Ha'aretz

By Sharon Gal
Mar 28, 2001

Israel yesterday expelled the 15 Iraqi Kurds who crossed the Lebanese border
near Kibbutz Ma'ayan Baruch on Sunday, seeking refuge in Israel. The group of
three families, including children as young as 3 years old, left Iraq for Beirut
several years ago, but said they suffered economic hardship and discrimination
there.

The decision to expel the Kurds was made on Sunday, but was not
implemented due to the refusal of the United Nations and Red Cross to take
responsibility for them. They spent Sunday night at the Achziv field school,
guarded by military police. But Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer decided
yesterday afternoon to implement the expulsion, and the 15 Kurds were forced
to board a bus that took them to the Rosh Hanikra crossing, where they were
dropped off on the other side of the Lebanese border.

However, the Kurds refused to move from their drop-off point. "They refuse to
leave the place and move into Lebanese territory since they're afraid of the
Hezbollah," according to an Israeli military source.

The spokesman for UNIFIL, Timor Goksel, told Ha'aretz last night that soldiers
from the Fiji battalion, deployed in this area, provided humanitarian assistance
to the Kurdish families. "We gave them food and other supplies to help them
get through the night and in the morning we'll see what can be done," he said.

According to the UNIFIL spokesman, neither the Lebanese Army nor Hezbollah
forces have approached the area. As of last night, the Lebanese government
declined to intervene in the matter.
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