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Interior ministry announcement comes on the third day of a strike by African asylum seekers, with thousands gathering in Tel Aviv park to protest.

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 As a strike by tens of thousands of African asylum seekers against Israel’s migration policies entered its third day on Tuesday, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced that dozens of Eritrean asylum seekers had left Israel voluntarily in recent weeks for Sweden.

The announcement did not specify the number of those who had left for Sweden. The majority were apparently women, many of whom had been victims of torture and human trafficking and who had been imprisoned in Israel for a long time.

Sweden agreed to take them in response to a special request by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and to include them in a resettlement plan, due to their special circumstances.

Tens of thousands of migrants stayed away from work Tuesday, as the strike went into its third day. Many of them gathered at Levinsky Park, in south Tel Aviv, to discuss their future action. Among the moves considered were marching toward Jerusalem, Saharonim prison and the Holot detention center in the Negev.

The protest leaders have scheduled a press conference for Tuesday afternoon, during which they are expected to announce what further steps will be taken.

The Interior Ministry said the migrants left for Sweden in the context of a government incentive scheme and were granted $3,500 each upon departure. They are encouraged to leave Israel voluntarily and to promise not to return.

An attorney dealing with residence and migration issues criticized Sa’ar’s announcement. “Asylum seekers who were sent to Sweden did not leave as part of the Ministry’s voluntary departure process, but as part of the efforts of the UNHCR to resettle people who qualify as refugees,” said Oded Feller, who heads the division dealing with residence status and migration in the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

”It’s not clear what the Interior Ministry take pride in. Sweden only resettles people with refugee status who are not afforded adequate protection in countries they find themselves in. The fact that Sweden took in 50 refugees proves yet again that Israel is the only country that doesn’t recognize Eritrean asylum seekers as refugees, and that other countries feel that Israel is not fulfilling its obligations under the Refugee Convention,” Feller said.

Sa’ar chose to make his announcement in the midst of the strike, despite the transferral to Sweden having occurred a few weeks ago. The announcement stated that “several dozen infiltrators from Eritrea have left for Sweden over the past few weeks, as part of a process of voluntary departure. This is the first time infiltrators were sent to Sweden. Their departure was coordinated with the Swedish government after an agreement between Interior Minister Sa’ar and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The infiltrators left voluntarily with the assistance of the Population and Immigration Authority, getting $3,500 each.”
The ministry spokesman said that in 2013, 2,612 migrants from Africa left Israel as part of this voluntary departure process. Of those, 1,955 were from Eritrea and Sudan.

The Swedish embassy declined to respond to queries by Haaretz. Nor was there a response from the UNHCR.

The three-day protest began Sunday, when tens of thousands of African migrants did not show up for work, disrupting the normal operation of many businesses, primarily restaurants, cafes, hotels, and cleaning services.

Later that day, the representative for the UNHCR in Israel published a rare press release, lambasting Israel’s policy on African migrants, and in particular the new amendments to the country’s anti-infiltration law.

The release, titled “Israel’s new laws and policies do not live up to the Spirit of the 1951 Refugee Convention,” called on Israel to consider alternatives to its current “warehousing” of migrants.

On Monday, more than 10,000 African migrants demonstrated in front of the American embassy near the Tel Aviv promenade. Thousands more gathered in front of the offices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the European Commission, as the embassies of Ethiopia, Great Britain, France, Canada, Sweden, Germany and Italy.

They called on the international community to exert pressure on the Israeli government to changes its asylum seeker policies, and recognize them as refugees. In addition, the protesters called on the government to stop arresting them and to release those who are imprisoned.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that, despite the events of the past two days, he is still committed to expelling the migrants. ”I’d like to make clear that protests and strikes won’t help,” Netanyahu said during a Likud faction meeting. ”As we were able to stem the illegal infiltration of our borders, we are steadfast in our commitment to evict those who entered before we closed the border … We aren’t talking about refugees with whom we deal according to international treaties; we are discussing illegal migrant workers, who will be brought to justice.”

Also on Monday, Interior Minister Gideon Sa’ar said he was ”not very impressed with all the crying and complaining” by business owners whose employees were on strike. ”With all due respect to the restaurant and café owners in crisis, or those whose cleaning staff didn’t show up, this will not determine Israel’s national policy. On the contrary, let’s think about those Israelis who have lost their jobs [to migrant workers].”

MK Miri Regev (Likud), who heads the Knesset’s Interior and Environment Committee, is promoting an amendment to the National Insurance law that would grant benefits to discharged soldiers who are employed in the restaurant industry as waiters, kitchen hands, cleaning personnel and maintenance crews. Regev said the amendment seeks to make it easier for employers to find workers to replace African migrants. The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is scheduled to discuss her proposal this coming Sunday.

Three weeks ago, the government transferred 483 African migrants who had been imprisoned in Saharonim prison to Holot. Many of them participated in the recent protest march from Holot, and were returned to Saharonim for violating the terms of their residency. Last week, the Population and Immigration Authority began instructing other migrants from Eritrea and Sudan to report to the Holot facility in 30 days, or face imprisonment.

Holot residents are forbidden from working and must report for roll call three times a day, in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Tens of thousands of Africans have trekked through neighboring countries to reach Israel in recent years. Many migrants fled oppression at home, hoping for a better life in Israel, yet their influx sparked tensions with locals who blame them for rising crime and a change of the Jewish identity in some neighborhoods.

Crowds of African immigrants are demonstrating for a second day in Tel Aviv.

[jqdial code=”dial984e32ee39″] [/jqdial] The protesters, mostly Eritreans and Sudanese, marched on Sunday to protest against their treatment by the Israeli government.

Israel says they have arrived illegally and should return home.

Richard Galpin reports from the US embassy where many migrants have gathered in protest.

Read more: African migrants in Israel protest in Tel Aviv

’You go to the Interior Ministry to get a visa, there are long lines, in the end you don’t get a visa. You’re on the street, they catch you without a visa – you go to jail.’

Tens of thousands of African migrants held a protest in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square on Sunday morning, against efforts to round them up and send them to a detention center.

“Yes to freedom, no to jail,” protesters chanted at the Tel Aviv rally, which also included several dozen Israelis.

Separately, hundreds of migrants held a separate rally in Eilat, the seaside resort town where many African asylum seekers or labor migrants work in the tourism industry.

“We want the government to pay attention to people,” said Konda, a Sudanese citizen who is one of the leaders of the protest and did not want to be identified by his full name. “All the doors have closed. People have nowhere to go, nothing to do. The immigration police are working all the time, catching people. You go to the Interior Ministry to get a visa, there are long lines, in the end you don’t get a visa. You’re on the street, they catch you without a visa – you go to jail. A large portion of the people are in jail now. We want to say that we deserve to live, we deserve human rights.”

Hundreds of asylum seekers, out of the estimated 49,000 migrants from Eritrea or Sudan living in Israel, have been taken into custody [jqdial code=”dial2ed5d36ab5″] [/jqdial] or ordered to report to a detention center over the past two weeks.

Eritrean and Sudanese workers across the country were told by protest organizers to skip work Sunday through Tuesday. The unofficial strike is expected to affect the many restaurants, cafes, hotels and janitorial companies employing African migrants.

“Our strike is not an act against the employers but a form of protest,” said the statement released by human rights activists involved in the protest. “We are aware of the risk of striking, that we are liable to lose our jobs and our incomes. This step is meant to clarify to Israelis society: We fled here because of the danger to our lives in our countries of origin. We are seeking political asylum. Like every person, we also want to earn an income so we can live in dignity – but work is not the reason we came to Israel.”

Protest organizers are calling for the law authorizing the opening of the Holot detention center to be overturned, as well as for Israel to stop rounding up migrants and to release all those jailed under the new law. They are also calling on Israel to honor the UN Refugee Convention and give reasonable consideration to all asylum requests.

They plan to contact the United Nations representative for refugees and foreign embassies in Israel to ask the world body to pressure Israel “to take on its share of the responsibility for the asylum seekers.”

The organizers sought permission for a march through Tel Aviv but did not receive a permit from the city. Last month an estimated 1,000 Sudanese and Eritrean migrants, along with Israeli human rights activists, marched through the streets of Tel Aviv to urge the government to consider the asylum requests of migrants from Africa and release the approximately 3,000 held in Israeli custody.

The recently opened Holot detention center is considered an open detention center because migrants held there are allowed to leave during daylight hours, but they must report for roll call three times a day, in an effort to keep them from getting a job. The facility “ought to be called a jail,” says a flyer announcing the strike.

“Our only sin is that we ran away from political persecution, forcible military service, dictatorship, civil war and genocide,” the flyer says.

Organizers are holding a planning meeting for African migrants Monday morning in Levinsky Park in Tel Aviv, to discuss the next steps in the protest.

 
Source: Al Jazeera

The Olympic silver medalist is the guest of honor at their annual social.

What follows is a report posted on the Running USA Web site:

TLANTA  – Olympic Silver Medalist and New York City Marathon Winner Meb Keflezighi has been announced as the guest speaker at Atlanta Track Club’s 2014 Annual Social. The event will be held on Thursday, January 9 at 6:30 p.m. at The Foundry at Puritan Mill in Atlanta.

Keflezighi has participated in three Olympic Games for Team USA, winning a silver medal in the 2004 Olympic Games Marathon. He also placed first in the 2009 ING New York City Marathon, making him the first American to win the world’s largest marathon since 1982. Keflezighi was born in Eritrea, but fled the war-torn country with his family and later became a U.S. citizen in 1998. He now lives in San Diego.

“We are delighted to have Meb as our guest speaker for Atlanta Track Club’s 2014 Annual Social,” said Sue Payne, Atlanta Track Club’s interim executive director. “Meb had to work hard to achieve his success, as well as overcome incredible obstacles. We believe his story will be an inspiration to our members and other runners and walkers as they begin to work towards their health and fitness goals for the new year.”

Atlanta Track Club’s 2014 Annual Social will also feature hors d’oeuvres, drinks, desserts and a preview of Atlanta Track Club’s 50th anniversary celebrations. Tickets for the 2014 Annual Social are available through Sunday, January 5 atatlantatrackclub.org

Elsabel “Bel” Yemane was born in Eritrea and raised in London. She began working as a model after being scouted as a teenager, and has since worked across three continents, appeared in countless magazines and on innumerable catwalks.

Bel has modelled for brand name clients such as Adidas, Marks & Spencer’s, Pantene and Galaxy Chocolate, just to name a few. She particularly enjoys working for designers such as Eki Orleans, who promote fashion styles inspired by their shared African roots.

When she’s not walking the catwalks at Fashion Week, or spending 3 months in Cape Town on a modeling assignment, you can find her here. At the gorgeous Bel’s Salon which she is the proud owner of.

The salon itself is, by all means, beautiful. From the French baroque-ish mirrors to the old fashioned telephone that sits on the counter, it just screams old glamour. The warm brown earth tones within the salon are welcoming, and the walls are graced by her modelling shots.

Although, she owns the salon people are impressed by how hands on she is. Bel washes the hair, then puts a Henna and Almond conditioning treatment in, and lets it sit. Clearly, she knows what she’s doing and what her clients want.

While under the dryer, one of the clients took the opportunity to ask her about her life. She was born in Eritrea, and her family moved to London where she grew up mostly in the North West. She currently lives around the corner from the salon.

She has a very bustling modeling career, and has actually modelled for many well-known companies and labels. Having just finished the River Island promo video, and recently returning from Lagos fashion week. Bel also made model shootings for Adidas, Mizani, Argos, Galaxy, Debenhams and much more, and has graced the covers and editorials of numerous magazines.

Elsabel’s professional model career started 4 years ago, prior to that, she was just an ordniary model doing odd shoots here and there.

Around this time last year Elsabel had the sporadic idea of opening a beauty salon. “I basically just walked past a salon and funnily enough, it’s on Bell street in Edgware road. I saw it was empty, and something made me walk in to ask what’s going on and if she wanted to hand it over”.

At first she rented a chair in the saloon to get an idea of the area and few month after she decided to take over the whole shop.

Later on, Elsabel came across another location which was bigger and on the main road, so she took that instead. “Once I have an idea that keeps me up brainstorming, I have to go for it” Elsabel says.

Visit Bel’s salon website: Bel’s Salon