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Last update - 00:06 31/07/2009
Netanyahu defers expulsion of children of migrant workers
By Dana Weiler-Polak, Haaretz Correspondent, and Haaretz Service
Tags: Shimon Peres, Eli Yishai 

The government has decided to delay the deportation of migrant workers and their children for the next three months, according to a statement released by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau on Thursday.

At the same time, the government will continue efforts to deport illegal foreign workers, and to assist those who decide to leave under their own volition.

Netanyahu had come under broad public criticism for the expansion of efforts to expel illegal migrant workers.
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Earlier Thursday, President Shimon Peres wrote a letter to Interior Minister Eli Yishai, urging him not to expel the children of migrant workers.

"Who, if not a people who suffered embitterment in the lands of exile, should be sensitive to their fellow man living amongst them?" Peres wrote, adding that Israel could not remain indifferent to the children's fate.

The president's comments came as the Oz unit of the National Immigration Authority was planning to expel next week about 300,000 illegal immigrant workers from Israel, including those born here - parents and offspring alike.


In the letter, Peres added that he had recently visited the Bialik-Rogozin School in south Tel Aviv, where many children of foreign workers are educated.

"I felt they had an appreciation for Israel, where they were born," he said. "I heard Hebrew ring naturally from their mouths. I felt their connection and their love for Israel and their desire to live in it, to serve in its army and to help to strengthen it."

Also Thursday, Yishai canceled a plan to prohibit refugees from spending time in and working in central Israel.

Yishai cancels 'Hadera-Gadera' procedure
Interior Minister Eli Yishai on Thursday ordered the cancellation of an initiative to prohibit refugees from staying in and working in central Israel.

Yishai's reversal of the 'Hadera-Gadera' plan followed a public outcry against the procedure, which would have prohibited the workers and their families from staying in the area between Hadera, north of Tel Aviv and Gadera, south of Tel Aviv.

Yishai is demanding that the security cabinet hold an urgent discussion on the matter of refugees, in order to examine alternative ways to reduce the number of refugees, while also making their treatment in Israel more humane.

Yishai explained his decision to reverse the plan after seeing the social and economic problems that arose in Israel's outlying cities under the original policy.

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      1.   woohoo 14:55  |  nic 30/07/09
      2.   The President 15:10  |  Freddy 30/07/09
      3.   Peres to State: Don`t expel......... 15:13  |  Elias 30/07/09
      4.   A very tough decision 15:38  |  a big mistake 30/07/09
      5.   The Real Face of Peres 15:41  |  Walid 30/07/09
      6.   well, since you want a J state.. 15:41  |  anna 30/07/09
      7.   disaster 15:45  |  Kobi 30/07/09
      8.   Let Peres spend his personal money for them 15:51  |  Bussy 30/07/09
      9.   i love you peres 15:56  |  aron 30/07/09
      10.   Let the UN address this problem 15:57  |  Linichka 30/07/09
      11.   wonderfull 16:03  |  nick 30/07/09
      12.   Pres does not know the meaning of the word illegal 16:12  |  judith 30/07/09
      13.   Another Needless Way to Tick Everyone off! 16:15  |  MIKE 30/07/09
      14.   Mike 16:22  |  Linichka 30/07/09
      15.   The trouble is we are so afraid of a cosmopolitan Israel... 16:23  |  Esther 30/07/09
      16.   Finally, a wise and just decision 16:26  |  Irith Freudenheim 30/07/09
      17.   Let Them Convert, Then They Can Stay 16:31  |  Robert 30/07/09
      18.   Response to " Pres does not know the meaning of the word illegal" 16:31  |  Sam 30/07/09
      19.   Peres`s double standard 16:37  |  Michael 30/07/09
      20.   No To Expulsion 16:38  |  BDF 30/07/09
      21.   Growing pains 17:38  |  Arnold 30/07/09
      22.   so you will keep the children and not the parents 18:42  |  jacl 30/07/09
      23.   Juan Carlos Buenos Aires 21:07  |  Peres... 30/07/09
      24.   Again- you need to qualify who is a true refugee and who is not 21:12  |  JO 30/07/09
      25.   As the door to hell is looming, Peres wants some 21:34  |  Andreas 30/07/09
      26.   convert to judaisme 21:34  |  baba lalou 30/07/09
      27.   These children are so glad and grateful to be here... 23:04  |  Esther 30/07/09
      28.   Michael #19, no parallel between the two intances... 23:12  |  Esther 30/07/09
      29.   yeah, very broad 02:33  |  kobi former swede 31/07/09
      30.   deportation of children 02:45  |  Gary Albert 31/07/09
      31.   Heart Warming to see that 04:37  |  Mark Lincoln 31/07/09
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