Director's Note

Dear Friends and Supporters,

From mid-December to mid-February, Israel’s third lockdown brought the country once again to a near halt. As we exit this lockdown, JACC continues to adapt to the changing circumstances, while ensuring the safety of our community, staff, and volunteers.

The African asylum seeker community remains strong in spite of the challenges they face. Members routinely help JACC staff distribute food parcels from our Center, provide assistance to those who are ill, and find other ways of supporting each other throughout the crisis.

While they struggle here, community members are also concerned about the news of increasing violence in their home countries.  Further in this newsletter, you will find an article written by our board member Yael Orgal about the current situation in Sudan.

Our staff and volunteers remain fully committed to doing all they can to help this beleaguered community.  In January alone, we distributed over 50,000ILS in cash, food vouchers and food parcels. As we proceed in 2021, the community of Israelis and Africans we have built will continue to be a source of strength. I hope you will find this newsletter interesting and feel pride in being part of this very special community. 

Best regards,

Josie

Vaccinations

On February 11th, 160 African asylum seekers in Jerusalem received their first round of Coronavirus vaccinations. JACC staff was able to advocate for the community and work with the Jerusalem Municipality to make this possible. The vaccination drive will continue until all those who want will be vaccinated. We hope that being vaccinated will help the community return to work as job opportunities become more available.

סמי בן 28, מתגורר בירושלים וחבר בקהילת JACC.

״ברחתי מאריתריאה כי זאת הדיקטטורה הכי גדולה באפריקה. כבר מגיל צעיר הבנתי שילד זקוק לחופש כדי להצליח בחיים, לעשות את מה שנוח ומתאים לו ולהביע את עצמו בצורה חופשית. כל התחושות האלו לא היו חלק מחיי היום יום שלי בכפר בו גרתי באריתריאה וכבר בגיל 14 החלטתי שאני רוצה לברוח משם. הרגשתי שאני לא יכול להישאר שם יותר כי ראיתי את השלטון נוהג באלימות כלפינו האזרחים. היינו יכולים לשבת כמה חברים בערב מחוץ לבתים שלנו וחיילים היו מגיעים ופוקדים עלינו בצורה אלימה ולא נעימה. לא להיות בחוץ בשעות האלה." 

סמי בחר תמיד להסתכל קדימה וביקש לעצמו עתיד טוב ונעים יותר שבו יוכל להצליח ולהגשים את עצמו.

Meet Sami, a 28-year-old asylum seeker living here in Jerusalem. Sami says of his escape from the rigid dictatorial regime in Eritrea, and his desire not to take part in the continued oppression of his people:

'I fled Eritrea because it is the biggest dictatorship in Africa. From a young age I realized that a child needs the freedom to express himself and succeed in life. This was the not the reality in the village where I lived in Eritrea, and at the age of 14 I decided I needed to run away. I felt I could not stay there anymore because I saw the government acting violently towards us citizens, and even minor infractions such as being outside our homes in the evening could lead to severe punishment.’

We are proud to have Sami as part of the JACC community. He has always chosen to look ahead and ask for a better and more pleasant future, where he could succeed and fulfill himself.

Sudan: A Snapshot 

By Yael Agur Orgal 

On April 11, 2019, the President of Sudan, dictator Omar al-Bashir, was removed from office after 30 years. What culminated in popular protest was only the first step in Sudan's long and complex road to democracy. Two presidents have since been proclaimed by the old regime, and each has been overthrown faster than its predecessor by the masses. But popular protest in a ruthless military dictatorship is no small matter. Protesters were violently arrested and tortured, others were shot in the streets. In June 2019 people were tied to weights and thrown to their deaths in the Nile. After all, what do generals responsible for the longest genocide in history have to lose in murdering more innocent people?

In light of the rising power of the demonstrators in the streets in the face of the old military elite, the parties entered into negotiations, which ended in the establishment of a dual and decentralized political system. A temporary government was formed from among the civil organizations and old political parties. Its main goal is to create democratic mechanisms for free elections in two years. Above this government stands the "Sovereignty Council" - a body of supervisors controlled by the generals who formerly managed the police and army. The council is also supposed to be temporary, until the transition to a functioning democracy, but, unlike the civilian government, there are many forces sitting there that would prefer to preserve the old order. 

The struggle in Sudan is first and foremost about the character of the country. Is it an African, secular, democratic and liberal state, with full equality of rights for over 50 ethnic groups living in its territory - or is it an Arab, Islamist state based on Sharia law? This is a real, ongoing struggle between various forces. One of the clearest expressions of the human and political complexity in Sudan is the genocide in Darfur, the Blue Nile, and the Nuba Mountains - which is still going on. Admittedly, the caretaker Prime Minister, Abdalla Hamdok, is considered a peace-loving liberal, and even appointed a justice minister of Pur origin (the Pur tribe is one of the main tribes in Darfur against whom genocide was committed). But at the same time, the president of the Sovereignty Council - General 'Abd al-Fattah al-Burhan, was one of the senior generals who ordered the genocide in Darfur, and is considered responsible for the ‘Khartoum massacre’ in which demonstrators were killed and tortured in June 2019. 

Another clear example of this internal struggle can be seen in the issues being discussed in Sudan today. As part of the government's responsibility for building democratic institutions they insisted on placing the issue of education at the core of their work. The first step in doing this was updating the textbooks. Quotes from the Qur'an were taken out of science and math books and the number of religion classes was significantly reduced. It was also decided to start teaching English from first grade.  Of particular importance, for the first time after 65 years of independence, history books began exposing students to different religions, ethnic groups, and political views. 

This is a real revolution, and it has not come about without heavy resistance and many obstacles. In an agreement signed between the various parties that led to the formation of the government and the Sovereignty Council, it was stated that the first and largest item in the next state budget would be education. The money is intended for the creation of new teaching materials, for the training and recruitment of teachers, and for the improvement of the conditions in the classrooms. However, the Sovereignty Council, which saw these changes as a threat, thwarted the transfer of the budget, and refuses to give up even one Sudanese pound from the defense budget.

This same budget goes in part to the continued financing of the Janjaweed, who actually carried out most of the genocide in Darfur. The militia, which was 'trained' in 2010 and became part of the country's security forces, has to this day maintained independence in its management, goals, and objectives. These are the same soldiers who drowned men in the Nile, who raped women and hung their underwear as a sign of pride, and who still today stop social activists in the capital Khartoum and Darfur and torture them in secret detention facilities. A renewed protest erupted recently after two known activists died in detention cells from torture. Will the protest bring about change? Will civil society succeed in overcoming the forces that violently demand the preservation of the old order? Only time will tell. 

The first milestones on the path to democracy have been laid, but success is not guaranteed, and many other countries have already failed to achieve what the Sudanese hope to. Even the Israeli government testified to this at the Supreme Court last September: 

"In the past year, and especially in recent months (May-August 2020), there have been quite a few reports of deteriorating security in Darfur, as well as other areas in the Sudanese periphery [...] This is against the background of the ongoing ethnic tension between the Arab-Muslim center of Sudan, and those regions whose inhabitants are mostly African, including Darfur, southern Kordofan / Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile. This deterioration is manifested mainly in internal attacks by Arab militias against the African population, including in refugee camps, and erupts against the background of economic and agricultural issues, and in a manner that leads to an increase in the number of displaced persons and refugees fleeing to neighboring Chad "(Article 81). 

As of April 2020, there are 6,284 Sudanese refugees in Israel, with the vast majority from Darfur, the Blue Nile and the Nuba Mountains. (Population and Immigration Authority). These refugees, like the other millions of Sudanese refugees around the world, will only be able to return home when the murders, attacks, torture and persecution cease, and Sudan is safe. The International Refugee Convention signed by Israel states this, standard international law states it, and common sense dictates it. You cannot deport someone to dangerous place.

Statements about the deportation of Sudanese refugees to Sudan, in light of the negotiations for a peace agreement between the two countries, is populist and political. Israel and Eritrea have warm and long-standing diplomatic relations, and yet the State of Israel has not openly deported Eritrean refugees to Eritrea because international forbids deporting someone to an unsafe place.  One can only conclude that politicians who rushed to make statements supporting deportation to Sudan did not do so as part of a moral or legal argument, but rather sought to appeal to narrow political interests during an election period. 

And one last point to think about - the person in charge of the country's foreign relations in Sudan is the caretaker Prime Minister, Hamdok. However, even though he was perceived as the legitimate leader in the eyes of his citizens, the Israeli prime minister instead chose to open negotiations with the president of the Sovereignty Council, al- Burhan, who is responsible for some of the most serious crimes against humanity. The question arises as to why Netanyahu chose to meet with al-Burhan rather than Hamdok, and why he is so determined to promote an agreement with a temporary government and council that may not be able to even ensure the long-term existence of said agreement.