 |
 |
Israel commemorates International Refugee Day |
| By: Israel Insider staff |
| Published: July 15, 2007 |
| |
Hundreds of African refugees will live in the Ketziot Prison in the Negev until a new "hospitality facility," being built next to the prison, is completed in two weeks.
Last week Minister of Public Security Avi Dichter announced that the state intended to build a "campsite" where refugees can be held and families can stay together until they are deported.
According to officials Saturday, even though the refugees will be held in a prison, it will not appear to be so. The refugees will not come into contact with prisoners, and will not go through head-counts or searches. Women and children will be placed in air-conditioned trailers and men will be places in a separate wing. The prison has said it is ready for 300 refugees as of Sunday.
After the hospitality facility is completed, the families can move in there and be reunited. This new facility with be able to house 1,000 refugees awaiting their deportation.
The Ramat Hanegev Regional Council, under whose jurisdiction the hospitality facility will fall, objects to the project.
"The decision to erect the refugee camp in the Ketziot area is a continuation of the trend according to which everything that is not wanted in the center of the country is 'dumped' in the Negev far from the eye and far from the center," wrote council head Shmulik Rifman in a letter to Dichter, saying he would attempt to stop the construction. |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
