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Sudanese refugees in Israel. (Alberto Dankberg)
Last update - 15:42 02/07/2007
Olmert: Egypt vowed not to expel Sudan refugees deported from Israel
By Shahar Ilan, Ruth Sinai, Barak Ravid and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Monday Egyptian authorities had pledged that the Sudanese refugees Israel is set to deport to Egypt will not be forced to return to Sudan.

Olmert spoke at a Knesset Foreign and Defense Committee meeting, which was convened after a migrant workers' rights group threatened legal action if asylum seekers were deported back to danger zones, endangering their lives.

According to Olmert, most of the deportation candidates infiltrated Israel in search of work, and therefore there is no reason to allow them to remain in the country and to "establish a community that could grow to hundreds of thousands."
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The prime minister said that Israel would absorb a group of refugees from Darfur, but clarified that refugees from other areas will be deported.

The Interior Ministry's proposal to deport the refugees had human rights and foreign workers' support groups up in arms. The Hotline for Migrant Workers threatened to petition the High Court of Justice "if the state tries to deport those seeking asylum without evaluating their request."

The Hotline issued a statement warning that "the deportation of asylum seekers to Egypt without receiving assurances that they will not be deported to their countries constitutes a blatant violation of international law."

The organization points to United Nations conventions on refugees, to which Israel is a signatory, forbidding the deportation of people seeking asylum to a country where they could be exposed to conditions that could threaten their lives.

"Egypt has a proven record of returning refugees to their country of origin, where they died," the organization's statement charges.

In the past, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees had made it clear to Israel that it opposed the deporting of refugees if no guarantees were secured that they would not be sent back to Sudan.

In Sudan, people who have been to Israel may face threats to their lives.

In talks Sunday on the African refugees, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that any refugee caught crossing into Israel from Egypt would be returned to that country through an official crossing. Olmert said the matter had been finalized in discussions with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last week.

The prime minister also said Mubarak has promised that Egypt would step up its efforts to stem the flow of African refugees seeking to cross into Israel from Sinai.

However, in a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, there was no reference to whether Olmert had been given guarantees by Mubarak that the refugees would not be sent to Sudan.

The statement only mentioned that the Israel Defense Forces' role would be to track and arrest the refugees and return them to Egypt through the official border crossings "on the basis of Egyptian commitment guaranteeing their well-being."

In the statement, Israel would "examine the possibility of assisting a small number of the refugees from Darfur who are now in Israel."

However, this would only be done "after the influx of the refugees is completely contained."

According to an inter-ministerial committee, which was headed by Interior Minister Roni Bar-On and which presented its conclusions on refugees crossing into Israel from Sinai, about 1,400 such illegal immigrants are currently in Israel.

Most of them are from Sudan and Eritrea, and they are believed to have been motivated by economic reasons in sneaking into Israel.

The committee also noted that the Sinai is used not only by African economic refugees, but by some from Eastern Europe and East Asia.

At least 350 of those who crossed from Sinai are refugees from the crisis in Darfur in western Sudan.

The board chairman of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum, Yosef Lapid, said Sunday that as far as he is aware there is no intention to deport any refugees from Darfur - only those from other parts of Sudan.

He warned that if Darfur refugees are deported, there will be public opposition and he will be part of it.
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  1.   refugees 06:54  |  Joe 02/07/07
  2.   Refugees are better off leaving Israel 07:52  |  Natallie Durson 02/07/07
  3.   is israel above g_d ? 08:20  |  VIPER 02/07/07
  4.   Refugees from Genocide 08:21  |  Bryan 02/07/07
  5.   BRAVO 08:28  |  PARIS 02/07/07
  6.   #2 Natalie 08:28  |  Avi 02/07/07
  7.   re. 2 08:37  |  Max 02/07/07
  8.   African refugees should turn to foreign consulat in Egypt 08:53  |  Joseph E . 02/07/07
  9.   #2 09:00  |  Aharon Rosenbaum 02/07/07
  10.   Where are the `deflectors` now? 09:27  |  Maureen Ann 02/07/07
  11.   We need a realistic solution 09:29  |  sg 02/07/07
  12.   Once again.... 09:51  |  Hastaroth 02/07/07
  13.   To Natalie Durson 10:13  |  Dr. Jack 02/07/07
  14.   Israel set to deport 10:37  |  Ralph 02/07/07
  15.   THEY ARE ECONOMIC REFUGEES 10:39  |  Carl 02/07/07
  16.   #4 Bryan 10:40  |  Very Funny 02/07/07
  17.   Shame, Shame, Shame 11:02  |  Yaron 02/07/07
  18.   Palestinians are economic refugees as well 11:30  |  Chick 02/07/07
  19.   Israel set to deport African refugees; rights groups vows legal a 11:41  |  jn 02/07/07
  20.   Protecting the Jewish character of Israel 11:44  |  Henry Loutard 02/07/07
  21.   "Nobody took the Jews in the second world war " 12:02  |  Sven Andersson 02/07/07
  22.   ashamed 12:07  |  ruben 02/07/07
  23.   10: Gee, Maureen, I don`t see you volunteering 12:47  |  david Teich 02/07/07
  24.   21: Read the article, Sven, they`re not going to Sudan 12:49  |  David Teich 02/07/07
  25.   What undermines the humanitarian argument 12:55  |  Yonatan 02/07/07
  26.   What everyone seems to ignore 12:58  |  Yonatan 02/07/07
  27.   20#Henry Retard 13:27  |  zebulonguy 02/07/07
  28.   Sven Andersson (Post No. 21) 13:45  |  Johnny Weintraub 02/07/07
  29.   The good thing about Israel is that now Jews 13:56  |  Andreas 02/07/07
  30.   Land of Sacrifints and Marytrs 14:05  |  US 02/07/07
  31.   Yaron -- Did you read the article? 14:24  |  bbl 02/07/07
  32.   Olmert made it clear 14:44  |  EhadHaAm 02/07/07
  33.   Sven Andersson read and learn 15:02  |  Steven 02/07/07
  34.   hypocrite 15:04  |  pvdh 02/07/07
  35.   Johnny Weintraub the boat people from Viet Nam 15:06  |  Steven 02/07/07
  36.   Shame on us 15:12  |  Dan 02/07/07
  37.   Missed oportunity 15:18  |  Dan 02/07/07
  38.   EGYPTIAN ATROCITIES Against SUDANESE REFUGEES (1) 16:26  |  Linda Rivera 02/07/07
  39.   then the un better take money given to pals give it to these peop 16:28  |  ralph 02/07/07
  40.   EGYPTIAN ATROCITIES Against SUDANESE REFUGEES (2) 16:30  |  Linda Rivera 02/07/07
  41.   EGYPTIAN ATROCITIES Against SUDANESE REFUGEES (3) 16:34  |  Linda Rivera 02/07/07
  42.   Reply to Steven (Post No. 35) 16:40  |  Johnny Weintraub 02/07/07
  43.   #4 Viper - There`s no law 16:41  |  * BEN JABO 02/07/07
  44.   It`s a shame and violation of humanitarian law 16:43  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 02/07/07
  45.   we can only do so much the world also has an obligation 17:04  |  ralph 02/07/07
  46.   Africa Refugees 17:08  |  benateed 02/07/07
  47.   Just a thought 17:30  |  * BEN JABO 02/07/07
  48.   #4 Bryan - You`re right, no if`s and`s or but`s 17:34  |  * BEN JABO 02/07/07
  49.   Jews too were turned away in WW2 17:42  |  Sam 02/07/07
  50.   Dr. Jack 17:45  |  Christian American 02/07/07
  51.   Viper # 3 17:47  |  ChanahS 02/07/07
  52.   #44 Shlomo - TA 17:47  |  * BEN JABO 02/07/07
  53.   Linda Rivera (write your congressman) 17:47  |  Steven 02/07/07
  54.   Hey Henry # 20 18:02  |  ChanahS 02/07/07
  55.   Johnny Weintraub 28 18:06  |  ChanahS 02/07/07
  56.   #47 Sam 18:23  |  * BEN JABO 02/07/07
  57.   This is terribly Cruel & Insensitive 18:48  |  Dutch 02/07/07
  58.   No need for any shame 18:54  |  Yonatan 02/07/07
  59.   #50 Dutch - as you advised 19:21  |  * BEN JABO 02/07/07
  60.   refegees 19:45  |  joseph 02/07/07
  61.   @ 49 Sam 20:05  |  ChanahS 02/07/07
  62.   Economic refugees 20:16  |  Alain 02/07/07
  63.   The US/EU & Western Nations Must take in SUDANESE Refugees Now!!! 20:19  |  Linda Rivera 02/07/07
  64.   Sudanese migrants 20:21  |  Alain 02/07/07
  65.   57: Is Dutch volunteering to host the refugees? 20:24  |  David Teich 02/07/07
  66.   Learn from the British experience! 20:26  |  Sean 02/07/07
  67.   And Olmert believes them??? 20:29  |  Polybios 02/07/07
  68.   A Better Idea 20:38  |  Danite 02/07/07
  69.   Chanah S 20:40  |  Danite 02/07/07
  70.   Ben Iabo* 20:48  |  David 02/07/07
  71.   Attention to detail 20:51  |  Alain 02/07/07
  72. &nbs