Date of Submission
Summer 6-13-2016
Department
Political Science
Faculty Advisor
Elman, Miriam
Keywords
Israel, Refugee, Asylum
Subject Categories
International Relations | Near and Middle Eastern Studies | Other Political Science
Abstract
This paper will explore the Israeli asylum regime and its development since the state’s inception and will discuss the rationales and motives behind national policy and public perception of asylum seekers. Over the last decade, Israel’s asylum regime has been significantly upgraded to meet the growing needs of the state to manage an unprecedented flow of asylum seekers entering into the country. Upon arriving in Israel, however, asylum seekers have found a state that is reluctant to take them in and a citizenry unwelcoming to outsiders perceived as a divisive “other.” This “otherness” is perceived as a danger to many in Israeli society, who bear concerns that, as a fact of their “otherness,” asylum seekers threaten to alter the social and political dynamic of a state that is still young and working to ameliorate a number of national issues. The paper will analyze this perception and discuss how it has influenced the development of the asylum regime. The first section provides an overview of the international asylum regime in order to contextualize the history and events in Israel. The second section provides a history and analysis of the development of the Israeli asylum regime from its earliest days to the present, highlighting key factors and events that have impacted the growth of the regime. The third section discusses a number of influential facets of Israeli society that impact Israel’s approach to and perspective of refugees. The final section offers conclusions on how the Israeli asylum regime may move forward, extrapolates the case of Israel to a global context, and suggests possible paths for future research.
Recommended Citation
Kimelman, David, "Welcoming the Stranger: African Refugees and Israel’s Asylum Regime" (2016). Maxwell School – Distinction Theses (Undergraduate). 5.
https://surface.syr.edu/distinction/5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Included in
International Relations Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons, Other Political Science Commons