Refugees in Israel
The Refugee Situation in Israel
The majority of the estimated 27,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Israel are from Eritrea and Sudan, while other communities come from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Ivory Coast. Though signatory to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the Israeli government has not yet adopted asylum legislation and the asylum process is marked by unclear policies and procedures.
Since 2007, detention of arriving asylum seekers seems to have become the default course of action in Israel. Once the prisons are filled to capacity, asylum seekers are released into Israeli city centers without any further assistance. Refugees' and asylum seekers' access to basic services, such as health care, housing, education, vocational training and employment ranges from very limited to none at all. Hundreds of new arrivals, including pregnant women, children and unaccompanied minors have remained homeless.
The waiting period prior to a decision on the asylum application takes months or years, leaving asylum seekers in a prolonged legal limbo. Police raids and arrests, at times ending with detention, are common during this waiting period. Uncertainty concerning one's status places an enormous psychological burden on refugees and asylum seekers.
Despite the absolute prohibition of expulsion or return (“refoulement”) of refugees to countries where their lives or freedom would be threatened, Israel has summarily returned over 270 of asylum seekers to Egypt. The State of Egypt has reportedly deported some of these refugees back to the Sudan and Eritrea and imprisoned others.
