The government plans to invest 28 million shekels ($7.7 million) over three years in social and community assistance to the neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv and Eilat, according to a decision due to be presented to cabinet ministers for approval on Monday.
In addition to the infusion of government funds, a committee of directors general of several government ministries is scheduled to evaluate how to provide assistance to other areas where there are large concentrations of illegal African migrants.
The large number of African migrants in south Tel Aviv has for years been a sore point for Israeli residents of those neighborhoods, which were already neglected and relatively impoverished compared to the more prosperous parts of Israel's cultural capital.
Residents complain that the migrants' presence is harming their quality of life and led to a spike in violent crime. Grassroots activist movements have sprung up to pressure the government to take action and deport the Africans. These groups have been countered by other local organizations that are advocating for co-existence and protesting government efforts to deport the migrants either back to their countries of origin (mostly Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Sudan) or to a third country, and are urging the government to invest in the disadvantaged neighborhoods without deporting the African nationals.
The migrants, meanwhile, who generally claim that they are in Israel as refugees rather than as labor seekers – as the government claims – hold regular protests against plans to deport them or to offer them incentives to leave voluntarily.
According to material submitted to cabinet ministers ahead of the expected decision to declare south Tel Aviv and Eilat areas of national priority, some 95,000 illegal migrants are living in Israel today, not including Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza.
The material includes data on the extent of illegal migration into Israel over the past decade, and the damage it has caused to the residents of areas where the illegal migrants are concentrated.
Before Israel finished constructing its security fence, some 64,000 illegal migrants entered the country on foot from Egypt. Tens of thousands of others entered Israel on work or tourist visas and remained after their permits expired. The figures presented to the cabinet ministers say that some 37,000 of the over 95,000 illegal migrants in Israel live in south Tel Aviv, comprising some 62% of the population of neighborhoods in the south of the city. Over 3,000 illegal migrants are currently living in Eilat out of a total population of some 50,000.
