A family of Sudanese migrant surrounded by Israeli soldiers after crossing from the Egyptian border, 2007. (Photo: AP)
The Israeli military is operating inside of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, arresting African asylum seekers before they enter the Jewish state and turning them over to Egyptian authorities. A report released on August 10th by human rights organizations including Amnesty International, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Hotline for Migrant Workers is the first to expose the secretive army activities. According to the Associated Press, the “Israeli military censor banned Israel-based journalists from writing about the report.”
At times the Israeli military also deceived the refugees into thinking they were already inside of Israel in a ploy to detain them. One anonymous soldier said in an affidavit published by Lina Attalah in the Egypt Independent on Friday:
In light of this, they recommended that we give them the illusion that they have arrived to the territory of Israel by not using aggressive behavior, displays of tension, or threats with our weapons. They suggested that we receive those that come with the blessing ‘Welcome to Israel,’ to act friendly, to ask the purpose for their arrival, to offer food and water and to promise them that a bus will arrive soon to take them.
In a separate incidence, the same soldier described:
The catching of the three [infiltrators] occurred in the early morning, a few tens of meters from the border, inside the Egyptian territory. We guarded the three a few hours and afterwards we marched them along the border, on the Egyptian side, a few kilometers until the point where we were supposed to hand them to the Egyptian forces.
The soldier’s account clearly indicates Israel was conducting military activities outside of its borders, and confirms coordination with Egyptian forces:
In an additional event that I participated in, I was called to guard a group of about 40 people, including 30 men and another 10 women, female adolescents, girls, and one baby. They were arrested throughout the night by our forces in a deep valley inside Egypt. I arrived during the day. The group sat on the ground and we guarded around them. I guarded there eight hours during the day. Brigade level ranking commanders also arrived to the place. They told us that we are waiting for the arrival of the Egyptians to a close road and there we will carry out the return.
While members of Israel’s military have confirmed the cooperation with Egyptian soldiers, Egypt is denying the joint deportations. Speaking to Attalah, Sherif Ismail, a security advisor in the Sinai district, said, “This is unheard of. It’s a matter of Egyptian sovereignty.”
The number of migrants apprehended by Israeli forces and turned over to Egyptian authorities is unknown, but the rights groups reported in July the number of Africans entering Israel was reduced by 75 to 90 percent. “According to information from the Israeli interior ministry’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority, just 248 migrants successfully crossed in July; in previous months the numbers ranged from 928 to 2,295,” reported Attalah.
Since the spring, African migrants in Israel have been subject to numerous acts of mob violence, discriminatory laws, and mass incarcerations and deportations. Just this week, the Israeli government added new roadblocks to migrants seeking to overturn their deportation orders, forcing the refugees to leave the country before filing an appeal. And recently two Tel Aviv hospitals adopted a program to medically segregate and test on undocumented migrants.
There are an estimated 60,000 African migrants living in Israel, with a majority entering the country in the past 10 years. The rising discrimination against them thrives in Israeli communities fearful that the refugees will change the Jewish nature of the state. However, as migrant populations are not citizens and therefore cannot vote, their presence is unable to reduce Israel’s demographic majority.
It is worth noting the arrest and subsequent deportations are not the only coordinated military action between Israel and Egypt. Newly elected Mohammed Mursi is continuing ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s legacy of joint security efforts with the Jewish state, following last Sunday’s attack on an Egyptian police station when 16 officers were killed. The ambush was Egypt’s deadliest border attack since 1979, when the Camp David Accords were signed. On Thursday Israel exempted Egypt from some of the demilitarization terms in the peace treaty, allowing Mursi to deploy tanks, ground troops and helicopters in the Sinai.
The Sinai became Lawless because per Treaty with “Israel” Egypt was not allowed to deploy their armed forces there without “Israeli” approval.
The Sinai become lawless following the fall of Mubarak and the creation of the tunnels to Gaza. If it were directly related to the treaty, wouldn’t you think it would have been lawless for the last 30 years, not just the last year (coincidentally coinciding w/ the fall of Mubarak?)
LOL. The tunnels were there long before Mubarak was overthrown dufus.
Fail!
“This is unheard of. It’s a matter of Egyptian sovereignty.”
israel could do this from their side of the border. they’ve highjacked camp david to extend their own sovereignty into the sinai while completely ignoring their obligations to egypt in the treaty wrt a palestinian state. re assessing the treaty is about asking why israel gets to thumb its nose at their own obligation. mubarak facilitated this for decades, it’s time israel be held accountable instead of coopting egyptian forces and egyptian land to carry out israel’s demands while turning a blind eye to what egypt was supposed to get out of that treaty.
Ms. Robbins, please tell us about this Palestinian state that was promised during camp David.
Seems like Annie’s offline but I’ll oblige from link to fair.org
“To understand what actually happened at Camp David, it’s necessary to know that for many years the PLO has officially called for a two-state solution in which Israel would keep the 78 percent of the Palestine Mandate (as Britain’s protectorate was called) that it has controlled since 1948, and a Palestinian state would be formed on the remaining 22 percent that Israel has occupied since the 1967 war (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem). Israel would withdraw completely from those lands, return to the pre-1967 borders and a resolution to the problem of the Palestinian refugees who were forced to flee their homes in 1948 would be negotiated between the two sides. Then, in exchange, the Palestinians would agree to recognize Israel (PLO Declaration, 12/7/88; PLO Negotiations Department). ”
“Although some people describe Israel’s Camp David proposal as practically a return to the 1967 borders, it was far from that. Under the plan, Israel would have withdrawn completely from the small Gaza Strip. But it would annex strategically important and highly valuable sections of the West Bank–while retaining “security control” over other parts–that would have made it impossible for the Palestinians to travel or trade freely within their own state without the permission of the Israeli government (Political Science Quarterly, 6/22/01; New York Times, 7/26/01; Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories, 9-10/00; Robert Malley, New York Review of Books, 8/9/01). ”
“The annexations and security arrangements would divide the West Bank into three disconnected cantons. In exchange for taking fertile West Bank lands that happen to contain most of the region’s scarce water aquifers, Israel offered to give up a piece of its own territory in the Negev Desert–about one-tenth the size of the land it would annex–including a former toxic waste dump. ”
Thanks for the opportunity.
Why don’t you ask Shlomo Ben Ami, who admitted the Camp David offer was so pathetic, even he would have rejected it.
Another false flag operation and another successful outcome . Moris is weakened. Gazan cant get out. I stumbled upon this article some 12 years old from India.
Investigation:
Did Mossad attempt to infiltrate Islamic radical outfits in south Asia?
by Subir Bhaumik
The Week
February 6, 2000
link to the-week.com
On January 12 Indian intelligence officials in Calcutta detained 11 foreign nationals for interrogation before they were to board a Dhaka-bound Bangladesh Biman flight. They were detained on the suspicion of being hijackers. “But we realised that they were tabliqis (Islamic preachers), so we let them go,” said an intelligence official. They had planned to attend an Islamic convention near Dhaka, but Bangladesh refused them visa. Later, seemingly under Israeli pressure, India allowed them to fly to Tel Aviv.
Where’s the catch? The secret circular that warned of a possible hijack……
everything is a false flag in your world, talk about crying wolf.
There was another incident that was reported by by India Abroad ( published in USA) few months back .A Jewish individual ( not an Indian citizen ) who was visiting Indian state of Kerala was spotted by India government of engaging in suspicious activities .He was paying exorbitant sum of money for rent and was maintaining contact with radical Islamic organization.Government of India,instead of continuous surveillance decided to deport him.
You mean crying wolf as in Iranian nukes that don’t exist?
Go back to playing in the sand pit Merk. Leave the discussion to the adults.
To reinforce Shingo’s point, as has been pointed out before on Mondoweiss but bears repeating, the Western obsession with Iranian nuclear weapons goes back a long time and they’re always imminent.
link to csmonitor.com
It seems that the story of the little boy crying wolf just doesn’t apply in this case.