Clandestino?da 5 a 20 anni di galera. Nell'Italia di Bossi e Fini? in Israele

Clandestino?da 5 a 20 anni di galera. Nell'Italia di Bossi e Fini? in
Israele

New bill would sentence migrants and refugees to five years in jail


By Shahar Ilan, Haaretz Correspondent


Tags: Knesset, israel


The Knesset on Monday approved the first reading of a bill to prevent
illegal entry into the country. The draft law, passed by a vote of
21-1, would impose a sentence of up to five years in prison on people
who cross the border illegally, including refugees and labor migrants,
while infiltrators from enemy states, such as Sudan, could be
sentenced to as much as seven years behind bars.


The bill also authorizes the state to hold illegal entrants, including
refugees, for up to 18 days without bringing them before a judge for
arraignment. In addition, it would legally authorize "hot returns" of
infiltrators back to Egyptian territory, a practice that endangers
their lives.


MK Dov Khenin (Hadash), the sole dissenter in the plenum vote, called
the bill draconian, while refugee rights organizations said it
contained a number of "terrible" provisions. They also criticized the
fact that legislation on such a sensitive subject was entrusted to the
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which does not have
experience with migration issues and whose sessions are held in
camera, despite the fact that in recent months, Israel has almost
completely ceased to treat infiltrators across the southern border as
a security threat rather than as refugees or labor migrants.


Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, who presented the bill to the
Knesset, said it was needed because between the beginning of 2007 and
the end of March 2008, over 20,000 people entered Israel by crossing
the southern border from Egypt illegally. The state's effort to use
the old law against border infiltrators met with judicial resistance
because it was an emergency regulation enacted in 1954. The current
bill is supposed to replace the old law. But since its provisions are
extremely harsh, it is unlikely to be an improvement over the
emergency law.


"We will turn the Darfur refugees that reach us as a result of a human
holocaust and genocide into criminals" if the law is passed, charged
Khenin. "These are terrible directives. We need a completely different
law, a law that will recognize the rights of the refugees and their
status, that is appropriate to an advanced, humanitarian society in
the 21st century."


Among the bill's other provisions:


* The enemy states and territories from which infiltrators can be
imprisoned for up to seven years include the Gaza Strip.


* An infiltrator who returns to Israel after being deported can be
jailed for 7.5 years, or 10.5 years in the case of someone from an
enemy state or territory.


* An armed infiltrator, or someone in the company of an armed
infiltrator (including refugees who arrive with an armed guide), can
be sentenced to 20 years. Knives are considered weapons for this
purpose.


Attorney Oded Feller of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel
objected to the fact that the bill would permit the detention of
suspects for 96 hours without a court order and 18 days without
arraignment. Moreover, he said, it would allow officers to issue
deportation orders without ever meeting the subject, based only on
reports written by a soldier.


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