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By Llanesca T. Panti, Reporter
No Filipinos were evacuated from the Gaza Strip on Monday, as
fighting intensified when Israeli forces drove even deeper into the
Palestinian territory, an official said.
Initially, 66 Filipinos were to be fetched at
Gaza City and were to be bused to Jordan, where a plane would have
taken them back to the Manila.
But later on Monday, the number went down to 13,
then to only six and finally to zero.
Esteban Conejos, Foreign Affairs undersecretary
for Migrant Workers Affairs, said the repatriation was set for 2
p.m. Monday. Officials are to make another evacuation attempt today
and possibly Wednesday, apparently the last day the flight is
available this week, he added.
There are 108 Filipinos in Gaza—not 121 as
earlier reported—and most of them are married to Palestinians. As
many as 70 had initially “agreed” to be evacuated, before
backing out, Conejos said.
Philippine authorities submitted the list of 128
Filipinos to Israeli authorities for clearance to leave the conflict
area on December 28, a day after the violence broke out, he said.
The list included the Palestinian husbands of the Filipinos, the
official added.
But on Monday, The Manila Times quoted Vice
President Noli de Castro as saying that the spouses of Filipinos are
not included in the evacuation plan.
Free to decide
“We are not forcing them [Filipinos] to move
out,” Conejos said. “We are just giving them the opportunity.
The final decision to join aboard is for them to make.”
He noted that several Filipinos probably decided
to stay behind, because they could not leave their husbands. Conejos
added that leaving for the Philippines would also disrupt the
schooling of their children.
He also said some in the group were reluctant to
leave for fear of getting caught in the crossfire after Israeli
ground troops began pouring into Gaza.
“We have to understand that these Filipinos
are not migrant workers,” Conejos said. “They have established
their roots in Gaza and have stayed there for the last 15 to 20
years. If they feel that they could be safer there, we will respect
it.”
Even though other evacuation attempts are in the
works, Conejos warned that the execution of those plans are
contingent on the security situation on the ground.
“The situation is very fluid at this point,”
he added. “Our priority is the safety of our countrymen, and we
cannot move them if it is not safe.”
Planned exit
If the evacuation pushes through, the Filipinos
would ride an approximately nine-hour bus ride from Erezt, on the
border of Israel and Gaza, to Allenby-King Hussein bridge on the
Israeli-Jordanian border, then to Amman, the capital of Jordan. From
there, the Filipinos would have to immediately board a Jordanian
Airlines flight to Manila.
“Jordan only agreed to be the transit point,
not as a refugee camp,” Conejos said, adding that the Philippines
has been receiving assistance from the Red Cross and from the
International Organization for Migration.
He reiterated that the Philippine government is
capable of implementing the evacuation scheme and is prepared
financially.
“Our embassies [in Tel-Aviv and Amman] are
ready for the operation,” he said. “In fact, we have also booked
flights for them [Filipinos from Gaza] on Tuesday and Wednesday,
since the evacuation will really depend on the situation there. We
hope that the repatriation will materialize soon.”
Warning not heeded
Conejos said the Philippine government had urged
Filipinos in the Gaza Strip to leave the place as early as November
2007.
But the Filipinos in Gaza were not interested,
especially when the ceasefire was implemented in June 2008, he
added. “We told them to leave the place before it’s too late.
Their tickets were ready.”
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has
already called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the de
facto government of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas, which controls majority of the
Palestinian parliament, is considered a terrorist organization by
the United States and several other countries.
“The escalation [of violence] and suffering of
civilians are deeply alarming,” Ban said also on Monday in a
statement. “There is an urgent need for Israelis and Palestinians
to continue on the road to peace.”
Filipinos in Israel
Ninety percent of Filipinos living in Israel are
in safe places, the Ambassador of Israel to the Philippines said on
Monday, adding that they are also doing their best to secure the
safety of the Filipinos caught in war-battered Gaza in the Middle
East.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel is
working hand in hand with your ambassador, Ambassador [Petronila]
Garcia,” Ambassador Zvi Vapni said during a radio interview on
dzBB.
“She is doing her best to help them and we are
also doing our best to help them and move them to Jordan and from
there back home,” he said.
Vapni said thousands of Israelis affected by the
conflict in Gaza Strip and most probably some of the Filipinos
living there in Israel are now at the safe areas.
“As of the moment, 900,000 Israelis are now in
a special regime, which means each time they hear the siren they
have to go in a specially built safe room or shelter,” he said.
“Their life is limited. They cannot go in
public places,” he added. “They cannot convene outside.”
Based on their estimates, there are at least
60,000 Filipinos living in the Israel and 90 percent of them are in
the safe places.
“Most of them [Filipinos] who are in danger
are probably joining the families they are with in the safe room or
shelter,” he said.
-- With Cris G. Odronia And AFP
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