All the way from Darfour and ... back?
Olmert intends to send back Soudanese refugees, who crossed into Israel from Egypt, to their deaths.Some years ago, an Israeli cargo-ship captain discovered a few African stowaways on his boat. He forced them into a life-raft (with a few bottles of water) directly into the shark filled sea.
He knew they wouldn't be able to reach safety, that he was basically killing them. They knew it too, and one of them tried to resist. He was beaten up.
One of the appalled crew-members filmed it, the materials made it to the media and the captain was brought to justice. The public were outraged and rightfully so.
I do not see the difference between Olmert and this captain. The crew of that boat were appalled by their captain's act.
Except for a few members and activists of human rights organizations, very few Israelis are as appalled and willing to do something about it.
And in case anyone thinks in Egypt the refugees are safe, watch this
Or the movies "A Long Walk Home" or "The Art of Flight" about the dangers facing Soudanese refugees in Egypt.
Stating they will not be in danger when sent back into Egypt, or worse, into Soudan is playing with their lives, sending them to the sharks.
UNHCR on protecting refugees
The photograph, made 2 weeks ago, shows a young refugee girl in Jaffa's Arab Jewish Community Center
Posts
7 comments:
Hodie mihi, cras tibi!
Ave Perdice
"It is my lot today, yours tomorrow".
Still...I don't wish anyone to go through what the Sudanese people are going through.
But what is the solution to their problem?
Weekend newspapers featured Eitan Schwartz, the former ambassador of goodwill, who has taken on this important project.
Kod HaKavod to him, but what can WE do?
(Do you know of any current petitions, rallies etc.)
Olmert intends to send back Soudanese refugees, who crossed into Israel from Egypt, to their deaths.
That's not true.There is news reports of returning the refugees to Egypt as that country was the first to give asylum according to UN or to Kenya.The reports say that many of the refugees paid US$500 to smugglers to get them accross from Egypt to Israel.Where did the refugees get the money? Are they economic refugees?
However,are you alleging that Arabs in Egypt will kill all the Sudanese refugees,even those under UN refugee protection in Egypt?
Last week, Egyptian border patrols killed a Soudanese refugee who was trying to cross into Israel, but beyond that, yes returning them to Egypt implies murdering them, as Egypt intends to send them back to Soudan, where, as they visited Israel, "an enemy country", they stand a fair chance of being killed. This is the evaluation of the Un's high commissioner on refugees, a specialist in the field.
The Soudanese did NOT receive asylum in Egypt and that exactly where the problem starts.
Returning the refugees to Egypt endangers their life.
Returning them to Egypt is also illegal according to the charter signed by the State of Israel in the fifties.
The money paid by refugees to border traffickers is not any different then the money paid by Jews leaving Nazi Germany on a ship, which was not allowed to anchor anywhere. Sometimes people sell their last possessions, to be trafficked, sometimes women have little choice but to... in order to save their lives.
What's your point Akiva?
Olmert is sending the Sudanese because Israelis are hampered by the foreign workers problem. Even though I disagree with Olmert, I do not think that he is expelling them to their death. This is a very odd and jaded way of looking at reality.
olmert is a corrupt mind. he is simply after poor sudanese people. some of the egyptians have been very harsh on sudanese and have killed them
Post a Comment