Rifman: Let them build it in Tel Aviv
Photo: Adva Loyd
1,300 infiltrators in November
Photo: AP
Ramat Negev Council rejects migrant facility
Council chairman demands open facility planned to house African border infiltrators in his area be closed off. 'I don't want 5,000 migrants walking around my council. It will cause quality of life to slide,' he writes to Netanyahu
The government is set to discuss Sunday the establishment of an open facility to absorb the African migrants caught infiltrating the border between Israel and Egypt, but the Ramat Negev Council was already voicing its opposition on Thursday.
"I refuse to have an open facility here," said Council Chairman Shmulik Rifman. He warned of diseases brought by the migrants and remarked, "An open facility? You can build it in Tel Aviv."
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In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Rifman wrote, "I don't want 5,000 migrant workers walking around my council. It will cause the quality of life to slide and crime levels to rise. The council will cooperate with the Defense Ministry in planning the facility but will not permit it to open if it is not closed."
The facility, which is scheduled to be finished within six months, is intended to provide the migrants with basic needs – beds, food, and health services. Under the authority of the Defense Ministry, it is to be maintained by the Prison Service.
"The open facility will not limit the movement of the infiltrators," the proposal for the facility says.
But Rifman warned the migrants would pass on diseases like tuberculosis, endangering public health. "You need a high-level medical facility to take care of them properly," he said. "This thing will be like a city."
Meanwhile, construction on an advanced border fence and a government search for countries willing to take the migrants in continues.
On Tuesday alone, 188 people passed illegally from Egypt to Israel. A steady rise in the number of border infiltrators has been recorded in the past year, with an average of 1,200 per month in 2010. In November alone, 1,300 migrants crossed illegally.
"I support the establishment of a facility for one reason – in 2010, until four days ago, more than 11,000 people came into Israel from Egypt," Rifman wrote.
"This is Israel's next social time bomb. In Egypt there are more than a million migrants just waiting to come to the Holy Land. It's not bad here, all in all. The wages are good. This must be prevented at all costs. I demand a closed facility because they need to be disconnected from the cheap job market in Tel Aviv and other places."
Yael Branovsky contributed to this report
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