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NEW BOOK: THE HEROIC PERIOD OF THE JEWISH AGENCY'S ROLE IN THE 80S AND THE 90S 1987-1995 Andrea S. Arbel's Book Describes The Events Behind The Scene Of The Immigration Campaigns From The Disintegrating Soviet Union, The Salomon Airlift, Exposing Information That Was Classified Until Recently (Jerusalem: Gefen Publishing House, 2001) 296pp. A new book, Riding the Wave describes this dramatic chapter in Israeli history and reveals the heroic role, which the Jewish Agency played in this process. The book documents the human drama of how Jewish Agency emissaries planned and organized the mass immigration from USSR republics first through transit stations set up by Agency representatives, many of whom were former Army officers, and later by direct flights from exit stations on Former Soviet Union soil. The book also describes how Jewish Agency emissaries set up Jewish educational and cultural institutions in the midst of the turmoil of a collapsing Soviet Union. Author Andrea S. Arbel provides a detailed account of the behind the scenes negotiations between the Jewish agency and the Government of Israel, the US and Ethiopian Governments. Also, the work and coordination with the IDF, and NG organizations that carried out Operation Salomon. The book documented for example how the Jewish Agency operated in Adis Ababa, the largest Jewish school in the world. However, the book does not get into the absorption problems in Israel and other issues that triggered severe media criticism. Between the covers, one can also read on other immigrations from countries in trouble. Much of the information offered in Arbel's book were unknown so far and were only mentioned in whisper and in confidence. Thus, for instance, she talks about the immigrations from Syria and Yemen, of rescue missions under fire, from regions in armed struggle such as the former Yugoslavia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Sukhumi. Andrea S. Arbel was born in the US and studied journalism and political science at Northeastern University in Boston. She is an expert on the annals of the Jewish Agency and authored several books including the Reference guide to Resolutions of the Jewish Agency for Israel, 1971-1978 and the Handbook : Understanding the Jewish Agency. She lives in Israel with her husband and three children. |
