Egypt is a signatory to international conventions that hold it responsible for the migrants that sneak across its borders into Israel. It is time that policy was implemented.
By Yonatan Yakobovich, ISRAEL HAYOM, Israel Electric Corporation has signed a deal of defeat with Egyptian gas companies. As part of the deal, Israel will forgo over $1.2 billion out of the $1.76 billion an international process of arbitration awarded it. A quick recap: Egypt did not live up to its commitments to supply natural gas to Israel because of a series of bombing attacks on its main pipeline in the Sinai. The amount compromised on during arbitration was significantly lower than the amount Israel demanded, and now it seems that the country has to forgo about 70% of it, without receiving anything from the Egyptians.
That concession was announced at a time when there are over 34,000 illegal migrants in Israel who crossed over the border via Egypt. Some of them spent months, if not years, in Egypt before deciding to upgrade their lifestyle and sneak into Israel. Apart from its basic obligation to prevent illegal migration from its territory, Egypt is a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention and home to a large and well-funded branch of the UN Refugee Agency. The obligation to review and address requests for asylum, as well as the obligation to take back the asylum-seekers who crossed into Israel from Egypt, falls on the Egyptians because Egypt is considered the first asylum state that many of the migrants passed through.
This is a principle of international law that is anchored in European law, including the Dublin III Regulation, in which EU member states agreed to take back illegal migrants who cross their borders into other countries. Agreements to return migrant infiltrators have also been signed between the EU and Turkey, and even between the US and Canada. In 2007, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signed the same agreement with former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak – a deal that was brokered by the UN High Commissioner on Refugees, no less. The agreement sets down a procedure for returning the migrants, under which IDF forces would return infiltrators they captured. However, implementation of the directive hit a snag when radical groups threw up difficulties and petitioned the High Court of Justice, and eventually, it was halted entirely after the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in 2011-2012.
Currently, Israel has good relations with the government of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, but it nevertheless chose to sign deals with other African nations who were willing to take in the migrants, with only partial success. Although these agreements are valid under international law, it is important to remember that the illegal migrants have no legal ties to these nations, unlike Egypt, which by law is required to take back the migrants who crossed its borders illegally.
It is also important to keep in mind that hundreds of thousands of Sudanese and Eritreans are already living in Egypt. Given its size and population, taking back the migrants requires a relatively small effort on the part of the Egyptians, certainly when we take into account the huge sums of money in play and Egypt’s already shaky economy. This is no far-reaching demand, and Egypt won’t even need to take back all the illegal migrants in Israel. Past experience also indicates that most of the migrants deported from Israel will choose to go back to their native countries or depart for a third country, so the number who actually return to Egypt to live will be even lower.
Even though Egypt committed to the deal at the beginning, the time that has passed and the successive regimes have made its implementation a matter of urgency. Now we have a historic opportunity: Even if the deal with the IEC is already signed, it must be ratified, and Israel can still insert on the demand that Egypt take back the migrants that passed through it en route to Israel. If we are being forced to forgo such a huge amount of money, the prime minister must link the deal to the migrant issued and demand compensation from Egypt.
Yonatan Yakobovich is the director of the Israeli Immigration Policy Center.
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