1. From right to left: Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor & Treasurer Chaim Chesler present Haim & Edna Avraham, the parents of Benny Avraham who was kidnapped by Hizbollah on October 7, 2000 with a copy of the special passover seder prayer for the safety of Israel's POW's and MIA's (Photo credit: Guy Assayag, Israel Sun)

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In preparation for Pesach, the Jewish Agency for Israel and World Zionist Organization have initiated a special world-wide solidarity Pesach campaign on behalf of Israel's POW's and MIA's.

Leaders of the Jewish Agency and WZO have appealed to all Jewish household in Israel and throughout the world to set one symbolic place at the Seder table in honor of the Israelis who have fallen into captivity and for those Israeli soldiers missing in action.

On the eve of Pesach, a special prayer for the safety of the POW's and MIA's will be distributed as an insert in the Israeli daily newspaper Ma'ariv. Similarly, the prayer will be distributed in Hebrew with and English translation by the Jerusalem Post to all its subscribers both in Israel and around the world.

Every Jewish household is called to recite the prayer during the reading of the Haggadah, after the Halachma-anyah paragraph, in order to place during this holiday, the issue of the release of POW's and MIA's, at the top of the Jewish agenda worldwide.

While the IDF and PA continued this week to exchange gunfire in various locations, and two more soldiers were killed in the exchanges-efforts were also being made to renew the talks and security coordination, in a series of meetings between Israeli representatives and senior PA officials.

An IDF reserve soldier, First Sergeant Ya'akov Krontzel (23) from Nahariya, was killed in a gun battle near the village of Salem, in the Alon Moreh region. IDF soldier, Sergeant Donny Derai (19) from Arad, was killed by a sniper's bullet near Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. The IDF retaliated with heavy fire against Palestinian posts in the area, and in Rafiah, IDF Air Force helicopters shot missiles at the car of Islamic Jihad activist, Mahmud El-Aal, killing him on the spot. Prior to this, seventeen members of the PA "Force 17" were captured from within "Region A" just north of Ramallah.

St. Sgt. Ya'acov Krenschel (zl)

Sgt. Danny Derei (zl)

In another incident, a baby from the settlement of Atzmona in Gush Katif, Ariel Yered (15 months old), was critically injured by mortar shell firing at the settlement. One of the shells exploded in the yard of the Yered home, and shrapnel penetrated the baby's head and body. In response, the IDF directed helicopter fire and anti-tank missiles against headquarters and bases of the Palestinian security forces in the Gaza Strip. Sources in Gaza reported at least fifty injured in the raid.

At the end of the week five IDF soldiers were killed when the armored personnel carrier they were riding in overturned near the settlement of Pnei Hever south of Hebron. The dead are: First Sergeant Idan Brody (20) from Rishon Lezion, Sergeant Ido Karni (20) from Kibbutz Amir, Sergeant Ya'akov Bardugo (19) from Hadera, Corporal Elyasif Borosh (18) from Rananna, and Sergeant Ido Klein (19) from Yehud.

Parallel to these incidences, efforts were underway this week to renew diplomatic talks and security coordination. In Athens, foreign Minister Shimon Peres met with PA officials Nabil Sha'ath and Sahib Arikat. Peres stressed the importance of halting the violence as the basis for renewing the diplomatic negotiations, while the Palestinians demanded a freezing on building in the settlements. They also demanded that the negotiations be restarted from the point where they were broken off with the Barak government, and Peres suggested beginning the talks without preconditions.

Omri Sharon, the prime minister's son, met previously with Yasser Arafat-and another meeting was held between the chairman of the PA and three MKs: Zahava Galon, Naomi Hazan and Colette Avital. Arafat reported that she delivered a message to Arafat from Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer. An additional meeting took place between senior Israeli and PA security officials in an effort to renew security coordination between them that was broken off about a month ago. The meeting was held in Israel, with representatives of the CIA serving in an observer capacity. Israel demanded that the Palestinians renew their efforts to prevent terror attacks, while the Palestinians demanded an end to the closure and a withdrawal of forces to where they were prior to the outbreak of the Intifada.

Senior officers in the Presidential Guard / Force 17, which serves as the security force for PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and government institutions, are involved in extensive terrorist activity, with the knowledge of Arafat and the Palestinian political and security leadership, against Israeli targets in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza District.

During the Al Aqsa Intifada, the Presidential Guard in Judea and Samaria was and remains involved in directing and perpetrating attacks (shooting and roadside bombs) against Israeli targets (in the Gaza district - settlements also hit by mortar shells). In mid-March a terrorist organization was exposed in the Ramallah district run by the head of Arafat's Presidential Guard / Force 17 in Ramallah, Mahmoud Damra, who chose the targets for the attacks and supplied the weapons from his unit's arsenal. A short time before the attacks, members of the cells set out to collect information on traffic patterns on roads in the area.

This terrorist organization is responsible for the death of 8 Israelis in shooting attacks from ambushes along roads in Judea and Samaria, and for planning bombings in Jerusalem. This particular group of terrorists is responsible for at least 25 shooting attacks on Israeli vehicles on the Modi'in-Jerusalem highway, at Jerusalem's French Hill neighborhood and on by-pass roads in Judea and Samaria. Members of this group also shot at the settlement of Psagot and operated in the Nablus and Jenin areas.

• $ 13,000 - Jewish Agency allocation for the year 2000 to Institute for Ethics in Economics - "In the Marketplace" Project within the framework of projects that foster "Unity, Tolerance and Mutual Respect."

• $ 16,000 - Jewish Agency allocation for the year 2000 to Hymie Moross JCC Tours for Blind Youth Project within the framework of support of "Special Needs Populations."

• $ 16,000 - Jewish Agency allocation for the year 2000 to Massua Project "to Revive the Lost Jewish World" within the framework of allocations "Enhancing Jewish Identity for Israelis."

• 11,546 Olim arrived in Israel since the beginning of 2001. 8,487 are from the FSU.

Since the city was reunited in June 1967, Jerusalem has been a powerful magnet for olim. During the 1980's, 17% of all olim chose to live in Jerusalem compared with 8% in Tel Aviv and just 4% in Haifa. Most of the olim who settled in the city during this period were religious Zionists from the west (Western Europe and the US), whose decision to make aliyah and settle in the Holy City of Jerusalem was in many cases backed by ideological motives.

During the 1990's however, with the large waves of aliyah from the FSU, Jerusalem lost its pride of place, and there was a marked decline in its attraction for olim, compared with an increase in the pull of Tel Aviv and Haifa. Just 7% of all olim settled in Jerusalem during the 1990's, compared with 10% in Tel Aviv and Haifa.

With regard to the country of origin of the olim, Jerusalem continues to attract olim from the west, although it is no longer an attractive destination for olim from the FSU. During the 1990's, 26% of all olim from the west chose to live in greater Jerusalem, compared with 9% from Ethiopia and 6% from the FSU. Olim from the FSU who chose to live in Jerusalem came mainly from the large cities such as Moscow and St. Peterburg, in part due to a preference for urban culture of the type which is available in Jerusalem. The fact that Jerusalem is Israel's most famous city was also a factor in attracting cultural, intellectual aliyah.

150 senior local Jewish Agency employees in the Ukraine and Moldova this week set out for a study tour of holocaust sites in Poland. Those participating in the trip are youth and student leaders, Hebrew teachers and senior aliyah coordinators, who run the Jewish Agency's offices in outlying areas of the Ukraine. The journey began with the coordinated departure of several trains with Jewish Agency employees from all parts of the Ukraine and Moldova - Kiev, Kishinev, Simferopol, Odessa, Kharkov. Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and many other towns.

The trains, decorated with the Israeli flag, simultaneously arrived at the first destination - Lvov, where a day-long seminar was held on the subject of the holocaust and the history of the Jews of Eastern Europe. During the seminar, which was organized by Israeli youth leaders, films were shown and there was an open discussion on the holocaust. Eli Itzhaki, head of the Jewish Agency's delegation to the Ukraine and Moldova, lectured the participants on the importance of the establishment of the State of Israel in view of the lessons learnt from the holocaust.

At the end of the seminar, the journey continued. The fist stop was in the Kharkov area, where the participants visited an ancient Jewish cemetery as well as the Auschwitz and Maidanek death camps. The group also traveled to Nazi concentration camps in the Lublin area. Eli Itzhaki noted that the trip had specially been arranged on trains to evoke the feeling which the Jews had had when travelling on these same tracks to their deaths at the hand of the Nazis.

Funded by American Hadassah Women and the Jewish Agency's Youth Aliyah Institutions, on Tuesday, March 20, 2001 a delegation of "I seek my brothers and sisters" will set out for a 9-day visit to Poland and the Czech Republic. The group will visit the death camps and sites of Jewish heroism.

Students from nine youth villages will be participating in the delegation: Hadassah Neurim, Ramat Hadassah Szold, Meir Shefeya, Kiryat Yearim, and from six youth centers: Lod (the Freda Lewis center), Tel Aviv's Rose Matzkin center, the Carmella Kalmanson center in Rehovot, the Faye Schenk center in Jerusalem, the Moshe Kohl center in Ashdod, and the Tiberias Youth Center. In all, the delegation will comprise of 160 participants.

Meir Beck reports that the students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and only the funding by the American Hadassah Women will enable them to participate in the trip.

On March 21 a first meeting took place between trainee air-force pilots from the Hatzerim Air Force Base and Selah (Students before parents) program participants from the FSU residing at the Ye'elim absorption center. The meeting took place at the Selah club.

At the beginning of the meeting, the trainee pilots told the students about the various stages of the pilots' training course, admittance tests for the course and about the course in general. Later the students and pilots were split up into 4 groups, they were introduced to one another, and the discussion then spilt over to other issues such as the army, studies and current affairs.

The meeting lasted about two hours, and was held in a friendly atmosphere. The dynamics between the Selah students and the trainee pilots was positive. Following the meeting, the Selah students were invited to an exhibition organized by the pilots at the Hatzerim base, after which they toured the squadron. The visit took place last week. Both the Selah students and trainee pilots view their on-going contacts favorably.

Following is the opinion of Selah student Alexander Varbiov: "Last week there was a meeting at the absorption center with trainee pilots from the Hatzerim base. At the meeting we split up into groups, with 8 students and 6 soldiers in each group. We discussed life in Israel, the security situation, plans for the future and other things. The most interesting and important part of the meeting from my point of view was the information which they gave us about the course, it was really interesting to know what they learn, and what they have to go through to be accepted for the course. I can not describe the fun we had, I'm really waiting to visit their base and meet them again. Both I and the rest of the group will be glad to visit them as they promised to show us the aircraft and give us a tour of the squadron and the Air Force Museum beside the base. We really enjoyed the visit and I'm very pleased to be getting to know Israeli kids. The meeting gave us a lot and made me want to know more before enlisting in the army".

At the beginning of the month the Jewish Agency opened its new central office building in Kiev, capital of the Ukraine, which incorporates the existing "Sha'ar La'Aliyah" educational center. Renovation work has finally been completed and the Sha'ar La'Aliyah Center has been expanded to include additional office space with the Jewish Agency now occupying the entire 4-story building, with a capacity of 1000 people. A club for youth and students has opened in the basement, covering 350 sq. m., with a $75,000 donation from the Toronto Jewish community. The first three floors house the offices dealing with aliyah administration and activities. On the fourth floor, new classrooms have been equipped with computers and Internet connection, TV's and other sophisticated learning aids. Eli Itzhaki, head of the Jewish Agency's Ukraine delegation, said that the building will be officially dedicated on May 13th, as part of the large "Desert Bloom" aliyah fair, being organized in conjunction with the Jewish Agency's southern region office in Be'er Sheva.

Relatives of 11 Iranian Jews who have disappeared over the past decade on the Iranian-Pakistani border met with the Knesset's Immigration and Absorption Committee. The relatives hope to highlight this story before Passover - the Festival of Freedom and arouse worldwide attention to the plight of the 11 Jews who have disappeared. There has been no connection whatsoever with the 11 missing Jewish men. The Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Sallai Meridor has appointed Brigadier General (Res) Azriel Nevo to coordinate efforts to locate the 11 missing Iranian Jews. Picture: Relatives of the 11 missing Iranian Jews, who live in Israel met with the Knesset's Immigration and Absorption Committee.
from left to right: MK Zvi Hendel - Chairman of the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee Nahid Faranjin, Farima Razlansari and a third woman who declined to give her name.

The number of olim dropped by 22% in the year 2000 compared to 1999. There was a 40% drop in the number of olim from Russia. In 2000 - 60,000 people made aliyah - 17,000 less than in the previous year. These figures were published this week by the Central Bureau of Statistics. Since 1990 more than a million olim have come to Israel, mostly from the FSU.

The last confrontation between the US and Russia surrounding the espionage scandal of FBI official Robert Hanssen and the deportation of diplomats from Washington and Moscow, has had repercussions in Israel as well, and is currently pre-occupying the political and defense leadership in Jerusalem. The episode was discussed during contacts between senior officials in the American administration and their Israeli colleagues, and is raising concern among political echelons in Jerusalem. Further details have yet to be released.

A sense of discomfort pervades Kibbutz Manara and the defense establishment: A 42-year old Jewish contractor who was responsible for the work of constructing reinforcements along the northern border, is suspected of murdering the head of security at Kibbutz Manara two weeks ago and breaking into the kibbutz arsenal, selling the weapons to Israeli Arabs, transferring them to the Palestinian Authority, and to those perpetrating attacks against Israel. The suspect was a former IDF intelligence officer and it has only recently come to light that he had a criminal record and served three years in prison for trading in stolen weapons. Five Israeli Arabs were also arrested. The police are now investigating whether the contractor was involved in any other murders in the area. Members of Manara have called the man a traitor, and the police have called him a despicable Jew.

Unlike the stormy events in the Territories last weekend - "Land Day" which is marked by Israel's Arab community passed quietly and without violence. For the first time, Zionist organizations, led by "Peace Now" also participated in the "Land Day" events. Arab leaders were pleased to note that they had succeeded in conveying their message of being a "discriminated minority" to the international community.

Last week the court acquitted former Minister of Internal Security Avigdor Kahalani of all charges. Kahalani had been accused of helping business magnate Ofer Nimrodi uncover details of the covert investigation against him. The verdict included a serious rebuke of the police and unprecedented criticism of the state prosecutor's office. The judge called the indictment "a hot air balloon". Kahalani was acquitted during the preliminary stages of the trial, without being called to the witness box, implying that the evidence of his guilt as submitted by the prosecution was considered unworthy of discussion.

Royal visit to Israel: Princess Caroline and Prince Albert of Monaco spent last weekend in Israel. The royals are the son and daughter of Prince Rainier and the late Princess Grace (Kelly). They arrived in Israel despite the difficult security situation and despite their father's efforts to dissuade them from making the trip. The two were the guest of international art expert Roni Fourer. This week Shimon Peres paid a visit to Fourer's home, for a private meeting with the prince.

According to Dr. Shay Mehalel, Hashomer Hatzair Zionist youth movement emissary in Vienna...., it all began before the elections ..... no ... not the Israeli elections which will be discussed on another occasion, but the Vienna municipal elections, as we are currently in Austria.

Last Sunday, March 25, 2001, our friend Haider's party lost 8% of its vote and Vienna rejoiced (this happened just after Purim, but the after effects of the festival were still felt .....). True, 20% still voted FBO, but the percentage is declining, and this is noteworthy ...

So, to show our friends the goyim (gentiles), in this particular case the Austrians, who we are (we didn't know what the outcome of the match would be .... but that's not important), here at the Vienna branch of Hashomer Hatzair we got together and went to the stadium to show an Israeli presence at the match, hoping that it would help and demonstrating our Jewishness and Israeli pride. We packed our flags (Israel and Hashomer Hatzair), prepared posters, shirts, scarves and loud trumpets - in short we were happy and noisy.

My friend Danny arrived from Israel armed with a camera to prepare a film about Vienna, Judaism, Hashomer Hatzair and to commemorate the event. Before the match, we filmed sites in Vienna to which we have some connection, we conducted an exciting discussion with Hashomer Hatzair youngsters about Israel, Judaism, Vienna, anti-Semitism, ideology and ......... football. You can see the rest in the film. We left early for the stadium, as usual in Israel, which was empty when we arrived, we were almost the first ones there. We passed through the security check and entered the cage - for their own "safety" all the Israelis were closed off in the upper section of the stadium for our own protection - the Austrians weren't taking any chances.

We organized ourselves, hung flags, signs, played music, met Israelis from all over Israel, Hungary, Austria and other places, and met our friends. The national anthems - Austrian and our own Hatikva - were played, we all sang along proudly. There's something special about being with a small group of Israeli abroad, one has a sense of unity which one never has in Israel, all differences melt away, everyone is friends and we all support our team.

The game begins, in the sixth minute there's a twist around the Austrian goal - an own goal for Austria ........ great ! We dance and cheer. The ninth minute - 1 all. Michael Bauer scores an own goal for Israel, then there's a foul in the penalty area with Tal Benin beside the Austrian goal .... 42nd minute, Herzog (is he Jewish ?) takes the penalty and its 2:1 to Austria . The Israeli team tried, a goal by Berkowitz which restored some hope was disqualified, we shouted, but ...... never mind ........ it was good, they saw us and heard us, Hashomer Hatzair from Vienna and all the Israelis in the stadium, we made our presence felt !!!

Next time, I'm sure we'll be more successful .......

By: Dr. Mordecai Na'or
Published by Am Oved, Zalman Shazar Center and the Diaspora Museum

In these pre-Pesach days, a new album has been published containing 600 pages of photographic history of the Jewish People in the 20th Century.

The book is laid out according to the decades of the century, describing key events, processes and historical, cultural, economic events, and Jewish folklore in Eretz Israel, the USSR, the USA, western and eastern Europe and the world. The book contains chapters on the history of Zionism, anti-Semitism and aliyah shedding light on the Jewish world during this period. The history chapters are extremely concise and hundreds of pictures make information easy to find. The index by subject, names and places at the end of the book provide assistance in finding information. A version in English, and in other languages, are to be published soon.