Last update - 00:00 01/07/2007
20 refugees left in Negev town to begin work in Eilat hotels
By Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondent
Approximately 20 Sudanese refugees, deposited Sunday by an Israel Defense Forces bus in the Negev town of Omer, have been offered employment in hotels in Eilat.
Ten Eritrean infiltrators who were left in Omer with the refugees, have been transferred to Immigration Police custody.
Before an agreement was reached on the fate of the refugees, the head of the Omer local council said that the council intends to transfer African refugees to an exclusive Tel Aviv neighborhood and the parliament in Jerusalem.
The IDF bus dropped the refugees, all of whom crossed the border into Israel within the last day, in Omer's industrial zone, leaving them outside and with no shelter.
The Prime Minister's Office has promised to transfer funds to nearby Be'er Sheva to provide for the refugees, but has yet to do so.
Council head Pini Badash, who arrived at the scene, blamed the government for lacking the proper structures to deal with the refugees.
"The State of Israel needs to solve the refugee problem, not the Omer Local Council," he said.
Badash urged the government to prevent the refugees from entering Israel, saying that the Negev is not the solution to their plight.
"It is the government's responsibility to prevent the Negev from becoming one huge city of refugees," he said.
A statement released by the Omer local council said that, "Two busloads of Sudanese refugees came to the esteemed town of Omer, with the intention of settling there.
"The Omer local council brought sandwiches, drinks and buses to transfer the refugees. One bus is destined for Ramat Aviv Gimmel and the second bus for the Knesset in Jerusalem."
The Prime Minister's Office promised last week to give assistance to the Be'er Sheva city council to house the Sudanese refugees that reach the city. As of the end of last week, some 150 Sudanese refugees were in Be'er Sheva, most of them residing in the Naot Midbar and Paradise hotels.
Some 50 refugees crossed into Israel on Sunday. The Immigration Police refused to take them in and referred them to the hotel in Be'er Sheva. But after it became clear that there were no funds to cover their expenses, the refugees were placed on the IDF bus, and taken to Omer.