A rights group said Wednesday that thousands of asylum seekers could be affected by a new ruling banning them from working in the southern resort of Eilat.
About 60 asylum seekers, most from Africa, received an Israeli government decree this week ordering them to stop working in Eilat. A previous order forbids them from working in most of the rest of the country.
Sigal Rozen of the Hotline for Migrant Workers group said as a result, the workers were fired. She said the decision would apply to 11,000 asylum seekers, including 1,000 children, around the country. About 2,000 live in Eilat.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sabin Hadad said Wednesday that the ban followed complaints from residents that asylum seekers were taking jobs from locals and disrupting the city.
In a statement, Hadad said that thousands of illegal immigrants seeking work had gathered in Eilat in recent months. She said they were not refugees from Darfur, who receive temporary residency permits.
Rozen complained that Israel does not have a fixed procedure for asylum seekers to apply for refugee status, giving government officials the power to decide cases with no guidelines.
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