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Israel Takes in 100 Syrian Orphans under U.N. Conditions | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Syrian children walk amid tents at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan AFP/Getty Images


Tel Aviv- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Arye Deri have agreed to grant asylum to 100 Syrian orphans and provide them with housing and education hours after deciding to revoke the residency status of 11 Palestinians.

Israel will coordinate the arrival of children with the United Nations, a source said.

According to the source, there is a plan to admit the children to Israeli boarding schools and to accommodate them in the occupied Golan Heights or in Arab towns in Israel.

The children will be brought to Israel with temporary residency status, said the source. That status will allow them to receive Israeli identification cards, however it will not immediately qualify them for national passports.

Under the initiative, the state plans to inform the United Nations that after four years of residency in the country, the children will become eligible for permanent residency status, authorizing their indefinite legal stay in Israel.

Since 2013, Israel has allowed around 3,000 Syrians in for medical care. The majority of the wounded Syrians have been civilians. They usually return home after the end of their recuperation period.

Israel’s decision to take in the Syrian children came as Netanyahu and Deri began the process of revoking the residency status of the family of Palestinian Fadi al-Qunbar who rammed a truck into a group of soldiers in Jerusalem two weeks ago.

However, it is not yet known whether the residencies of al-Qunbar’s nephews (ages five and eight) would also be revoked.

According to Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority, the family members’ presence in Israeli would be considered illegal as soon as the residencies have been revoked.

It is not yet clear how they will be deported. Some rightists have suggested that they be sent to Syria.