Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — The Israel Navy has been recruited to protect against
infiltration by African migrants.

Military sources said the General Staff has ordered the Navy to increase
patrols of the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea amid concern that African
migrants would try to infiltrate the Jewish state.

The sources said migrants from Eritrea and Sudan would search for other routes with the completion of a security barrier along the Israeli border with Egypt.

“No one is going to stop what is an extremely lucrative smuggling
business because of a fence,” a military source said. “The Africans will try to get here even if they have to swim.”

The sources said the Navy would use both manned and unmanned surface vessels along the coast of Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. They said the military envisioned several scenarios, including the use of rubber boats filled with African migrants leaving Sinai for either Israel or Jordan.

“These scenarios are very realistic and are seen in such places as
Greece and Turkey,” another military source said.

So far, Israel has completed about 90 percent of the 229-kilometer fence
along the Egyptian border. The five-meter barrier contains two layers of
barbed wire and is bolstered by radars and air surveillance.

  229-kilometer border fence, Israel Navy patrols block African migrants thwarted by security barrier, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula