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Refugee flees Sudan for Israel, despite rumors
Sheera Claire Frenkel, THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 2, 2007
Anthony Peter, 36, fled his home in southern Sudan after losing his parents to the violence there. Carrying a single suitcase, he sought asylum in Egypt, where he hoped to create a new life for his family. Several weeks ago he snuck into Israel with his family.
"I would rather that the Israeli government shoot me here, in a clean, humane way, than send me back to Egypt. To send me, and my children, and my wife back there is to sentence us to a cruel and violent death," Peter said.
"I soon realized this was not possible. My life in Egypt was even more dangerous than my life in Sudan had been. Our lives were even more at risk and we were outsiders who everyone could identify and threaten." Peter said he had seen other Sudanese refugees beaten, raped, and killed by Nubian gangs operating in the refugee camps.
"I had to bribe them with a quarter of my wages each week to keep my family safe. I had to tell my wife and children to never leave the house, to always be afraid," he said.
Peter even tried to return to Sudan, but was turned away at the border.
"I quickly realized that this new place was even more dangerous than Sudan had been. But they would not let me return. They said that I had given up that option and was now a refugee in Egypt," he said.
So Peter decided to take a gamble on Israel, a place he had only heard of as a "land of Jews."
"The only thing I knew about Jews was what I heard about them in Egypt - that they were evil, that they drank blood and were killers and very cruel," said Peter. "I thought though, that the people telling me this were also killers, so why should I believe them?"
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