Sudanese migrants in Israel fear deportation after coup

JERUSALEM (AP) – Monim Haroon has known only one homeland for almost 10 years: Israel. Like thousands of Sudanese migrants, he lives and works without legal status for fear that returning to his home country would mean the death sentence.

Israel’s normalization of relations with Sudan, announced last year, had raised concerns among migrants that they might lose their migrant status and be forced to return. Now, weeks after a military coup hampered Sudan’s transition to democracy, they fear being forcibly deported to a country under the full control of generals blamed for past atrocities.

“I’m not against normalization,” said Haroon. “But normalization should be done by the Sudanese civil government, not the military powers that now control Sudan.”

The plight of asylum seekers highlights one of the less pleasant aspects of the so-called Abraham Agreement, a series of agreements reached between Israel and four Arab countries last year. The U.S.-brokered deals with Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco – widely hailed as a breakthrough in Middle East diplomacy – were hit by unelected Arab leaders who had little tolerance for dissenting and by Trump -Government have been richly rewarded.

Sudan’s military leaders, the driving force behind the deal, saw the country removed from the US list of terrorism sponsors, unleashing vital international aid and trade.

But last month, Sudan’s top military leader General Abdel-Fattah Burhan disbanded the interim government and ordered the arrest of civilian leaders, which dashed hopes for a democratic transition following the overthrow of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in 2019.

The coup, condemned by the United States and other Western nations, has placed Israel in what may be an embarrassing position.

Israel has remained silent about the coup and its aftermath, suggesting that it intends to maintain normalized relations. A report on Israeli news site Walla that an Israeli delegation had secretly visited Sudan to meet with the coup plotters heightened migrants’ fears that they might soon be deported. The Israeli Foreign Ministry and Sudanese officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Sudanese and Eritrean migrants arrived in Israel in 2005, with many Sudanese people fleeing persecution in the western Darfur region and the south of the country. In search of security and opportunity in Israel, they often made dangerous journeys across Egypt’s rugged Sinai Peninsula.

Israel did little to stop the influx at first, but as more migrants arrived, authorities began detaining thousands in remote desert prisons. And in 2013, Israel completed the construction of a fenced-in barrier along its border with Egypt, which largely halted migration.

The presence of migrants has sparked a backlash among many Israelis that they link to crime and poverty in southern Tel Aviv, where most of them have settled. Right-wing governments have made various attempts in recent years to expel them.

Ayelet Shaked, a prominent right-wing politician, called Sudanese migrants “intruders” and said they should be sent back as relations have normalized. She is now Interior Minister in the new Israeli government, a position that oversees immigration policy.

“We worry because she was always against asylum seekers,” said Haroon.

The Interior Ministry said the status of Sudanese migrants had not changed after the coup but declined to answer any further questions.

Israel has settled only a small fraction of the thousands of asylum applications from Eritrea and Sudan and considers the vast majority to be economic migrants. Under international law, Israel cannot deport migrants to countries where their lives or fundamental freedoms are seriously threatened.

Sudan’s jailed former President al-Bashir has been charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court for mass murder in Darfur in the 2000s. The region remains unstable, with deadly tribal battles still common. At least 23 Sudanese protesters have been killed in clashes between pro-democracy protesters and armed forces since the October coup.

“Although Israel does not send back migrants, successive decrees have deliberately made life unbearable for African refugees,” said Sigal Rozen, director of public policy at the Israeli refugee and migrant helpline, an advocacy group that supports Africans.

Most of the estimated 28,000 Sudanese and Eritrean migrants work in simple jobs and struggle to survive. Their numbers have halved since the 2000s, with most continuing to travel to third countries as they consider it unsafe to return home.

In 2012, Israel ordered the deportation of over 1,000 migrants back to South Sudan after it gained independence, arguing that it was safe for them to go home. Those who voluntarily returned received a cash award of approximately $ 1,000. The move was criticized by human rights groups after South Sudan fell into civil war in 2013.

Most African migrants are caught in the limbo of Israeli law and denied basic social rights such as sick pay and driver’s license, as well as being fined. Among the most controversial was the “Deposit Act,” which restricted asylum seekers from accessing only 80% of their salary while staying in Israel. The law that only refunded the remainder of their salary when they left the country was reversed later in 2020.

In April, the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of the Interior to resolve or grant temporary residence permits to thousands of Sudan’s unanswered asylum applications by the end of the year.

Sudan was noticeably absent from the Abraham Accord commemorations earlier this fall. When Israel and the other three nations made high-level visits and opened embassies, there was a surprise meeting on the Sudanese front between Israeli and Sudanese officials in the UAE just weeks before the coup. Sudan also said in September that it would seize the assets of companies affiliated with Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that rules Gaza.

Haim Koren, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt and South Sudan, blamed the delays on concerns from Sudanese officials about whether Israel’s new government and the Biden government would keep promises of the normalization agreement. Both have expressed strong support for deepening and expanding the Abrahamic Convention.

“There are areas that still need to be negotiated, but I expect full relationships to be established,” said Koren. “Maybe not today, but it will happen.”

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-business-middle-east-africa-israel-ca3cf337baf24da725daabcf9e4332cc