…..and into that “haven of hope” —the Jewish State of Israel! From The Media Line:
[Cairo, Egypt] Ali Ahmed is struggling with life in Egypt. The Somali refugee, who was in jail for nine months, has no job. He recently got as far as the Sinai Peninsula before turning back to Cairo after plans to cross into Israel fizzled out following a run-in with police.
For many African refugees and migrants like Ali, life in Egypt is becoming unbearable, and illegal attempts to cross borders are becoming an almost daily occurrence.
Since 2006, some 13,000 Africans have entered Israel, and since June 2007, more than 30 Africans have been gunned down by border police, highlighting the ongoing struggle between rights groups and the Egyptian and Israeli governments.
Ahmed tells The Media Line at a local Somali refugee center in Cairo that he wants to get out of Egypt. He would rather “face death than continue living in a country” where he is treated as a “second-class person.”
What! How can that be? Where is the famous Muslim charity? Why is a Muslim country treating its fellow Muslims as “second-class persons?”
It is Israel that is mecca for these Somali Muslims.
Africans in Cairo boast of friends who have succeeded in running the border gauntlet into Israel. Ahmed admits that despite abandoning his own plans to cross into Israel, he knows that success in the Jewish state can be a reality.
“I have a number of friends who have told me of the joy they are having in Israel, where they work and have a life again,” Ahmed continued.
Egypt said, “jump!” and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said, “how high?”
The UNHCR has officially stopped granting refugee status following a request from the Egyptian government, which has made the living situation extremely difficult for the Africans. Without U.N. refugee status, the likelihood of gaining asylum in a third nation is almost nil for thousands of refugees.
Of course there is the obligatory whack at Israel which I won’t even discuss (Judy addressed the issue here in January).
It is Israel African refugees seek—they aren’t trying to break into Muslim countries except as jumping off points to “havens” only “Western culture” provides.
Israel is seen as a place where lives can be recreated. Rumors of work opportunities over the past few years have created an atmosphere within the refugee community that sees the Jewish state as the haven of hope for a new life.