Lilach LEV ARI, Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel
Arnon MEDZINI, Oranim Academic College of Education, Israel
This presentation aims to discuss contemporary international (forced) migration by comparing Europe and Israel regarding policy trajectories and the efficacy of border control in preventing forced migrants from arriving in these countries. Since the onset of Europe's "migrants' crisis" in 2015, several European countries have erected almost 1000 km of fences (Tidey, 2019). These physical walls are accompanied by even longer ‘maritime walls,’ naval operations patrolling the Mediterranean, as well as ‘virtual walls,’ border control systems that seek to stop people entering or even traveling within Europe, and control movement of population (Ruiz-Benedicto & Brunet, 2018).
The migration path to Israel via Egypt opened up in 2011. Most African migrants came to Israel from Eritrea and Sudan, due to ongoing and bloody wars on the African continent as well as corruption, severe poverty and hunger, among other (Kuschminder & Triandafyllidou, 2019). Public pressure, together with security motivations forced the Israeli government to build a new barrier, and since 2017 there are no entries from the southern border to Israel (Israel’s Population, 2018). Decrease in entries is also due to Egypt’s strict military enforcement regarding crossing its territory.
Attempts on part of European and Israeli authorities to "secure" or "protect" the borders have partially succeeded; however, forced migrants (53%) divert their migration routes through the Mediterranean, which is more dangerous. Our conclusions are that walls tend to create the illusion of safe solution for the powerful people on the “good side” by separating “us” from “them.” We propose a positive policy that will require international, inter-regional and local interventions and cooperation, in order to diminish the desperate need to emigrate on the one hand and to encourage people to return to their homelands on the other (Medzini & Lev Ari, 2018). This policy may become an alternative global model for mobility.
Mots clés : Forced migrants|punitive migration policy|Europe|Israel|border walls
A102861LL