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DANIEL ORTNER: Refugees from war-torn lands rejected, returned
by Daniel Ortner
Columnists | 9/4/07
Posted online at 11:37 PM EST on 9/3/07
This summer, I had the unfortunate experience of having to sort through the belongings of Darfurian refugees; these escapees of the horrific genocide had made the trek into Israel through Egypt. After being imprisoned and abandoned randomly throughout the Sahara, they finally managed to make their way to a refugee camp in front of the Israeli?Parliament, the Knesset. The night before I arrived for a Bedouin protest against home demolitions that was set to occur simultaneously, the Darfur refugees were taken away, and many were eventually deported back to Egypt, and possibly back to Darfur.
In Egypt, the refugees from Darfur and other regions of Sudan are in mortal danger-there have been reports of violence and murder there. Additionally, the Egyptian government is threatening to deport the Darfurians back to Sudan, where they will likely be butchered by the Janjaweed militia.
Egypt's policy of course must be condemned, but what we must focus on with our strongest outrage and ire are the actions of nations that purport to stand for certain universal values, and then contradict these values in their actions. Israel is committing a travesty of enormous proportions, yet it is not the only liberty-valuing nation to practice inconsistent and utterly dangerous refugee and asylum-seeking procedures.
The very notion that a country settled to a large degree as a home for refugees from the Holocaust and other tragedies should willingly return refugees to their death is utterly appalling. The whole process is too reminiscent of the United States' refusal to open its doors to over 900 Jews escaping from Nazi Germany on the S.S St. Louis. It is utterly immoral and conflicts with the basic values on which the nation is established-despite lacking a written constitution, Israel does embrace basic codes of ethical behavior.
Of course, the United States deserves opprobrium for its recent actions as well. The Iraq war has been by most estimates a disaster and an utter nightmare for the average Iraqi citizen. While the actual figure is unknown, anywhere between tens of thousands and millions of Iraqis have been displaced. Considering that the United States began the war with its possibly illegal invasion, it should be willing to take in a large share of these refugees. Yet shockingly, the United States admitted only a single Iraqi refugee in April and another one in May. From last October to June, only 80 were allowed to enter the country during that eight month period. Though not completely barring refugees as in Israel's case, the United States has effectively reduced refugee admissions to an almost irrelevant amount.
In Egypt, the refugees from Darfur and other regions of Sudan are in mortal danger-there have been reports of violence and murder there. Additionally, the Egyptian government is threatening to deport the Darfurians back to Sudan, where they will likely be butchered by the Janjaweed militia.
Egypt's policy of course must be condemned, but what we must focus on with our strongest outrage and ire are the actions of nations that purport to stand for certain universal values, and then contradict these values in their actions. Israel is committing a travesty of enormous proportions, yet it is not the only liberty-valuing nation to practice inconsistent and utterly dangerous refugee and asylum-seeking procedures.
The very notion that a country settled to a large degree as a home for refugees from the Holocaust and other tragedies should willingly return refugees to their death is utterly appalling. The whole process is too reminiscent of the United States' refusal to open its doors to over 900 Jews escaping from Nazi Germany on the S.S St. Louis. It is utterly immoral and conflicts with the basic values on which the nation is established-despite lacking a written constitution, Israel does embrace basic codes of ethical behavior.
Of course, the United States deserves opprobrium for its recent actions as well. The Iraq war has been by most estimates a disaster and an utter nightmare for the average Iraqi citizen. While the actual figure is unknown, anywhere between tens of thousands and millions of Iraqis have been displaced. Considering that the United States began the war with its possibly illegal invasion, it should be willing to take in a large share of these refugees. Yet shockingly, the United States admitted only a single Iraqi refugee in April and another one in May. From last October to June, only 80 were allowed to enter the country during that eight month period. Though not completely barring refugees as in Israel's case, the United States has effectively reduced refugee admissions to an almost irrelevant amount.
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Julia
posted 9/05/07 @ 3:03 PM EST
The article is inaccurate. No Sudanese have yet been returned to Egypt (only a group of 48 a couple of weeks back who were sent back at the border - not all were from Darfur). (Continued…)
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