ISRAEL RETURNS FIRST AFRICANS UNDER OLMERT-MUBARAK

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002547

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2012
TAGS: PREF PHUM EG SU IS
SUBJECT: ISRAEL RETURNS FIRST AFRICANS UNDER OLMERT-MUBARAK
UNDERSTANDING, FUTURE RETURNS UNCERTAIN

REF: TEL AVIV 2052

Classified By: POL/C Marc Sievers for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) (Summary) On August 19, Israel returned 48 Africans
(44 from Sudan, 3 from the Ivory Coast, 1 from Somalia) to
Egypt, the first such return under what the Israelis assert
to be a June 25 Olmert-Mubarak understanding on the handling
of Sudanese and other migrants and asylum seekers attempting
to cross from Egypt into Israel. (reftel) However, when
Israel attempted to return a second group of 13 Africans to
Egypt on August 20, the Egyptians reportedly refused to admit
them. MFA contacts report that their Egyptian counterparts
told them that the August 19 return was a "one time" event.
Future moves by Israel in regard to the African asylum
seekers are not entirely clear. Israeli officials still
sound hopeful that the Olmert-Mubarak "understanding" will
hold, and no official change in policy has been suggested.
(End Summary)


2. (C) In a conversation with Embassy Refugee Officer, MFA
Deputy Director of International Organizations and Human
Rights Simona Halperin explained that following the
Olmert-Mubarak meeting, senior Israeli and Egyptian officials
were in contact for more than a month to formalize a
mechanism for implementing the return of African asylum
seekers. Halperin stressed that an Egyptian commitment to
neither return Sudanese to their home country nor put them in
any physical danger in Egypt was central to those
discussions. While Amos Gilad's office at the Ministry of
Defense (MOD) was reportedly the Israeli lead in these
discussions, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and MFA legal
department were tasked with addressing the safety concerns
for the Sudanese. The result was not a written agreement,
but rather a "clear commitment", according to Halperin, from
Egypt to uphold these guarantees.


3. (C) Halperin reiterated previous comments that, if the
understanding with Egypt holds, Israel will grant some kind
of status to absorb several hundred of the approximately
2,000 Sudanese already in Israel, with expectations that the
United States, UNHCR and others will help find a third
country solution for the remainder.


4. (C) Regarding the newly arriving African asylum seekers
that "keep on arriving every night", Halperin said it was
clear that Israel sees the Olmert-Mubarak understanding as an
Egyptian commitment to "stopping the flow" as "neither Egypt
or Israel can tell in advance" if asylum seekers are
refugees, economic migrants, traffickers, smugglers, or
terrorists. Israel "expects" Egypt to accept the "immediate,
coordinated return" of these newcomers, according to
Halperin, "bearing in mind" Israel's commitment to
international refugee treaties. Halperin added that if
Israel does see a real threat in Egypt to the lives of the
returnees, there is a (unspecified) special mechanism to
handle their cases, but that generally Israel does not see an
option for "continuing to open the gates."


5. (U) At a July 15 interministerial meeting, Prime Minister
Olmert reportedly instructed the interministerial committee
to establish a temporary facility in Ketziot in the Negev --
which Halperin said she expects will be ready soon -- to
handle the growing number of newly arriving asylum seekers.
Olmert also reportedly decided that no more African illegal
migrants will be admitted into Israel.

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