‘Infiltrators is what they are called’, shouts Oscar Olivier. This volunteer for the Hotline for Migrant Workers (HMW) is getting upset every time he starts talking about them: African refugees in Israel. ‘The situation of refugees here is quite critical’, he explains, ‘and it hasn’t improved due to the lack of legislation.’ It might come as a surprise to most people, but there is quite an African population in Israel. Next to the 120,000 African Jews, there are 35,000 African refugees in a country counting nearly 7,5 million inhabitants. But where the first group of mainly Ethiopian Jews cost the Israeli government little problems, it’s the refugees – who mainly reside in the beach resort of Tel Aviv – that give this Jewish state the biggest headache next to their conflict with the Palestinians. Their existence hardly receive any coverage anywhere, but where the history of African Jews dates back over 2700 years and they therefore, but for the color of their skin, are as Israeli alike, it’s the African refugees that the inhabitants of Tel Aviv became more agitated with over the past decade.
African Jews and African refugees
‘Actually, the whole situation for African refugees has become critical since xenophobia is orchestrated by some government ministers’, says Oscar, himself from Congo, aiming at Eli Yishai of Interior and Yaakov Neeman of Justice. Because of incitement their – lack of – legislation and ruling, refugees can be ‘beaten up in the streets’ or ‘even stabbed’, while their houses can be ‘set on fire for no reason’. ‘By their neighbors so to speak’, reacts a shocked Oscar. And by ‘their neighbors’ he doesn’t only mean the white, European Jews, back also their black brothers. ‘African Jews are a little bit like African Americans: some of them are embarrassed or ashamed to be associated with Africa or black people. Therefore – again, some of them – consider themselves not to be Africans or blacks and prefer to stay away from fellow their original brothers.’ A critical situation, that due to the every ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Authority doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
African refugees in Tel Aviv
When thinking about the Israeli beach resort Tel Aviv, little people would think about the problems this country has. Along the sandy beaches and perfect coast line, many tend to forget the conflict that’s been holding the country in a permanent state of emergency. But even though Gaza and the West Bank are far away and orthodox Jews aren’t the only people you see walking in the streets – like in Jerusalem – there is another problem this second city of Israel faces. ‘Nearly 35,000 African refugees, almost 23,000 from Eritrea, 5000 from Sudan, 1000 Ivoirians, 300 Congolese and a few from different places on the continent’, according to Oscar. They’ve been coming into the country via Egypt since the early nineties, but their numbers increased since early 2007. The city of choice was Tel Aviv, since it’s the most cosmopolitan and ‘open-minded’ city in Israel, with the most humanitarian NGO’s to support them. Almost 85 percent of them live in South Tel-Aviv, a neighborhood I toured last summer with Swaray Alusine – from Sierra Leone – from the African Workers Union (AWU). His NGO is a social change organization founded and registered in Israel since November 1997 to advocate for both migrant workers and their children (especially those born in this country), while HMW is there to assist refugees and foreign workers to deal with the local bureaucracy. ‘To build a bridge between the Israeli society and refugees’, Oscar explains. A bridge well needed, because even though the refugees live in the same neighborhood with Israeli Jews, they also live completely segregated from each other, as two people living apart together on the same land. ‘Bear in mind however’, Oscar continues, ‘that African refugees are segregating themselves by not learning the local Hebrew language. They keep on speaking English or French for years, while we are not in England nor France.’ What a paradox.
No comparison
Both of the NGO’s don’t receive any funding from the government, so therefore the AWU collects humanitarian goods like clothing from kibbutzim and distributes them to the refugees. They have to, because there is no clear or set law by the State of Israel toward refugee seekers. ‘It is only on humanitarian grounds that some of them receive temporary protection; that is not being arrested by the immigration officers’, tells a well spoken Swaray. ‘It’s only a small percentage that receives refugee status, but then still nothing is certain. No housing is provided, no free education and no free medical attention. There’s nothing they can do if the authority does not allow them to do anything.’ A completely different world compared to that of the African Jews from Ethiopia, who are considered full citizens of Israel and receive rights accordingly. They live in Ethiopian communities throughout the country, where they get direct assistance in their life support by the government. ‘The African Jew sits higher in hierarchy than the refugee one. Even their general opinion about the conflict and towards Palestinians are the same as the ‘white’ Jews one’s’, according to Oscar. ‘But they also get discriminated sometimes, by European Jews. Unemployment rates among them are very high and most black Jews live by government subventions. Therefore they are not happy to see fellow Africans coming in, believing they have to share their piece of the pie. While not even a single cent is given to the refugees by the government.’ It’s just one of the reasons for the tensions between these brothers and as a result the two don’t even live together anymore.
South Tel Aviv
Most African refugees live in South Tel Aviv, in neighborhoods like Shapira and HaTikva. Swaray explains that almost all of the few Israeli that lived in the area fled to the north or central part of the city. ‘This area is now completely inhabited by refugees, so much of them that some without housing sleep in the park or on the street. Most of the squad or pay a small amount of rent to some shabby home owner who doesn’t want people to know he rent out to refugees.’ Swaray has lived in the area for many years himself and calls the lives of refugees in Tel Aviv – and elsewhere in Israel – ‘miserable, laborious and mostly short lived’. No wonder it forms the main center of the AWU as well as HMW, since no authority cares for these refugees. ‘They come here because of civil wars, mismanagement, famine or ethno-political strive, but live here is not much better. They few that have a simple job try to support the community, while they can do notning but hang around all day and wait for something to come along. It is very difficult for them to get a meal every day, but sanitation is the biggest problem. They survive by depending on gifts, help from NGO’s like us and otherwise begging. Sometimes they would have been better off staying in Africa.’
Dead end
Like said, Israel has no written or defined refugee laws. And since there is no legislation on this issue, Oscar claims that every asylum request is handled according to the feelings of clerks working for the Ministry of Interior. ‘It looks like the religious minister and her clerks are allergic to African refugees and to anyone that looks different, so requests are determined by the moods of those people rather than the law. Meaning that requests are never checked out – except when it concerns an African Jew; there is no relation between them and other African refugees’, so says Oscar. ‘It’s a dead end.’ Only a few individuals of the Members of Parliament – like the Ethiopian Jew Shlomo Molla – are supportive of the refugee problem, while many more of them would rather see them go them come. ‘But still then they have to file a report at the UNHCR-office in Jerusalem, before they can apply to the ministry for a re-entry visa. After contacting them, presuming they believe your story, you can travel to another country for a specific time. But not to the Palestinian Authority of course. There are no African living there and it’s off limits to everyone.’ Refugees can get a three months visa that is renewable, but can also be cancelled at any time. Some temporary examples are given a visas for a month or two, just to protect them from getting arrested because they don’t have any papers. It’s a vicious circle; nothing like Europe, where a refugee with legal status can just buy a ticket and travel. Even travelling within the borders of Israel is dangerous without the right papers. ‘Refugees aren’t safe in Israel anywhere. Because there is no legal ruling concerning their issues, the way to immigration police’s abuse is large and wide open.’ Not surprising they don’t really welcome you as a journalist, let alone speak openly about their situation with you.
Voiceless
Next to the political factors, also some rabbis are working against refugees. Oscar blames the color of their skin: ‘It’s has taken a huge place in the minds of clerks, rabbis and the public. Being black means the same as being a refugee and there is no room for compassion. Some rabbis have even signed a letter, forbidding renting houses to refugees. And their followers abide by them.’ Although there are discrimination laws in Israel which also cover Africans living there, they do not apply to refugees. ‘Or are at least refugees are not taken into account.’ The salvation of refugees comes exclusively from NGO’s like the AWU and HMW, both examples of organizations that struggle with their own problems as well. Even though Oscar tries to explain that a lot of refugees have been moving from one place to another since biblical times, the Israeli government doesn’t bow. ‘Their stamped as infiltrators, but no file about their status has ever been checked by the ministry. You cannot label them like that’, responds an angry Oscar. Swaray isn’t anything more uplifting about the situation in Tel Aviv: ‘Refugees are voiceless in Israel.’
Read the original article on This is Africa here
