Gov't: 5,000 people have entered Israel illegally from Sinai in 2007 - Haaretz

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Mon., December 31, 2007 Tevet 22, 5768

Israel Time: 03:08 (EST+7)

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Last update - 05:29 30/12/2007

Gov't: 5,000 people have entered Israel illegally from Sinai in 2007

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

Tags: African refugees, Egypt

Since the beginning of the year some 5,000 foreigners, mostly Africans, have entered Israel illegally from Sinai, according to Interior Ministry data presented recently at a meeting held by the director general of the Prime Minister's Office, Raanan Dinur.

Last August, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak agreed on a procedure for returning infiltrators to Egypt, and on the need for greater Egyptian efforts to prevent the problem. At the time there were some 2,500 infiltrators in Israel. Since then, the number has doubled.

At the PMO meeting, defense officials said the infiltration had been on the rise in recent months, bringing the number in Israel to around 5,000.

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Defense Minister Ehud Barak raised the issue in talks in Egypt last week, and Olmert intends to hold a discussion on it this week.

The problem is that since August, when two batches of infiltrators were returned on the spot to Egypt, the two sides never employed the procedure again. At the PMO meeting, officials from the defense establishment and Foreign Ministry said the Egyptians are not responsive to requests to exercise the procedure.

Political officials said Egypt has "an entire industry" devoted to helping infiltrators cross the border. Most infiltrators are thought to be migrant workers. Many of these reach Israel after several years of working in Egypt. A large group of "guides" has formed, each collecting between $1,500 and $2,000 a head, the officials said.

Israel is considering building a border fence. It is estimated that a fence along the border would cost between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. One political official said that due to the high cost, a fence along only key parts of the border might be built

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