Wow - who knew??

A less-mobile Bedouin village in the Sinai Desert, Egypt

A (tiny) Bedouin caravan, taken from our tour bus,

looks like it may have tourists with it

I just finished reading an article that inspired further research on trafficking in Israel. Having just been there my interest is piqued, and I discovered that Israel is a major human trafficking destination, mostly from Eastern European countries. Many women, trying to escape the harsh conditions of their homeland, think they are coming to the "Holy Land" for work and a better life. They are marched through miles and miles of the Egyptian desert (in the pic above!) and enter Israel through that low-security Eilat border on the Red Sea. Bedouins, the desert dwellers, traffic women as well.


I'm kind of shocked; as much as I've read I haven't really come across Israel as a hotspot. Apparently they were only recently removed from the U.S. State Department's black list of countries who allow trafficking by starting to prosecute some of the offenders.

In 2005, NGOs estimated that of the 200,000 foreign workers in Israel, 20% are trafficking victims. Amnesty International has estimated that there are 3,000 women in Israel involved in trafficking rings, many of whom are subject to extreme violence.

While trafficking in and through Israel is a growing problem, they are also starting to see Israeli women being trafficked abroad for the first time. The government has started to step up and put some laws in place, but this remains a large stopping point on trafficking highways as well as a final destination and a beginning point for victims.

There are pages and pages of articles and information about Israel and trafficking. I'm kind of sickened. But why not? It's everywhere else, I shouldn't be surprised. I guess being there for tourism purposes, not only do you miss out on a lot of the racial tensions that are obvious to insiders, but you miss out on the criminal patterns as well.

UGH!!!!!