Israel abandons plan to forcibly deport African migrants

The Israeli government saidon Tuesday it was abandoning a plan to forcibly deport Africanmigrants who had entered the country illegally.

The government had been working for months on an arrangementto expel thousands of mostly Eritrean and Sudanese men whocrossed into Israel through Egypt's Sinai desert.

"At this stage, the possibility of carrying out an unwillingdeportation to a third country is not on the agenda," the government wrote in a written response to the Supreme Court.

The migrants, it said, will again be able to renew residencypermits every 60 days, as they were before the deportation push.

The migrants and rights groups say they are seeking asylumand are fleeing war and persecution. The government says theyare job seekers and that it has every right to protect itsborders.

Around 4,000 migrants have left Israel for Rwanda and Ugandasince 2013 under a voluntary program, but Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu has come under pressure from his right-wingvoter base to expel thousands more.

Netanyahuearlier this month announced an agreement with the UN's refugee agencyUNHCRto relocate thousands of African migrants to Western countries "likeCanada, Italy and Germany," only to put the plan on hold hours later until it could be reviewed further.

Canada had not madeany formal commitment to accept some of those deportees but Jean-NicolasBeuze, theUNHCRrepresentative in Ottawa,said it was "being discussed."

After leaving theUN-backed relocation plan,Israel shifted efforts towardfinalizing an arrangement to sendthe migrants against their will to Uganda.

A number of migrant rights groups petitioned the SupremeCourt to block any such policy.