Topic: Rights of Immigrants
Country: Israel
Delegate Name: Betsy Hensel
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Israel position papers GLIMUN 2012 committees
The movement of citizens is a familiar and fundamental concept around the world. The emigrants of each country hold a common sentiment: the desire for an improved life, whether that be for work opportunities, religious freedom, or escape from oppressive home countries. Whatever the case may be, there is a moral obligation to aid the global citizens. However, each country certainly holds the right to accept, refuse, and treat newcomers in whatever manner it sees fit. Since gaining independence in 1948, the State of Israel has upheld the standards and practices of a developed first world country, a country with definite borders, international relations, and expectations of the great citizens of the nation. Israel is a nation with a strong spirit of nationalism that extends into many aspects of Israeli culture. In recent years, the unity and strength of Israel has been threatened by a drastic increase in outside immigration, more than 60,000 immigrants since 2005, immigration that is predominantly illegal. Since the late 1990s, thousands of immigrants from Africa– primarily from Eritrea, Sudan, and South Sudan– have infiltrated Israel. They have travelled through Egypt, and entered Israel claiming asylum, a status that is impossible to corroborate, considering that a large majority of immigrants are coming from a stable country– Egypt. A number of the immigrants are in possession of permits of a three month duration that allow them to remain in the country, not work and find permanent residence. The presence of such aliens is threatening the very fabric of the Jewish state. In areas of high concentration of such immigrants such as Tel Aviv the crime rates have significantly increased, infrastructure is choked, and public services face much higher demands. The Israeli government realizes fully that the issue must be handled with sensitivity and respect. In hopes to control the incoming foreign population, a steel wall has been built extending across the Israel-Egypt border to detain incomers, as well as a large-capacity holding station for the immigrants to confirm asylum status or permit holding, an objective of the Israeli government. Israel does in fact recognize those seeking political asylum and does grant applications for residence on these grounds. South Sudan was recently deemed sufficiently secure for the South Sudanese immigrants to repatriate. No violence shall be shown toward the African immigrants, and any violent uprisings by the citizens of Israel are fully denounced by the government. In a separate vain, Israel readily welcomes the Jewish citizens from around the world in fulfillment of the Law of Return, a concept of judaism that accords Jews to settle in the Promised Land of Israel. Since 1948, more than 3.5 million Jews have obtained citizenship in Israel. In summation, Israel believes that essentially it is not the responsibility of the Israeli people to maintain and support such a large foreign population, and the fate of their home countries is not the responsibility of the country, rather the United Nations, but encourages the followers of Judaism to return to Israel as part of religious fulfillment.
The State of Israel believes that national sovereignty and the protection of the social fabric of Israel is paramount. The integrity of the Jewish state is the only factor under consideration regarding this matter. Therefore, Israel insists that it is not necessary for the United Nations to divert attention to the foreign immigration into Israel. No state that was a party to the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees may deny refugees entry into the country. However, the country accepting the refugees may deter the amount entering and the treatment of such refugees as the state feels fit. In response to the United Nations Commissioner of High Refugee’s urging that Israel grant asylum to the tens of thousands of African refugees is out of order. Israel has recognized in a few cases that the areas from which some are fleeing are of imminent danger and thus qualify for political asylum, yet the country through which the migrants are travelling, Egypt, is a stable country capable of maintaining the large volume of immigrants it is receiving. Israel recommends that the United Nations respect the sovereignty of Israel, including the nation’s treatment of refugees, and that attention is devoted to another issue.
