Interior Min.: Israel will naturalize scores of Darfur refugees - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Wed., September 05, 2007 Elul 22, 5767

Israel Time: 02:15 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Print Edition

Diplomacy

Defense

Arts & Leisure

Real Estate

Jewish World

National

Advertising

Magazine

Week's End

Business

Opinion

Rosner's Domain

Anglo File

Books

Travel

del.icio.us

Digg It! new

Interior Min.: Israel will naturalize scores of Darfur refugees

By Mazal Mualem

Israel intends to grant citizenship to several hundred refugees from Darfur who are currently in the country, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit said yesterday.

Speaking at a holiday toast for Kadima activists at party headquarters in Petah Tikva, Sheetrit disclosed that he has been working with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on a plan to determine, in coordination with the United Nations, a quota of refugees who would become naturalized Israeli citizens.

	Advertisement

Sheetrit said that his ministry has begun laying the groundwork for implementing the plan, which includes a thorough investigation of every refugee from Darfur residing in Israel.

Israeli law gives the interior minister the option of granting citizenship to people who do not meet any other citizenship criteria.

Estimates put the number of asylum seekers and refugees in Israel today at more than 2,000, many of them from Sudan. The UN estimates that since 2003, when the fighting began in the Darfur region of western Sudan, more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people have been uprooted from their homes.

Israel, Sheetrit said, cannot ignore the refugees' fate because of the history of the Jewish people. "Just as prime minister Menachem Begin acted to grant citizenship to refugees from Vietnam, the same ought to be done today," the minister said.

Last July, Olmert announced that any refugee caught crossing into Israel from Egypt would be returned to that country through an official crossing. Olmert said this arrangment had been finalized in discussions with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but Egypt later issued a denial.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	Peace through soccer?
	Hapoel TA will begin operating soccer schools in Nablus-area villages.


	Trading potshots
	Parents of a slain pilot were shocked to find their letters used by reporters.

Today Online


	Israel to naturalize several hundred Darfur refugees
	Responses: 219


	Barak: Israel is nearing a ground assault in Gaza
	Responses: 359


	Justice Min. retreats on move to bar gays from inheritance law
	Responses: 106


	Shmuel Rosner: JFK, Marilyn, and predicting pro-Israel sympathies
	Responses: 23

More Headlines
23:06 Barak: Israel nearing need for major ground assault in Gaza Strip


19:15 Red Cross says Hamas may allow it to visit abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit


17:56 High Court: Controversial settlement neighborhood to remain in place


23:41 Peres meets Prodi, says atmosphere in peace talks encouraging


21:31 Britain's Prince Edward arrives in Israel for first royal visit in over a decade


00:46 Israel defeats Serbia in preliminary round of EuroBasket 2007


19:50 Lebanon seeks German aid in arming, training army to fight militants


23:00 Man sentenced to 11 years in jail for 'Clockwork Orange-like acts'


23:56 Israel to grant citizenship to hundreds of Darfur refugees