BICOM

Some 1,200 African migrants are to be released from detention yesterday and today, following the ruling earlier this month by Israel’s High Court of Justice that the state could not detain them for more than 12 months.

It was the third time that the court had dealt with the legislation, which looks to codify regulations regarding detention of illegal migrants. Estimates indicate that over 50,000 African migrants have entered Israel illegally since 2006 via the country’s border with Egypt, although the flow has stopped almost completely after the recent completion of a new border fence. Many have arrived from Eritrea or Sudan, claiming to flee persecution. The Israeli government, however, says that most are economic migrants. The status of the vast majority of these migrants has yet to be determined and instead many of them have received only temporary permits.

Those released this week have been handed papers which specify that they must not work in Tel Aviv or the southern city of Eilat, in what Interior Minister Silvan Shalom has called “the first part of resolving the issue”.

Haaretz reported that some 20 migrants were arrested in Tel Aviv on Tuesday night. Their status is unclear because while the permits they received ban them from working in Tel Aviv and Eilat, they do not prevent the migrants from visiting or spending time in the two cities. In response to these developments and fearing an influx of migrants in his city, the Mayor of Arad, Nissan Ben Hamo ordered police to prevent additional African migrants from entering Arad and urged local residents to enforce the ban. “If we will be forced to intensify our battle on the subject, I will not hesitate to call all residents to rally and fight together for the peace of the city,” Ben Hamo wrote on his Facebook page.

Most African migrants live in south Tel Aviv and there has been significant tension between the migrant community and local residents.