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In lead-up to mass deportation, Israel closes Holot detention facility
For the past four years, asylum seekers and their supporters have demanded that the Holot detention center be shut down. Now it’s finally happening, but not at all how they envisioned. The Israeli government shut down the Holot detention facility, the open-air, desert detention facility built for African asylum seekers, on Wednesday after four years…
By
Joshua Leifer
March 15, 2018
Hundreds of asylum seekers march to desert prison to protest deportations
Hundreds held in Israel’s desert detention facility march to nearby Saharonim Prison after seven asylum seekers were transferred and imprisoned there indefinitely — for refusing to leave the country. By Oren Ziv / Activestills.org Hundreds of asylum seekers detained in Holot, Israel’s desert detention facility for African asylum seekers, marched to nearby Saharonim Prison on Thursday after…
By
Oren Ziv
February 22, 2018
Israel to deliver asylum seekers to the hands of human smugglers
Even as it invokes the Holocaust at every turn, Israel is feeding the people who most need its protection to a brutal human smuggling industry. In doing so, it becomes an active player in the worst migration crisis since the Jewish people’s near-extinction. Exactly one decade ago, liberal Israelis were boasting of their government’s treatment of…
By
Noa Yachot
December 29, 2017
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‘This is not a life’: A journey to Israel’s ‘open’ detention center
When a group of Jewish Israelis set out for the Holot ‘open prison’ in the Negev, they were hoping to sing Christmas carols to the asylum seekers. But by the time they got there, the things they saw and heard made it clear that there was nothing to sing about. By Ayla Peggy Adler When…
By
+972 Magazine
January 1, 2014
In act of civil disobedience, 150 Sudanese refugees walk out of Israeli ‘open prison’
The 150 men walk six hours through the Negev desert in bid to reach Jerusalem, are currently in Be’er Sheva and rebuffing authorities’ offer to bus them back to the ‘Holot’ open prison facility that opened late last week. Text by Michael Omer-Man Photos by Yotam Ronen, Oren Ziv, Shiraz Grinbaum/Activestills.org Roughly 150 Sudanese asylum…
By
Activestills
December 15, 2013
Knesset passes revised law for detention of African asylum seekers
The previous law was struck down by the High Court, which ordered the state to begin releasing the asylum seekers it was indefinitely detaining. Instead, the Knesset passed a law to circumvent the ruling and indefinitely detain asylum seekers in ‘open prisons.’ By Elizabeth Tsurkov After a passionate debate and a filibuster by opposition members of…
By
+972 Magazine
December 10, 2013
Meet the Israeli who vows to keep going to jail until Africans are released
Ido Naveh says he will continue to stage non-violent protests outside Israel’s desert detention camp until all the asylum seekers held within it are freed. By David Sheen Many Israelis may support their government’s efforts to keep non-Jewish asylum seekers from Africa at bay and beyond the borders of the country. In recent weeks, however,…
By
+972 Magazine
October 20, 2013
Despite landmark High Court ruling, asylum seekers are only cautiously optimistic
Monday’s High Court ruling provided a major blow to the state’s attempt to hold asylum seekers in detention. However, despite the decision, asylum seekers are still not entitled to basic benefits such as health insurance, social services, housing and the freedom to work. By Elizabeth Tsurkov Refugees in Israel reacted with delight to the news of…
By
+972 Magazine
September 17, 2013
Israel’s High Court nixes law allowing detention of asylum seekers without trial
Court orders the state to begin releasing more than 1,700 prisoners immediately. In a landmark ruling, a special nine-justice panel of the High Court of Justice decided to strike down the amendment to Israel’s infamous anti-infiltration bill, which allowed the state to hold African asylum seekers in custody, without trial, for three years (and in…
By
Noam Sheizaf
September 16, 2013
Eritrean asylum seekers on hunger strike to protest detention without trial
Asylum seekers return meals for fifth straight day in protest of administrative detention, NGOs report. (Updated below) Some 350 Eritrean asylum seekers are in the fifth day of a hunger strike protesting their administrative detention in an Israeli prison. Asylum seekers in Block 3 of the Saharonim detention facility began a hunger strike on Saturday…
By
Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man
June 27, 2013
For asylum seekers in Israel, the police is the judiciary
A new government regulation enables the indefinite incarceration of refugees suspected of committing crimes, even if there is not enough evidence to indict them. Were this regulation applied to Israeli politicians, many of them would be in prison. By Asaf Weitzen The upcoming elections will affect not only the lives of Israeli citizens, they will…
By
+972 Magazine
December 3, 2012
PHOTO ESSAY: A sprawling desert prison, for thousands of refugees
On Thursday, I traveled to the south with a group of journalists and bloggers to view the construction of new detention facilities around Ketsiot, near the Egyptian border. When completed, the four prisons in the area are meant to be able to hold more than 16,000 inmates, making them, together, the largest detention facility for…
By
Noam Sheizaf
November 3, 2012
Eritrean asylum seeker details recent hunger strike, fear of indefinite incarceration
Some 500 asylum seekers held in a prison in the desert recently refused food in protest of a new law that enables Israel to keep them in detention indefinitely. By Sharon Livne “Don’t tell anyone my name, I’m afraid of what they’ll do to me here if they know I talked.” So began a nighttime…
By
+972 Magazine
October 18, 2012
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