African Refugees & The #March4Freedom

​As the crossroads of human migration since time immemorial, the land on which the state of Israel stands today connects the continents of Asia, Europe, and Africa. After the route to Europe was blocked by the Lybian civil war in 2011, and unrest in Egypt made their struggle for asylum uncertain, thousands of refugees (mostly from Eritrea and Sudan) took that historic route, to Israel. But Israel defines itself as a Jewish state, and therefore does not have any process for immigration for non-Jews. Its struggle to maintain a Jewish majority has been at the heart of its conflict with the Palestinians, and now, also the refugees who found themselves at the front of a national debate about the country's very nature. While Israel's Left argued they must be given asylum, most supported the government's five-point plan against them. The first step was deporting the Congolese, South Sudanese, Lybian, and other refugees. The second, construction of a 240-km fence along Israel's Egyptian border. For the first time the land bridge between the three continents was severed.
Next steps included building an "open prison" camp in the middle of the Negev Desert, amidst Israel's security jail complex and military zones where its army trains for war. The last step was "making their lives so miserable, they would leave on their own," as Gideon Sa'ar, then Minister of Interior told the Hebrew press.  The refugees were then forbidden from working, forced many into the black market and exploited, and then hunted by a new racial-profiling unit of the police. Once arrested, refugees are sent en mass to the desert prison, called Holot, where they are kept indefinitely. In December 2013, the refugees simply walked out, sparking a national movement known as the #March4Freedom. Their struggle was documented by Lia Tarachansky in an upcoming documentary, ETHNOCRACY IN THE PROMISED LAND alongside journalist/filmmaker Jesse Freeston for Latin America's largest public broadcaster, TeleSUR.