A call for help from new arrivals

A HUMANITARIAN initiative to resettle Darfuri refugees could come about from new links between the fledgling Australian Darfuri community and the local Jewish community.

A dialogue has emerged between the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV) and leaders of Melbourne’s Darfuri community. As well as coming to Australia, a large number of Darfuri families fled to the more proximate safe haven of Israel.

Local community leader Abdelhadi Matar told The AJN this week he will request that the two communities pursue diplomatic channels to try and resettle Israel’s 1500 Darfuris, who are mostly from a Muslim background, in other countries.

JCCV president John Searle has since raised the plight with Australia’s Deputy Ambassador to Israel, Meir Itzchaki, who reportedly responded positively.

Searle told The AJN the Darfuris’ new lives in Israel stand in stark contrast to “horror stories” they have told of their experiences in Sudan, and when they tried to settle in Arab countries. Matar, a former president of the Darfuri community in Australia, emphasised this point, but added it is not the right place for his countrymen to settle long term. “The Israeli Government did very well. [The adults] have been given job permits and the kids have been placed in schools. But we want a lasting solution that’s good for the refugees and good for the Israeli Government.

“Israel has received a lot of refugees from different countries … and I think this could cause a problem, and we don’t want Darfuris to become part of this problem.”

Matar said he will formally propose to Australia’s Jewish community to urge Israel to refer its Darfuri refugees to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, for their long-term resettlement outside Africa.

Searle said that once the JCCV receives a proposal from the Darfuris, it is likely to refer it to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.

Australia’s Darfuri community, which numbers around 2000, already has ties to Jewish Aid Australia and links with Jewish Labor MP Michael Danby, Matar noted.

He said he regards the Australian Jewish community as “a model community, well established, well networked and they have vision”.

PETER KOHN AND NAOMI LEVIN

Image: Displaced people in Darfur.