http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.602172
Following mass arrests, African asylum-seekers go on hunger strike in prison
Call on UN for relief from indefinite detention; immigration official says they 'violated the rules' by walking out of desert holding facility in protest, could face three-month jail sentences.
By Haaretz | Jun. 30, 2014 | 6:11 PM
Hundreds of African asylum-seekers have begun a hunger strike in prison, after police forcibly ended their three-day walkout from the desert detention center where they are held indefinitely, AFP reported on Monday.
"We have been taken to Saharonim prison. Some of us have injuries, including to the face and limbs. In protest of this violence, and our ongoing imprisonment, we have now started a hunger strike," the asylum-seekers said in a statement. "We call on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to find an urgent solution for this situation and to protect our rights as people who have come to Israel to seek asylum and shelter."
Nearly 800 asylum-seekers, nearly all from Eritrea and Sudan, walked out of Holot detention center on Friday and began walking to the Egyptian border. They set up a tent camp with the aim of crossing the border and gaining recognition as refugees from UN officials in Egypt. Sunday evening Israel Police moved in on the camp and arrested them.
Sabine Haddad, spokeswoman for the immigration authority, said, "There were clashes with a small minority of demonstrators. Five of them and five police were very lightly injured.
"Each one will be brought before a committee to explain why they violated the rules," Haddad said. Holot's rules require them to sign in twice a day and spend the night inside the detention camp.
"They could face up to three months imprisonment for this offense," she said, noting that 779 asylum-seekers were arrested.
Israel's policy
Unlike other countries that attract refugees, Israel's policy is to refuse to give asylum to any but a token few, and even to refuse to recognize them as refugees so they might gain asylum in other countries. Instead, the policy is to convince them to return to their home countries, as dangerous as that might be, or to Uganda, which has made a deal with Israel to accept many of these people. Immigration officials' methods of persuasion include financial incentives for leaving and the prospect of being hunted or imprisoned indefinitely if they stay.
There are 53,000 of African asylum-seekers in Israel, according to the United Nations. Israel deported nearly 4,000 of them last year. Prior to 2013, hundreds were crossing the Egyptian border into Israel each month, but the completion of the high-tech border fence last December cut the number to nearly zero.
Nevertheless, Israel's policy toward the asylum-seekers has gotten steadily tougher. Following a brief strike by Africans working in Tel Aviv and large rallies in the city's Rabin Square in January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "I'd like to make clear that protests and strikes won't help. As we were able to stem the illegal infiltration of our borders, we are steadfast in our commitment to evict those who entered before we closed the border."
Received on Mon Jun 30 2014 - 13:03:34 EDT