Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 4 april 2018
Israeli leader nixes UN deal to resettle African migrants

By ARON HELLER country, alternating be-
Associated Press tween plans to jail and
JERUSALEM (AP) — In an deport them and allowing
abrupt and startling rever- them to work in menial jobs.
sal, Israeli Prime Minister Thousands have concen-
Benjamin Netanyahu nixed trated in poor neighbor-
his own deal Tuesday with hoods in south Tel Aviv,
the United Nations to re- an area that has become
settle tens of thousands of known as "Little Africa."
African migrants in Israel Their presence has sparked
and other Western nations, tensions with working-class
caving into nationalist crit- Jewish residents, who have
ics who have demonized complained of rising crime
the migrants for taking over and pressed the govern-
poor neighborhoods in Tel ment to take action.
Aviv. On the other hand, a wide
The move leaves unre- coalition of critics at home
solved one of Israel's most and in the Jewish American
charged and divisive issues community had called the
— what to do with Africans government's deportation
who say they fled for their plans unethical and a stain
lives in search of sanctuary on Israel's image as a ref-
in the Jewish state. uge for Jewish migrants.
The about-face also African migrants wear chains to represent slavery during a demonstration in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tues- Groups of Israeli doctors,
opened Netanyahu to day, April 3, 2018. academics, Holocaust sur-
scathing assaults on his Associated Press vivors, rabbis, poets and
leadership, raising doubts pilots had all appealed to
about his ability to make A coalition of human rights agreement. Rather than security, we also have no halt the plan. Several mass
controversial decisions on organizations in Israel said resolving the migrants' sta- one to believe," he said. protests against it have tak-
bigger issues in the future, the flip-flop proved the tus, it said they were once "People have no hope and en place in recent months.
including how he would government could not be again in limbo while the no trust in the state of Isra- As in other recent moves,
respond to a peace plan trusted to fulfil any "moral, state had no legitimate el." Netanyahu appears to
promised by President Don- legal or international com- recourse to deport any of In Geneva, the U.N. Refu- have been taking his cues
ald Trump. mitments." them. gee Agency expressed "dis- from his education minis-
Netanyahu proudly an- Domestic critics said it "Of course we will continue appointment" with Netan- ter, Naftali Bennett, leader
nounced the deal Monday raised broader questions our struggle and consider yahu's decision and urged of the nationalist Jewish
in a nationally televised about whether Netanyahu all our legal options until ev- him to reconsider. It noted Home party.
news conference, saying could carry out any proper ery last asylum-seeker gets that the deal had been Bennett and other nation-
Israel had agreed to can- decision-making process. the status they deserve," reached after lengthy ne- alist allies who dominate
cel a planned expulsion of "How will you as prime min- said Dror Sadot, a spokes- gotiations, and reflected a Netanyahu's coalition had
tens of thousands of Afri- ister handle the Iranian woman for the group. "shared effort" to find a so- harshly criticized the deal
cans that had been widely threat? How will you deal Rwanda's minister of state lution that would benefit all because it would allow
condemned both at home with the cost of living?" for foreign affairs, Olivier parties. thousands of Africans to re-
and among Jews around asked Avi Gabbay, leader Nduhungirehe, and Ugan- "UNHCR continues to be- main in Israel, even though
the world. of the opposition Labor dan Foreign Affairs Minister lieve that a win-win agree- it also called for them to be
Under the deal, roughly Party. "Lack of leadership, Okello Oryem also said no ment that would both dispersed throughout the
half of the 35,000 migrants cowardice, escape from deal had ever been signed benefit Israel and people country and for investments
living in Israel would be responsibility, incitement, with Israel. needing asylum is in every- to be made in rehabilitat-
resettled in the West with empty slogans, inability to While nationalist activists one's best interest," it said in ing Tel Aviv's impoverished
the rest absorbed in Israel. make decisions and zero celebrated Netanyahu's a statement. southern neighborhoods.
Netanyahu praised it as ability to implement them reversal, dozens of migrants Nearly all the migrants hail Ironically, their victory
a "good agreement" that — this is what we have seen and their Israeli supporters from war-torn Sudan and raised the possibility of leav-
marked "an important day" over the past few hours protested in Tel Aviv and dictatorial Eritrea. The mi- ing the migrants in Israel for
for Israel. from he who pretends to Jerusalem. Some stripped grants say they are asylum- even longer while their sta-
But hours later, after heavy deal with the real threats to the waist, draped them- seekers fleeing danger and tus is resolved.
criticism among nationalists and problems of Israel." selves with chains and persecution, while Israeli Nduhungirehe, Rwanda's
within his own ruling coali- The aborted U.N. deal had taped their mouths shut at leaders have dismissed foreign affairs minister, said
tion, he said he was put- looked to avoid the specter a protest in Tel Aviv. Others them as mere job seekers. that while no deal was ever
ting the plan on hold. After of forced deportations to waved signs reading, "Hu- The Africans started arriv- signed with Israel, his coun-
meeting angry residents undisclosed African desti- man lives are not to play ing in 2005, after neighbor- try has a "general open pol-
of working-class neighbor- nations, widely believed to with. Yes to the deal." ing Egypt violently quashed icy" toward the migrants, as
hoods in south Tel Aviv on be Rwanda and Uganda, Teklit Michael, a 29-year- a refugee demonstration long as they come "without
Tuesday, Netanyahu said with which Israel said it had old asylum-seeker from and word spread of safety any form of constraint."
he was canceling it out- reached a secret agree- Eritrea, said that while he and job opportunities in Is- But Oryem, Uganda's for-
right. ment. Israel had planned had unanswered questions rael. eign affairs minister, said his
"From time to time there to begin the mass deporta- about the U.N. draft he was Tens of thousands crossed country was not an option.
are decisions that have to tions on Sunday. at least encouraged about the porous desert border If any migrants deported
be reconsidered," he said. The Hotline for Refugees the efforts to address his before Israel completed a from Israel arrive in Ugan-
"We will continue to act and Migrants advocacy needs. Now, he said, he barrier in 2012 that stopped da, "we will insist that the
determinedly to exhaust all group said Netanyahu's was confused and dispir- the influx. But Israel has airlines return them to the
our options of removing the initial announcement re- ited. struggled with what to do country where they came
infiltrators." vealed there was no such "Not only do we have no with those already in the from."q