voluntary repatriation

African asylum seekers jailed in the Holot detention center protest behind the prison's fence, February 17, 2014. (Photo by Activestills.org)

Why is Israel refusing to teach African asylum seekers Hebrew?

Israel’s ‘Holot’ detention facility for asylum seekers, which is intended to rob them of so much hope that they’ll leave the country, refuses to provide Hebrew lessons as part of its education program for detainees. The result is empty classrooms and a parallel, asylum seeker-run program. By Omri Du-Nour Israel’s desert detention facility for asylum…

By +972 Magazine August 8, 2017

African asylum seekers arrive at Israel’s Holot detention facility in the Negev desert, February 18, 2014. (Photo: Activestills.org) Israel’s High Court has twice struck down the law allowing the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.

Israel to indefinitely imprison asylum seekers who refuse deportation

In a move unprecedented in Western countries, Israel’s outgoing interior minister announces plan to compel asylum seekers to leave the country. Israel’s High Court has repeatedly struck down laws that authorized the indefinite detention of asylum seekers. Asylum seekers from Sudan and Eritrea will face deportation to third countries or face unlimited imprisonment in Israel…

By Mairav Zonszein March 31, 2015

African asylum seekers march from the Holot detention center, where they were jailed, to the Israeli Egyptian border, June 27, 2014. (Photo by Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Marching toward freedom in a fictional plot of land

Nearly 1,000 African asylum seekers walked out of Israel’s ‘open’ detention facility last week, saying they were headed to a strip of UN-controlled territory along the Egyptian border. This is the story of their march — full of hopes, determination and desperation. Encampment air hangs hot and still. Under a dry canopy of Eucalyptus it…

By Noam Shemtov July 2, 2014

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Sadiq al-Sadiq at the Adis Ababa Airport (Photo: Daphna Lichtman)

Sudanese asylum seeker returns to Israel following ‘deportation’

Sadiq al-Sadiq says he never agreed to return to his home country, where he fears persecution. Israeli authorities, however, say he signed a document agreeing to just that. Based on Avi Belcherman’s Hebrew article on +972’s sister site, “Local Call” Adapted by Michael Omer-Man A Darfurian asylum seeker who left the Israel last week under…

By +972 Magazine May 9, 2014