- "...Jewish immigration to Israel is the cornerstone
of Zionism, the Jewish national movement. The late prime minister, Yitzhak
Rabin, once described Jews who emigrated as the 'lowliest of parasites'."
-
- JERUSALEM -- Alarm over emigration
levels is growing among Israel's political leadership as the country's
Jews - many of them recent immigrants - seek to escape the violence of
the second intifada and recession.
-
- The government wants to bring another million Jews to
Israel by 2010. Yet figures released by the absorption ministry, responsible
for helping new immigrants, have revealed that an estimated 760,000 Israelis
are living abroad, up from 550,000 in 2000.
-
- Only 23,000 people are expected to move to the Holy Land
this year, the lowest figure since 1989. Tzipi Livni, the absorption minister,
has described immigration as being in a "tailspin".
-
- Christine Shalev, 36, who has a three-year-old daughter,
took the decision to join the exodus when her best friend left for Canada
two months ago.
-
- "Israel is falling apart and enough is enough,"
said Ms Shalev, who works for a delivery service in Tel Aviv. "I feel
trapped here but I hope in Canada I can find my freedom."
-
- Some Israeli politicians are keen to boost the Jewish
population to underpin their claim for more land. Yet interior ministry
figures show that a quarter of the Americans who have come to Israel since
1989 have left.
-
- On internet bulletin boards such as Janglo, aimed at
English speakers in Jerusalem, many emigrants are selling off possessions
before they leave the country. Demographers have warned that at the present
rate, Jews will become a minority in Israel and the occupied territories
within 20 years.
-
- Michael Jankelowitz, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency,
a government body responsible for bringing Jews to Israel, admits the scale
of the challenge facing the government.
-
- "There is big concern about what is happening,"
he said. "This is why finding a peaceful resolution is so important.
At the moment people do not see a solution and this is the tragedy. The
insecurity drives them crazy. It's like Russian roulette - you don't know
when it is going to hit you."
-
- Emigrants are reluctant to talk about their departure
because Jewish immigration to Israel is the cornerstone of Zionism, the
Jewish national movement. The late prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, once
described Jews who emigrated as the "lowliest of parasites".
-
- Many families head for Canada. So far 6,000 Israelis
have moved there this year, double last year's total. One couple, who did
not wish to be identified, are leaving even though they only returned to
Israel in June after three years in New York. Third-generation, university-educated
Israelis, their grandparents were pioneers in building the state.
-
- "I feel betrayed," said Hila, 37, whose husband,
Dror, is also 37. "I don't want to raise my children in such a brutal
society... My grandparents had such high ideals. What has become of Israel
makes me so sad and bitter."
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/30/w
mid30.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/11/30/ixnewstop.html
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