The excitement was great last Wednesday as the 11 elected members of the committee of Sudanese refugees in Israel ascended the stage in Tel Aviv University's Webb Hall. Minutes earlier, some 150 refugees picked their representatives in a democratic election. The representatives introduced themselves in turn, stating where they had lived in Sudan and where they now resided in Israel. A sense of hope gripped the crowd when its representatives lined up at the front of the stage and tried to infuse optimism in the audience, which shares their harsh fate.

The refugees began infiltrating Israel through Egypt about two years ago, having fled the genocide in Darfur, where Arab militias have been butchering the black people living there.