RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
In Israel, the country's economy makes it an attractive destination for migrant workers. Many of them are Africans who sneak in from what has been a wide-open desert border with Egypt.
Sheera Frenkel begins her report at the site of one of the efforts Israel has come up with to stem the flow.
SHEERA FRENKEL: Israeli construction workers are battling against the blustery wind and sandstorms, to build a fence across this stretch of desert. The $270 million fence will cover 87 miles of Israels southern border with Egypt. African refugees are smuggled through this area almost daily. They travel thousands of miles and often spend their life savings to try and reach Israel, a country they see as their doorstep to the West.
Israel, however, is far from laying down the welcoming mat.
Ms. SIGAL ROSEN (Organizer, Hotline for Migrant Workers): During the last years, Israel is sending a very clear message to all asylum seekers: Beware, we are not interested in your presence here. We will do whatever in our power to prevent you from being here, even if the price is violating our legal commitments.
FRENKEL: Thats Sigal Rosen, an organizer at the Hotline for Migrant Workers, an advocacy group for refugees. She says that though Israel signed the Geneva Convention relating to refugees, it regularly violates it. As the number of Africans seeking refuge in Israel has risen, so has the number of people who walk through the doors of her Tel Aviv office, trying to figure out their rights in Israel.
Oscar Olivier is one of those. Hes from the Democratic Republic of Congo he has lived in Israel for 16 years with no official status.
Mr. OSCAR OLIVIER: I dont even have a residency, and today after 16 years, I dont have work permit.
FRENKEL: Hes speaking from his small apartment outside Tel Avivs Central Bus Station. The area has been nicknamed Little Africa due to the thousands of refugees who have settled here. The Spartan room is undecorated except for a photo of his eight-year-old daughter. Its for her that he's toughed out all these years working as a janitor and house cleaner in what he calls an unfriendly environment.
Mr. OLIVIER: Not only to feel that you are not welcome, but to know that you are not welcome. So it ends up like it's not a place for people who are different. Its a place where people should be all to look the same.
Mr. ELI YISHAI (Israel's Interior Minister): (Foreign language spoken)
FRENKEL: Speaking in Israels parliament recently, Interior Minister Eli Yishai called the refugees an existential threat to Israel. One that could challenge the Jewish majority his party has sworn to protect.
Mr. YISHAI: (Through Translator) We will find ourselves in a situation where there will be hundreds of thousands of these people on our doorstep. So should we be scared of kicking them out? They are an existential threat we cant tolerate.
FRENKEL: On November 22nd the same day that work began on the fence along the Egyptian border Yishai presented his four-part plan to make Israel a less desirable locale for refugees. In addition to the fence, Israel is building a detention center that will operate as a yet undefined open facility for any would-be refugee that decides to remain in Israel. The third step in Yishais plan is to punish any employer who hires African migrants or supports their employment. The last step is the repatriation of refugees who are already in Israel. A step Israel took for the first time earlier this month when it removed 150 South Sudanese who agreed to leave voluntarily in exchange for some pocket money and a flight home in time to vote in the upcoming referendum on the regions independence.
Olivier, however, questions just how voluntary their removal was.
Mr. OLIVIER: Theyve been pushed into corner. Theyve been put in the situation where that one was the only solution to them.
FRENKEL: At the Hotline for Migrant Workers, Sigal Rosen says she knows many more who would consider leaving Israel if they were given a similar deal. Most of them, she says, have become fed up.
Ms. ROSEN: Actually, Israel doesnt have an immigration policy. What we have is a big mess.
FRENKEL: Olivier agrees. When asked about his dreams for the future, he says he just wants to see his family settled in a place where they feel safe and welcomed.
For NPR News, Im Sheera Frenkel in Jerusalem.
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