylum seekers on their way to Israel are held hostage by their Bedouin smugglers and fall victim to severe violence, torture and slavery – reports Physicians for Human Rights - based on recently collected evidence, published here for the first time.
Sending Them to Their Death - Refugees are being sent back to the Sinai Desert by the IDF. One officer refused the order. By Einat Fischbein, Yediot Aharonot, November 24, 2010
Translated article form Yediot Aharonot: A. didn’t even think he was disobeying an order. “I’m taking them to the base,” he announced plainly on the radio to the company commander. A. contacted his commander after he took into his vehicle a group of Africans that had crossed the border during the night between Friday and Saturday. Even when the man on the other end of the line informed him that he was to take the 13 Africans to a different location on the border and put place them on the Egyptian side, A. did not change his decision.
By Einat Fischbein, Yediot Aharonot, November 24, 2010
Vatican Radio - World ignores horror of Sinai hostages, 5.12.10
An estimated 600 men and women are being held in chains, tortured, beaten and threatened with being traded to organ traffickers. On Sunday Pope Benedict XVI called for urgent intervention in the horrific plight of these refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan.
They are hung from trees by metal chains attached to their arms and provided with plastic bags to collect their urine to drink when they are thirsty. They are gang raped, tortured with electricity and held prisoner in desert camps. When they escape they are shot, either by their Beduin captors or by Egyptian police. These savage and disturbing details, published piecemeal over the years, are just a part of the picture of what is being done in Egypt’s Sinai desert to African migrants.
AP: Israel fears 'flood' of migrants threatens state
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - Ismail Abdul-Rasul and his family escaped war in Darfur, languished in squalid conditions in Egypt for five years and nearly suffocated in a harrowing journey across the Sinai desert before they were finally smuggled into Israel.
Desert Hell - The Journey of Refugees through the Sinai Desert
Translated article form Yediot Aharonot: Rape, electric shocks on all parts of the body, burning with white-hot iron bars, confinement, loss of consciousness, and death in sweltering containers. More and more evidence exposes what's going on only dozens of kilometers from the Egyptian- Israeli border, in torture camps built by Bedouin traffickers in the Sinai desert. The situation in the camps is beyond belief: many African migrants report systematic and severe torturing on their way here, with about half the women raped and hundreds subsequently forced to undergo abortions in Israel. Now that the extent of the humanitarian disaster is becoming clear, the UN is trying to put an end to it.
By Einat Fishbein, November 19, 2010, Yediot Ahronot, Weekend Insert
Ynet News: Human rights groups warn against Netanyahu's plan to pay African states to absorb illegal migrants. Ran Cohen, director of the Department for Migrants, Refugees and Undocumented People at Physicians for Human Rights-Israel: "Netanyahu is planning to deport refugees to African countries after many years of selling weapons to African dictatorships. This idea places Netanyahu squarely within the category of the worst African dictators who point Israeli weapons at the heads of the refugees who come here".
A presentation created by Ran Cohen, Director of Migrants and Refugees Dept. at PHR-Israel for the 3rd Israeli Meeting on Rural Medicine 2010 (IDF Southern Command - Medical Division and the Israeli Society of Frontier Medicine). Please note - View using Mozilla Firefox web browser.
The Department of Migrants and (Civic) Status-Less Persons - Activities Report, July 2010
During July 726 (civic) status-less persons applied to the clinic for medical care. 242 of them were first time applicants. Their demographic distribution was as follows: 110 males, 108 females, 16 children and of the remaining 8 new applicants details were not specified.
When it comes to immigration policy, Israel has its cake and eats it, too. Over the past 20 years, the country has admitted thousands of non-Jewish migrants to do work that Israelis themselves refuse to do, but by allowing naturalization almost exclusively to Jews alone, and by tying social benefits to legal-residency status, the state has created an entire class of people living here in limbo, deprived of basic rights.
From JNews: The story of Nadim Injaz, which hit the headlines
on 17 August after he broke into the Turkish Embassy in Tel Aviv and
demanded political asylum, is just one of thousands of tragedies of
Palestinians who collaborated with the Israeli security forces.
400 foreign workers' kids out. Deportation decision slammed by some govt ministers and UNICEF.
The cabinet on Sunday adopted the recommendations of the interministerial committee on the deportation of 1,200 children of foreign workers, which means that only about 400 of them will be deported with their families, while the rest will be granted permanent residency.
New Position Paper: The Humanitarian Committee - a false hope to the many who have been affected by the Citizenship Law
Ahead of the annual extension of the Temporary Provisions to the Citizenship and Entry into Israel Law -PHR-IL issues a new position paper: The Humanitarian Committee - a false hope to the many who have been affected by the Citizenship Law.
MK wants health care coverage for all foreign workers' kids - legal or not
The ministerial committee on legislation is to discuss today a proposal to amend the Government Health Law to include all children born in Israel or living here for more than three months.
Prof. Raphi Walden, The Deputy Director of Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer Hospital and a long time board member of PHR-IL, calls on the government to make health care for refugees a top priority. He asks: Has Israeli society become indifferent to suffering?
Feature article in the weekend edition of Ha'aretz, 25.6.10
