Last update - 00:00 09/05/2007
Dozens of Darfur refugees housed in Be'er Sheva military facility
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
Dozens of refugees from Darfur who infiltrated Israel during the past week and have been living on Israel Defense Forces bases were taken Wednesday to the Southern District Police headquarters in Be'er Sheva. The police refused to take custody of them, and they were transferred to a military housing facility in Be'er Sheva.
Welfare services and IDF authorities are working on finding a solution for the refugees.
A spokeswoman for Southern District Police said that the bus transporting the refugees was sent back to IDF Southern Command because "the police deals with criminals, and this isn't the case. This situation is the result of the army's inability to hermetically seal the border with Egypt."
Over the past year, nearly 300 Sudanese have infiltrated into Israel. Some of them survived the ethnic cleansing being carried out by Arab militias in Darfur, with the support of the Muslim government in Khartoum. The survivors fled first to Egypt, but suffered from harassment and economic distress there, so they fled to Israel.
Two months ago the IDF abndoned a Sudanese mother and her five children in Be'er sheva after they underwent a medical examination at Soroka Medical Center.
Two weeks ago six Sudanese refugees that had infiltrated Israel were expelled by the IDF.
One of the refugees - a 20-year-old Christian man - said that prior to infiltrating Israel he had spend four years in Egypt. "I left Israel because the situation there was difficult, I had no security. It is hard to live there as a Christian," he said.
Attorney Eytan Schwartz, spokesman of the Committee for Darfur Refugees said that "while Israel sends millions to the refugees in Chad, there is not a Shekel for the refugees that come to Israel."