For this first post I read a recent article and looked on two different websites:
http://ardc-israel.org/en/content/refugees-israel
http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e4864b6.html
I found these articles very interesting. Israel and Yemen are the only two states in the Middle East to have signed the 1951 Refugee Convention. This document defines a refugee, gives the refugee rights and gives the state certain obligations towards the refugee. Other countries in the Middle East take in refugees because of similar religious affiliations and hospitality towards other Arab nations; however not all of the time do these refugee camps meet the 1951 Refugee Convention guidelines or standards.
Although Israel has signed the 1951 document, Israel still has many difficulties handling the refugee population. One of the solution was called "Hot Returns", which in June 2011 was challenged to be against basic human rights. For one of these "Hot Returns", refugees seeking asylum would be rounded up and deported back to their country of origin. In 2012 hundreds of people originating from South Sudan and the Ivory Coast were deported back to their country once the country was deemed safe by the State of Israel.
Many refugees seeking asylum come to Israel by walking across the Sinai desert through Egypt and arrive in Israel dehydrated and starving. They come to Israel seeking jobs and place to live. Already facing difficulties with water and self sustaining food, Israel is caught in a catch 22. In January of 2013 a fence was built on the Sinai border greatly reducing the number of refugees coming across the border seeking shelter in Israel. If a refugee makes it across to Israel then they are thrown into a legal limbo that can span the course of over five years. The anti-infiltration law in 2012, which was revoked in September of 2013 by the Supreme Court as a violation of human rights, allowed the government to jail refugees for three years until they decide to do something with the refugees.
Out of the 2,593 refugees requests for 2013 only 4 people were granted refugee status. Out of the 1,133 humanitarian refugee requests since 2009 only 540 people have been given refugee status. Evidently the dilemna of what to do with the numerous refugees from Africa and Syria is a growing problem that Israel is trying to figure out right now.
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