The Anti-Infiltration Bill, 2011: A Threat to African Refugees in Israel

The Israeli government must withdraw the Infiltration Prevention Bill

Greetings,

I just signed the following petition addressed to: The Israeli Government.

----------------
The Israeli government must withdraw the Infiltration Prevention Bill

‏
Petition Against the Infiltration Prevention Law

An Amendment to the "Prevention of Infiltration Law" is being prepared for second and third readings in the Israeli Parliament:
Toward the End of 2011 - Asylum Seekers Might Face Years in Prison

We call on the Israeli government to withdraw this abhorrent bill and advance a refugee policy that conforms to the country's legal and moral obligations.

The proposed law constitutes a gross violation of basic principles aimed at protecting and treating asylum seekers.

If the bill is passed and the Infiltration Prevention Law goes into effect:

1. Refugees, including those fleeing genocide, will be held in a desert prison for 3 years. Those who come from enemy countries (e.g. Darfur in Sudan) will be imprisoned for indefinite periods of time! The law calls for the detention of all asylum seekers, making no exception for pregnant mothers and children. To enforce the new law, a prison will be built in the Israeli Negev desert that will cost over a billion shekels to build and run for its first year alone. This huge prison facility will host 10,000 people!

2. The current bill extends the definition of an ‘infiltrator’, originally meant to refer to ‘Fedayeen’ terrorists, to any refugee or migrant who crosses the Sinai border. Activists from human rights organizations caught operating shelters for refugees and landlords who rent them apartments may find themselves charged with “aiding infiltrators” and could be imprisoned for up to five years.

The undersigned call on the Israeli government to withdraw this abhorrent bill and urge parliament members to vote against it. We call on the Government of Israel to advance a refugee policy that befits the country's legal and moral obligations, as it is a signatory of the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, and out of respect for democratic principles and human rights.

Background: The State of Israel is one of 147 countries that signed the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Following the Holocaust, the State of Israel was instrumental in wording the document and was quick to embrace it, remaining a signatory to this day. Israel also joined the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees in 1967, as well as the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which elaborates on the ban against deporting asylum seekers. Despite signing and ratifying international agreements and conventions, and while the right to request asylum was recognized as a basic human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from 1948, Israeli law has yet to determine the status of asylum seekers in the country. The rights of asylum seekers are granted and withdrawn according to random decisions made by government clerks. Bills aimed at resolving the status of asylum seekers in Israel have been rejected in preliminary Knesset readings, as the government tries to promote other bills that stand in stark contradiction to international conventions that Israel has signed.
The Current Situation: Israel is currently home to 36 thousand asylum seekers, the vast majority of whom have never had their asylum claims checked and are left with no social or medical rights, as well as no right to work. While the IDF claims it has stopped summary deportations (hot returns) of asylum seekers to Egypt, testimonies continue to surface from soldiers who claim to have witnessed the forced return of potential refugees to the Sinai, despite the extremely unstable security situation of the region. Many asylum seekers languish for years in prisons which were not built for long-term detainment, as the Israeli Ministry of the Interior insists they provide very high levels of proof for their asylum or nationality claims. The Interior Ministry has demanded that refugees who fled for their lives provide up-to-date passports and that those who fled from state persecution seek confirmation of their identity from the ambassadors of those same states that persecuted them. It is this detention system that Israel is proposing to enhance through the proposed ‘Anti-Infiltration Law’.

----------------

Sincerely,

[Your name]