45 Sudanese refugees that were dropped off by the Israel Defense Forces in Be'er Sheva Friday afternoon were taken by students from Be'er Sheva's Ben-Gurion University to the "peace tent" in the Bedouin town of Rahat in the Negev.

The tent is usually reserved for tourists who pay money to stay in what is billed as an 'authentic Bedouin experience.'

The refugees' stay at the tent will be funded by the students from Ben-Gurion University. The same students funding the tent housing on Thursday found employment for 40 other refugees the IDF left at the Be'er Sheva central train station that morning.

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Be'er Sheva municipality refused to absorb the 45 Sudanese refugees after they arrived in the city Friday. The Sudanese refugees stayed in Be'er Sheva, while a group of Eritrean refugees went on to Tel Aviv, where they intend to go to United Nations offices to request refugee status.

The refugees infiltrated Israel from the Egyptian border and were caught by security forces.

Also Friday, Egyptian authorities arrested 37 Africans in the Sinai Peninsula for attempting to cross illegally into Israel.

The African migrants, four from Congo, five Eritrea, and the rest from Sudan - mostly from its war-torn western Darfur region - were arrested at the Mubarak Asslam Bridge located on the eastern side of the Sinai, an Egyptian security official said.

The official said another three Sudanese, and a woman from Ivory Coast, were arrested in a separate incident Friday near the Israeli border.

Last week, the Be'er Sheva municipality provided housing for some 180 refugees in hotels in the city. However, city officials said that if a solution for the refugees was not found by Sunday, they would be sent to Jerusalem.

The African refugees who will be returned to Egypt 'will not be returned to countries where their lives are in danger,' Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday, at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

Olmert was trying to assuage concerns of human rights organizations regarding the fate of the refugees once they were deported back to Egypt, from where they had crossed into Israel.

The prime minister and Egypt President Hosni Mubarak agreed last week that Israel would deport the African refugees back to Egypt though international border crossings.

Human rights groups expressed concern Sunday that Olmert's announcement regarding the refugees' deportation failed to address questions about their safety, particularly the likelihood that they may in turn be deported from Egypt back to their home countries. Many are refugees from Sudan, and there is concern for their safety if they are sent back to their home country.

The prime minister told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense committee that some 2,800 refugees and economic migrants have crossed into Israel from Egypt, and that 1,160 of them are from Sudan. According to Olmert's data, 2,500 persons crossing into Israel from Sinai during the first six months of the year.

Olmert promised that Israel will absorb the refugees that have already arrived from Darfur, and will help to settle them in Israel. As for the rest, he said that they will be returned to Egypt.