Due to the unbearable congestion and overcrowding, a number of young Eritreans have recently decided to convert a playground into a makeshift bedroom. It takes some time to get used to the surge of creativity witnessed in Levinsky Park, which is located a few steps away from the old central station in south Tel Aviv. On one of the slides, two mattresses have been laid, side by side. Next to another play facility, a trim little tent has been set up, inside of which some other youths find shelter when night falls. On the surrounding well-tended lawn area, hundreds of illegal migrants from Africa gather every night to prepare themselves for another night's sleep under the open sky.

The longtime residents of south Tel Aviv cannot call to mind ever being faced with a crazy reality such as this, where entire neighborhoods have been “conquered,” as they put it, by thousands of illegal asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and job-seekers from Africa.

According to the official data released by the Israeli Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration, as of April 2012, some 60,000 asylum seekers entered Israel, 90% of them Eritreans and Sudanese. It further emerges from the data that most of the illegal migrants managed to settle in Tel Aviv with the hope that in the big city, they would be able to build a new life for themselves alongside other illegal migrants.

At night, when most businesses in Tel Aviv have shut down for the day, the neighborhoods of these African migrants are just coming to life. The lights are on; the shops are open; peddlers are standing by their merchandise, which is placed on carpets on the street side. Thousands of people march up and down the street, as if in a festive happening. Hebrew is considered a foreign language here, and on many of the balconies “for sale” and “for hire” signs are hanging.