Israeli government to build complex for illegal immigrants in desert
The main item on the agenda that Netanyahu brought to the cabinet meeting was the construction in the Negev desert in the south of the country of a special center for illegal immigrants from Africa who daily infiltrate Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. The government voted overwhelmingly in favor of building such a complex.
According to data from the Israeli Ministry of Internal Security, provided in response to a request from Vremya Novostei, there are currently about 30,000 illegal immigrants from African countries in the Jewish state. To this must be added about 20,000 African refugees who arrived in Israel hoping to receive political asylum here. About one and a half thousand of them are refugees from the Sudanese province of Darfur.
They all enter Israel, as a rule, through Egyptian territory, taking advantage of the fact that in the desert area the border between the two countries is virtually unguarded. This prompted the Israelis to decide to build a special fence along the 250-kilometer border. Currently, work on building the fence on the Israeli-Egyptian border has just begun, and the only obstacles for illegal immigrants trying to infiltrate Israel are Israeli army patrols and Egyptian border guards, who have orders from Cairo to open fire to kill on violators from the Egyptian side. Nevertheless, many residents of African states – Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Nigeria – continue to seek happiness in the promised land.
Just since the beginning of this year, according to official data, 13,000 people have illegally entered the Jewish state. To get to Israel, they have to pay intermediaries thousands of dollars. Then, after finding work, they first repay the debt, and only then begin to work for their families. Basically, these people seek to get into large cities and tourist centers of Israel. Until 2009, Israeli law prohibited them from settling in the center of the country, and they were forced to look for work on the periphery.
More than others, this was experienced by the residents of the southern Israeli city of Arad, located near the Dead Sea. In an interview with VN, the press secretary of the Arad municipality, Vlad Sandlersky, noted: 'At its peak, the community of illegal immigrants from Africa in Arad numbered 1,200 people. For a small town with a population of only 25,000, this was quite noticeable. The crime situation in the city worsened. However, after the cancellation of the government decree banning the settlement of these people in the central part of the country, their number in our city has more than halved. They left to seek happiness in the center.'
The author of these lines drives through the southern districts of Tel Aviv every morning, which are predominantly inhabited by the poor. Illegal immigrants, renting apartments here at prices they can afford, have organized entire labor exchanges right on the streets. If you want to hire cheap laborers, you just need to come here at any time of day. However, about twenty years ago the picture was about the same, only instead of illegal immigrants from Africa, new repatriates from the former USSR served as laborers.
Recently, the number of crimes committed by illegal immigrants in the same South Tel Aviv has increased. In an interview with a correspondent, an Israeli police officer said: 'You don't need to be Einstein to understand that these people, gathering together, not always having the opportunity for permanent income, can pose a threat to society.' In addition, real criminals also try to escape from local justice to Israel. According to the same source, an illegal immigrant from Nigeria was recently arrested here. In his home country, he is suspected of committing at least 12 murders.
The Israeli government's decree is intended to solve all these problems. True, the purpose of the so-called center for illegal immigrants is controversial. By the word 'center,' the Israeli prime minister means a residential complex for 10,000 people with medical care, lodging, and normal food. People will stay there until the Israeli authorities decide on their status: whom to grant a work permit, and whom to send back or redirect to third countries.
Netanyahu is doing his best to avoid the word 'camp' in relation to this facility – associations with displaced persons camps where European Jews were held after World War II would be too obvious. However, according to the government's initiative, management of the complex will be entrusted to the Israel Prison Service, which effectively turns it into a big prison for illegal immigrants.
Dmitry DUBOV.
