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Public Security Minister Avi Dichter visiting Darfur refugees at a tent city near Ketziot prison, in the Negev. (Archives)
Last update - 23:56 05/09/2007
Israel to grant citizenship to hundreds of Darfur refugees
By Mazal Mualem
Tags: refugees, Meir Sheetrit 

Israel intends to grant citizenship to several hundred refugees from Darfur who are currently in the country, Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit said Tuesday.

According to the minister, Israel cannot ignore the refugees' fate because of the history of the Jewish people. "Just as [former] prime minister Menachem Begin acted to grant citizenship to refugees from Vietnam, the same ought to be done today," the minister said.

The Anti-Defamation League welcomed the government's decision on the, saying "ADL has long believed that it is the moral duty of the Jewish nation to do all it can to alleviate human suffering caused by genocide wherever it arises."
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The group also called on the international community to do more to help Israel treat the refugees humanely.

At a holiday toast for Kadima activists at party headquarters in Petah Tikva, Minister Sheetrit disclosed that he has been working with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on a plan to determine, in coordination with the United Nations, a quota of refugees who would become naturalized Israeli citizens.

Sheetrit said that his ministry has begun laying the
groundwork for implementing the plan, which includes a thorough investigation of every refugee from Darfur residing in Israel.

Israeli law gives the interior minister the option of granting citizenship to people who do not meet any other citizenship criteria.

Estimates put the number of asylum seekers and refugees in Israel today at more than 2,000, many of them from Sudan. The UN estimates that since 2003, when the fighting began in the Darfur region of western Sudan, more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million people have been uprooted from their homes.

In July, Olmert announced that any refugee caught crossing into Israel from Egypt would be returned to that country through an official crossing. Olmert said this arrangment had been finalized in discussions with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, but Egypt later issued a denial.

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  1.   PROUD TO BE A JEW 04:15  |  michael 05/09/07
  2.   Good Move!! 04:46  |  Danite 05/09/07
  3.   WONDERFUL these poor people deserve support after the living hell 04:49  |  PETER SM 05/09/07
  4.   Important to find work for these refugees 04:53  |  Avrum 05/09/07
  5.   A very good humanitarian gesture from Israeli Government 05:06  |  Smadar 05/09/07
  6.   The Jews is Boss 05:10  |  Join the safari 05/09/07
  7.   Palestine is Muslim 05:12  |  Mohammed 05/09/07
  8.   # 1- You really have to be 05:19  |  Marco 05/09/07
  9.   Very proud day 05:23  |  symphonyofdissent 05/09/07
  10.   Remember the "S.S. St. louis" in 1939 06:17  |  Enrique 05/09/07
  11.   I almost fell of my seat laughing 06:18  |  TheHipocrisy Monitor 05/09/07
  12.   Would Dafurians have given shelter to Jews? 06:22  |  HonestAbe 05/09/07
  13.   Bosnian refugees in Israel in 1999 06:31  |  Yitzhak 05/09/07
  14.   cynical and wrong move 06:46  |  James 05/09/07
  15.   Would Dafurians have given shelter to Jews? 07:03  |  Jason Cambell 05/09/07
  16.   SICK PROPAGANDA 07:08  |  Jad 05/09/07
  17.   thats realy nice how about those from naher albared 07:19  |  tea man 05/09/07
  18.   thats realy nice how about those from naher albared 07:19  |  tea man 05/09/07
  19.   thats realy nice how about those from naher albared 07:21  |  tea man 05/09/07
  20.   Darfurians welcome to make Aliyah 07:29  |  Jon 05/09/07
  21.   The Hypocricy Monitor 07:32  |  Mark 05/09/07
  22.   And Don`t Forget This!!! 07:34  |  Yosemite 05/09/07
  23.   Darfur Refugees 07:35  |  Sleven 05/09/07
  24.   problem is not those here already 07:39  |  Julia 05/09/07
  25.   HYPOCRISY monitior .Why arent they seeking shelter with Arabs? 07:39  |  PETER S .M. 05/09/07
  26.   Hypocrisy Monitor: Part I 07:41  |  Brad 05/09/07
  27.   This is what a country with a heart would do, and I am glad 07:45  |  Nurit 05/09/07
  28.   Correction... 07:58  |  Emily 05/09/07
  29.   #9 - your monitor is obviously broken 08:02  |  Moises 05/09/07
  30.   Dismal response to Darfurians seeking asylum in Israel 08:03  |  Rabbinic Justice 05/09/07
  31.   no 13, totally agree 08:09  |  kobi former swede 05/09/07
  32.   To HonestAbe Darfurians are Christians not Muslims 08:20  |  monitor 05/09/07
  33.   Good News! 08:20  |  Gina 05/09/07
  34.   Israel bashers very up set with Israel`s humanitarian gesture 08:24  |  enrique 05/09/07
  35.   Mark #14 08:29  |  Democrat 05/09/07
  36.   Yitzhak #12 08:33  |  Democrat 05/09/07
  37.   James #13 08:35  |  Democrat 05/09/07
  38.   Why 08:36  |  D 05/09/07
  39.   Meir - You`re a mensch!! 08:37  |  B`galil 05/09/07
  40.   why 08:39  |  D 05/09/07
  41.   Thank you Isreal. I will NOT let my children die 08:42  |  D 05/09/07
  42.   to the Hypocracy Monitor 08:43  |  B`galil 05/09/07
  43.   Hey Honest Abe - We do it because it`s Jewish to do so 08:46  |  B`galil 05/09/07
  44.   Oh Yeh...? 09:06  |  Mark 05/09/07
  45.   Democrat # 34 09:24  |  Mark 05/09/07
  46.   re: Jad 09:45  |  Efox 05/09/07
  47.   Mark 09:46  |  Gina 05/09/07
  48.   It is Inhumane to Send South Sudanese Christians to Islamic Rule 09:47  |  Efox 05/09/07
  49.   re: Mark 09:55  |  Efox 05/09/07
  50.   re: Mohammed 09:57  |  Efox 05/09/07
  51.   Mohammed 09:58  |  Aby 05/09/07
  52.   re: Rabbinic Justice 10:03  |  Efox 05/09/07
  53.   re: Yitzhak 10:04  |  Efox 05/09/07
  54.   Mark #43 10:06  |  Democrat 05/09/07
  55.   Jad (#16) - Who Expeled Millions? 10:09  |  Gil 05/09/07
  56.   Mark #43 (continued) 10:13  |  Democrat 05/09/07
  57.   DONT EXPECT ME TO BE HAAPY 10:14  |  indrajaya 05/09/07
  58.   Rabbinic Justice #30 10:19  |  Democrat 05/09/07
  59.   Teaman 10:33  |  Allon 05/09/07
  60.   MONITOR Darfurians ARE Moslems.The USA not good enough for you-go 10:33  |  PETER SM 05/09/07
  61.   Mark from Canada 10:48  |  Natjus 05/09/07
  62.   How nice 10:54  |  Willy 05/09/07
  63.   Not so good for Jews from Ethiopia 10:54  |  David 05/09/07
  64.   Monitor 10:55  |  Serge 05/09/07
  65.   It`s not enough in my opinion 11:23  |  Shlomo from Tel-Aviv 05/09/07
  66.   To # 29 Moises of Panama PALESTINIANS ARE 11:36  |  Steve the Pals. 05/09/07
  67.   BOTT.LINE:IF ISRAEL WAS MUSLIM THEY WOULD BE EXPELLED 11:36  |  Begood 05/09/07
  68.   Don`t forget about their extended families 11:40  |  Amy 05/09/07
  69.   #11 Hypocrisy 11:55  |  Angus 05/09/07
  70.   #16 11:59  |  scanadu 05/09/07
  71.   ARABS NEVER DID ANYTHING LIKE THIS 12:08  |  ED