Despite statements to the contrary, the facility the government plans to build in the south for the purpose of housing asylum seekers will be a closed compound, a document prepared for the National Planning and Building Council and obtained by Haaretz reveals.
After the government decided in November to build the facility, an interministerial team, headed by the deputy director general of the Prime Minister's Office, was commissioned to submit recommendations on the matter.
The document, prepared by planning experts Shlomit Dotan-Gissen and Tomer Gothelf, indicates that the compound will be operated as a closed facility, though it will not resemble a prison, as it will be spacious and provide more amenities.
The document notes that the government had, indeed, resolved to set up an open facility. "However, the very fact that it is charging the Prison Service, which specializes in operating prisons, with running the facility indicates that the government intends to operate the facility as a closed compound, once the legislative amendments are complete," according to the document.
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