"You never know who could be reading this and identify me," the well-groomed woman says fearfully in halting English. "The police could come and I could be deported."

Although Rosa, who is in her 50s but looks a decade younger, moved to Israel more than a year ago on a valid work visa, the elderly, sick man she was hired to care for died just a month after her arrival. Since then, she has been living the life of a fugitive.

In order to keep a low profile and avoid being picked up, Rosa works mostly after dark, cleaning houses and offices or caring for infants during the night. Because the police often make sweeps following church services, she sometimes does not go to church, despite the fact that she is a devout Christian. Due to constant threat, her parish priest often prays with his foreign parishioners by telephone.

As an illegal worker, Rosa is not entitled to health coverage. She has been able to sign up for a private health plan only because an Israeli she knows has co-signed as her employer. She cannot legally find another job because the law governing foreign workers does not permit them to move from one employer to another - even if the employer dies or is abusive.

Those who request new documents from the Ministry of the Interior, the agency that handles work permits and visas, risk imprisonment and eventual deportation.

"You have to understand that Israel cannot allow illegal workers to remain in Israel, not when 10 percent of Israelis are unemployed," says a government spokesman, defending the recent crackdown that has resulted in 1,500 deportations per month. "Of course," he adds, with a bit less bravado, "when a foreign worker's rights are abused, we take it seriously."

Foreign workers and the difficulties they face grabbed headlines this week after two Palestinian suicide bombers killed more than 20 civilians in south Tel Aviv, which is home to tens of thousands of the country's 250,000 to 300,000 foreign workers. Only 100,000 have valid visas.

Several of the dead and injured were foreign nationals working in Israel as caregivers, construction workers and in agriculture. Though many foreign workers have been killed and maimed in previous terror attacks, the most recent Tel Aviv blasts were a poignant reminder to Israelis that hundreds of thousands of non-citizens also risk their lives every time they ride a bus or buy some vegetables at an outdoor market.

The local media seized on the fact that some of the survivors refused to go to the hospital out of fear of being deported, despite having sustained serious injuries. It was not until government officials tried to assure the workers - through televised messages in English - that they would not be in danger, that the foreigners and their loved ones sought assistance.

Live news broadcasts from Tel Aviv hospitals showed victims, many of them clearly from Africa or Asia, bleeding and helpless. Unable to speak Hebrew and without the family and support network native Israelis take for granted, these foreigners appeared even more vulnerable than other terror victims. That they also feared deportation on top of all that caused an uproar, spawning testy editorials and in-depth features.

Shevy Korzen, a volunteer at the Hotline for Migrant Workers, estimates that 70 percent of the country's foreign workers arrived in the country legally, and blames the government for much of their plight.

"Many of them lost their legal status through no fault of their own," Korzen says. "Either they left their jobs after their employers refused to pay them, or because they were being paid a lot less than the minimum wage [about $600 per month]."

Whereas many other countries permit foreign workers to change jobs without penalty, that is not the case here. "Israel has a binding system where a worker's visa is specific to his employer. If he leaves, even if his rights were gravely violated, he becomes an illegal alien and can be expelled at any time."

Rather than penalize employers who violate the country's stringent employment laws, Korzen asserts, "the authorities mostly choose to prosecute the workers. The workers see police breaking into their houses, sometimes violently, arresting them and their families, sometimes in the middle of the night. It's no wonder they were afraid to go to the hospital after the attack."

Hana Zohar, who heads the Kav Haoved Hotline for foreign workers, says that employers often confiscate the foreigners' passports and refuse to return them.

"This very moment there is a Chinese construction worker sitting at my desk," Zohar says by telephone from Tel Aviv. "He's ill and wants to return to China but doesn't have his passport."

When Zohar called the man's original employer who, the worker says, did not pay his wages, "the contractor said, 'He can die 500 times for all I care. He left and I don't owe him anything.' Israeli employers think they're above the law because the police don't prosecute them."

Korzen relates an even more heart-wrenching story - a story the Immigration Police dispute.

According to Korzen, "just three days ago police broke into a house in south Tel Aviv and arrested two people, a husband and wife from Nigeria. The wife had given birth to a baby girl just six weeks ago and was still nursing the baby."

When the officers decided to take the couple into custody, she continues, "they begged the police to allow one of them to stay, the police said there is no baby. If there were a baby she would be with you in your bed. They refused to check the other room and arrested the parents."
Korzen says that the police refused to intervene even though "the mother's shirt was wet with breast milk. Hearing the baby screaming, a neighbor took her in. It was only after the Nigerian counsel intervened did the police let the mother go - nine hours later."

"Lies, lies, lies," retorts Ofer Lessler, a spokesman for the Immigration Police. "This is something based on a different incident back in September. They tell this story morning, noon and night but it never happened."

Five minutes later Lessler calls back. "I double-checked and learned that last week a Nigerian woman was arrested. She told the police she was alone in Israel, that she had neither a husband nor children. A few hours after she was placed into custody a woman, some family member, called and said she was caring for the arrested woman's baby. We checked the story and then released her."

A spokesman for the Nigerian consul confirmed Korzen's account and added that a representative from the Immigration Police paid him a visit and apologized for the visit.

While human-rights activists and government officials exchange barbs, neither denies many foreign workers are indeed in a bind.

"Every worker who came here paid a middleman," says Korzen. "Chinese workers pay between $8,000 and $10,000. They're promised two years of work figuring they can earn back the money in a year and save the rest as profit. But once they arrive there's often no job. They need to leave to go out into the open job market."

If it were up to Korzen and many others, the country would prohibit the entry of new workers and give amnesty to those already here.

"It's the right and fair thing to do," she says.

While many foreign workers obviously cannot leave Israel until their debts are paid, others cling to the country long after they have resolved their overdrafts.

"Why do I want to stay?" asks Lora, a Filipina caregiver, clearly puzzled by the question. "I'm working to build a house back home. I could never earn this kind of money - $700 per month plus a small weekly allowance - back in the Philippines."

In addition to the money, Lora (also a pseudonym) is also drawn by the people.

"Israelis have a reputation as good and fair employers, and I've found that to be true," she says. "Most important, this is the Holy Land, the land where Jesus was born. I feel at home here," she says.

As for terrorism, "there's not much I can do," Lora says. "I ride the buses because taxis are too expensive. In the end, I do what the Israelis do. I trust in God to keep me safe."