JERUSALEM: Israel announced on Tuesday it has abandoned controversial plans to expel African migrants who entered the Jewish state illegally, after failing to find a country willing to host them. The plan had targeted some 42,000 migrants of Eritrean and Sudanese origin currently living in Israel and denied refugee status or asylum.

Government legal advisers informed the Supreme Court of the plan’s cancellation after certain unspecified countries refused to host the migrants, a government source said. “At this stage, the possibility of removal to a third country is no longer relevant,” the advisers said in a statement.

Migrants and aid workers have said Israel was negotiating with Rwanda and Uganda to accept the deportees. The deportation plan has attracted a wave of criticism, including from the UN refugee agency, Holocaust survivors, and parts of Israeli civil society.

The government originally announced a plan under which it would present migrants with $3,500 and the opportunity to leave on their own accord, or face indefinite imprisonment with eventual forced expulsion.

In early April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to cancel the plan, saying a new agreement with the UN would allow 16,000 migrants to be transferred to “developed countries like Canada, Germany or Italy”.

In exchange, Israel would give residency to an equal number of migrants. But the premier cancelled the plan several hours later, after caving to pressure from his right-wing base.

Some 200 migrants detained for refusing to leave Israel were released in mid-April following a Supreme Court ruling. Israel’s highest judicial authority had ordered their release because of the government’s inability to conclude an agreement with third-party host countries.

Human rights groups have long condemned Israel for its immigration policy and treatment of Africans seeking asylum. Most of the migrants arrived to Israel after 2007, mainly from the Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

Most of the migrants have settled in a number of poor neighbourhoods in Tel Aviv, the country’s economic capital.

Amnesty International welcomed the cancellation, but expressed concern government’s plan but voiced concern over the continued practise of “voluntary” expulsions.

“Israel is still conducting what it calls ‘voluntary’ deportations, though in reality there is nothing voluntary about them,” it said in a statement. “Israel remains under the obligation not to transfer anyone to a country where they would be at real risk of serious human rights violations,” it added.

Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2018