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Israel’s Interior Minister approves refuge plan for 100 Syrian orphans
(Photo: Humanitarian Relief Foundation’s (IHH) relief efforts for Syrian refugees on the Syria-Lebanon border, March 2012. Photo by Mustafa Öztürk. Flickr.)
Israel’s Interior Minister has given his approval to hand refuge to 100 Syrian children orphaned by the country’s bloody civil war.
Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who heads the Shas Party, said: “The situation in Syria is very harsh. Civilians have been slaughtered for years only a few dozen kilometres from Israel. I have decided to order professionals in my ministry to work toward absorbing children on humanitarian grounds in order to render assistance and rescue 100 of them from the horrors and afford them good and normal lives in Israel.”
A statement by the Interior Ministry Population and Immigration Authority said that contacts will now begin with relevant agencies to absorb 100 children and “thus facilitating their rehabilitation in Israel”.
A Channel Ten report last week suggested that the children will initially be housed in Education Ministry dormitories, before many of them are relocated to adoptive families. The report also said that the children will be enrolled in Israel’s school system.
The same report suggested that the children will be handed temporary residency status and will enjoy full rights. Although they would not receive an Israeli passport, they will likely receive permanent residency after several years, allowing them to say in Israel for the rest of their lives. If the programme is successful, immediate family may be allowed to join the children, according to the report.
Since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011, Israel has treated thousands of wounded Syrians at the country’s border, setting up an IDF field hospital in the area. At least 2,600 Syrians, who have been seriously injured have been transported to Israeli hospitals for treatment.
Israel has remained largely on the sidelines during the conflict, although mortar and gunfire from the fighting has infrequently landed on Israeli territory.
However, in cases where Hezbollah has attempted to transfer advanced weapons to Lebanon, Israel’s air force has been deployed and carried out strikes.