Israel fears flood of African migrants

In recent years, tens of thousands of Africans have entered the country through its long desert border with Egypt, turning Israel, like parts of Europe, into a magnet for asylum seekers, and even more, for migrants desperate for jobs in the industrialized world. Their arrivals are hardly being welcomed. Facing a public furor, the government is scrambling to erect a fence along the 130-mile Egyptian border and a massive detention center in the remote southern desert. Many Israelis fear that the African influx will make the country less Jewish. In a speech to parliament, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a flood of illegal migrants. "It is threatening the jobs of Israelis, and it is threatening the Jewish and democratic character of the state of Israel," he said. Israel would seem to be an unlikely destination for African migrants, who have few ties to the Jewish state. Egypt, however, has a large population of migrants — and after Egypt violently quashed a 2005 protest by a group of Sudanese refugees, they began trickling north into Israel. Approximately 35,000 have entered Israel since, with the number surging to 1,500 arrivals every month, according to government figures. Some cities have been transformed. Some 10% of the population of the Red Sea resort town of Eilat are African migrants, and an entire neighborhood in south Tel Aviv is known as "Little Africa," where ethnic food shops and phone card stalls line the streets.