seni revlow

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Jewish Immigration to Israel falls sharply

PETER ENAV, Associated Press Writer Monday, June 23, 2003

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(06-23) 12:20 PDT JERUSALEM (AP) --

Immigration to Israel has fallen sharply this year, a Cabinet minister
said Monday, as the government took a step to try to reverse the trend
by reinstating housing grants for new arrivals.

Only 7,692 immigrants came to Israel during the first five months of
the year -- putting it on a trend for a yearlong total far below the
2002 total of 35,168 -- according to figures from the Ministry of
Immigrant Absorption.

Immigration is in a "tailspin," said the minister, Tzipi Livni. "It's
impossible to remain indifferent to what's going on." She said her
ministry needed to examine the attitudes of potential immigrants and
find ways to make Israel more attractive to them.

A main factor depressing immigration figures is nearly three years of
Palestinian-Israeli violence. Many potential immigrants have had
second thoughts because of the frequent images of terror attacks
inside Israel, and the unrest has contributed to a serious economic
recession with high unemployment.

In 2001, there were 44,633 new arrivals in Israel. During the peak
years of 1990 and 1991, almost 377,000 immigrants came to Israel, most
from the former Soviet Union.

"I fully believe that immigration will define the strength of the
state of Israel. We have to find out the reasons for what's happening
and focus our resources to bring in more immigrants."

Jewish immigration to Israel is the cornerstone of Zionism, the Jewish
national movement. About half the people living in Israel today were
born abroad.

Mike Rosenberg, director of the Jewish Agency, the body responsible
for bringing Jews to Israel, said that besides Israel's difficult
economic and security situations, administrative measures, like
cutting housing grants, have cut into immigration.

"Newspapers in countries like Argentina gave great prominence to the
mortgage cutbacks," he said.

On Monday, Israeli officials reinstated housing grants for immigrants
that had previously been cut, the prime minister's office said.

The government also set up a task force to "study the needs of
immigrants and propose an optimum package of benefits," the statement
said.


--
"Some events do take place but are not true; others are - although they never occurred."
Elie [the lying weasel] Wiesel in answer to a Reebe questioning his holocaust lies.