Palestinians protesting on Nakba Day

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Israel's trade deficit vis-a-vis the United States increased over the first four months of 2001. Figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics indicate that exports to the United States dropped by15%, whereas imports rose by 2.5%. Exports to other countries worldwide dropped by merely 2.5%. However, despite the difficult situation that is affecting the economy, trade with the European Union remains stable.

The Statistics Bureau's figures also indicate that 214,000 are unemployed, although unemployment dropped by 0.13% over the first quarter, compared to the previous quarter, amounting to 8.6%. Economists have concluded that the Israeli recession is deteriorating mainly in the area of tourism, affected by the security situation and in the hi-tech field, due to the crisis in the American economy.

Treasury Ministry Director-General Prof. Avi Ben-Bassat said unemployment is the most serious problem currently afflicting the Israeli economy, and he called on the State to invest more in resolving it. Ben-Bassat added that all stops imposed on inflation should be removed to reduce unemployment and that the large number of foreign workers is a curse on society.

Idit Mizrachi z"l

Nineteen bullets fired on a private car on Tuesday killed 20-year old Idit Mizrachi and injured her father Moshe while his son Amit sat behind them helplessly looking on. Residents of the Rimonim community, the family was on the way to a wedding in Jerusalem, but they were delayed due to an argument: Who would sit in the front, beside the father. Eventually, the brother gave in to Idit, who returned last week from an extended trip to the United States following her army service. Fired from the roadside, the 19 Kalachnikov bullets penetrated the vehicle near the Michmas Junction, Idit hit in the neck and Moshe lightly injured in his leg.

The shooting ended a day of deadly violence all over the territories, marking Nakba Day (the day of Palestinian national mourning marking the anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel). Violence began with huge demonstrations all over the territories, resulting in the death of three Palestinians. During the day, an IDF tank caught a terrorist cell launching mortar bombs at Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, killing two of its members and entering the Palestinian-controlled territories in order to capture the mortar shooters.

Palestinians opened extensive fire against the Giloh neighborhood the previous day, injuring four residents. An explosive device was planted on the Haifa-Tel Aviv railway line on Wednesday.

The deterioration of events led to sharp exchanges in the Knesset. MK Ahmed Tibi, a close associate of Arafat, attacked Israel's Chief of Staff Brigadier General Shaul Mofaz, calling him "a fascist responsible for cold-blooded murder". Rightist MKs demanded his removal, shouting: "He's a terrorist. Deport him to Gaza!"

Despite shootings, efforts continue to promote negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians with United States assistance, on the proposed basis of the Mitchell report, calling for the cessation of violence, the termination of construction in the settlements and a period of calm, during which confidence-building measures might be taken.

At the end of last week, Ron Lauder and Malcolm Hoenlein, leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called on the American administration to take action against Palestinian terror. The announcement was published after the murder of two boys from Tekoa, one an American citizen.

Last Friday, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Dennis Hastert appeared before the Presidents' Conference and expressed the United States' commitment to Israel. He said that he had spoken with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that morning and promised that the United States would continue standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel, as it has done for the past 50 years. Emphasizing that Congress would bring pressure on the administration to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, he hinted at criticism of Former President Bill Clinton for his readiness for "peace at any price".

More than 6,000 Moscow Jews will mark Israel's 53rd Independence Day and Jerusalem Day on Sunday, May 20^th, in a giant celebration at Moscow's Hermitage Gardens, organized by the Jewish Agency together with local Jewish organizations. Guests of honor at the Promised Land Festival, to take place under the auspices of Israel's Ambassador to Russia, will include Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler. Russia's most famous performers as well as song and dance troupes of youth from Israel will take part in the show.

In addition to performances, youngsters from Israel will meet Jewish youngsters in Moscow and participate in joint activities. As part of the celebrations, the Jewish Agency will also hold an enormous aliyah fair at which representatives of municipalities and educational institutions in Israel will present a variety of absorption and study possibilities in Israel. Among the institutions who have sent delegations to Moscow to participate in the Jewish Agency fair: Hod Hasharon municipality, Tel Aviv City Hall, Hadera municipality, Rishon LeZion municipality, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv's Ort Singalovsky College, and many others.

Director of the Jewish Agency Moscow's Delegation's Community Relations Department Dinah Rubin Moscow said that one of the objectives of the event is to present potential olim with all the absorption possibilities in Israel, and "to show the Jews of the city and the public at large that despite the tense situation, Israel is alive and well and waiting for Jews to return to their historic homeland."

The Moscow event will close a series of Independence Day and Jerusalem Day celebrations organized by the Jewish Agency all over the FSU, including Independence Day celebrations in Nizhni-Novgorod in Russia and in Tashkent, capital of Uzbekistan. The Jewish Agency especially marked Israel's Independence Day all over the Ukraine. A series of celebrations opened in the capital of Kiev last week, including all major cities in the Ukraine, including Odessa, Kharkov and Dniepropetrovsk. This year, gigantic aliyah fairs accompanied it presenting absorption opportunities in the south of the country called "Desert Bloom".

Head of the Jewish Agency's delegation in the Ukraine Eli Yitzhaki said that institutions presenting absorption programs in southern Israel included the Beersheva Municipality, Sorokka Hospital (which presented a program for absorbing nurses), the Bagir textile factory, the school of hotel management in Arad, Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, the Beersheva Technological College, the Sapir College, and many more. In all, more than 30,000 people participated in Israel's independence celebrations and were able to form first-hand impressions of absorption programs in Israel through the Jewish Agency's aliyah fairs.

Approximately 77,000 Jews of Ethiopian origin live in Israel today, of whom 14,2000 made aliyah through Operation Solomon in May 1991.

In the year 2000, there were 2,200 new immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia, an average of 100 now arriving in Israel each week.

In the last ten years (since Operation Solomon), 39,000 olim from Ethiopia have arrived in Israel.

All offices dealing with immigration absorption in Israel are now focusing their efforts on the advancement of the Ethiopian community.

The end of May marks the 20^th anniversary of Operation Moses and the 10^th anniversary of Operation Solomon. In celebration, the Government of Israel and the Jewish Agency are holding a series of special events in honor of Ethiopian olim.

A memorial ceremony for Ethiopian Jews who died en route to Israel will take place on: Sunday, May 21^st, at 10:00 am, at the memorial site for Ethiopian Jewry near Kibbutz Ramat Rachel in Jerusalem, in the presence of Deputy Absorption Minister MK Yuli Edelstein, Jewish Agency representatives and members of the Ethiopian community. The event will include a prayer chanted by Keisim (Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders), the lighting of a memorial torch, speeches and wreath laying.

A celebratory reception for a group of olim upon their arrival from Ethiopia will take place on Tuesday, May 22^nd, at the Ben Gurion Airport Absorption Hall, at 5:00 pm, in the presence of Jewish Agency Treasurer Chaim Chesler and Director-General Boris Maftzir of the Absorption Ministry.

A sound and light show demonstrating and celebrating the absorption of Ethiopian olim in Israel will take place on Thursday, May 24^th, at the Four Points Hotel, 4 Vilnai Street, in Jerusalem. A daylong seminar on the subject of the absorption of Ethiopian olim was initiated by JDC - Brookdale Institute, which will be conducted In the presence of Deputy Absorption Minister MK Yuli Edelstein, Brookdale Institute Director Prof. Jack Habib, and Director-General Adv. Aharon Abramowitz of the Jewish Agency.

"March around Zion and encircle it": On Thursday, May 24^th, hundreds of Ethiopian born IDF soldiers will tour Jerusalem.

The main event honoring members of the Ethiopian community in Israel will take place on Thursday, May 24^th at Jerusalem's International Convention Center, in the presence of Prime Minister and Absorption Minister Ariel Sharon, Deputy Absorption Minister MK Yuli Edelstein, Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, and Keis of the Ethiopian Community Malaka Azariah. The program includes a torch-lighting ceremony, the telling of the story of the aliyah operations, and an artistic performance by Ethiopian olim performers.

"The Journey": A performance honoring the Ethiopian community by Ethiopian performers, part of the Israel Festival - at the Rebecca Crown Hall in the Jerusalem Theater on Wednesday, May 30^th at 8:30 pm.

Following the failure of the Camp David summit, a State of emergency was declared by the Fatah, which then began preparing for confrontation at all levels, from groundwork, to increasing awareness of confrontation, to military training.

Marwan Bargutti was quoted in a Palestinian newspaper as saying that the failure of negotiations opened the way for the Palestinian people to materialize all options. He siad that there was considerable time for making preparations and announced a general draft of Palestinian ranks. Bargutti's statement was not made in vain. In practice, the political leadership working closely with the PLO organized dozens of summer camps in 2000 (3 in Kalkilya, 4 in Nablus, one in Salfit, 15 in Hebron, 4 in Bethlehem, 4 in Ramallah, 3 in Jenin, 4 in Tulkarem and 40 in the Gaza Strip) for youngsters throughout Palestinian-controlled areas, during which thousands were trained in the use of weapons to attack Israeli soldiers and settlers, and the throwing of stones and Molotov Cocktails.

All this, in the framework of an overall recruitment by the Palestinian Authority, standing firmly by its adherence to "confront Israel, conduct the struggle for the realization of Palestinian sovereignty in areas taken in 1967, and show an uncompromising effort to realize the principle of the right of return for refugees in all parts of Palestine".

• $10,000 - The Jewish Agency's allocation for the year 2000 to the Manor Educational Institution, for its "Coexistence in the Galilee" project, in the framework of projects fostering "Unity, Tolerance and Mutual Respect".

• $12,000 - The Jewish Agency's allocation for the year 2000 to the Achdut Chevrat Yisrael Association, for its "True Absorption" project, in the framework of support to "Special Needs Populations".

• $24,000 - The Jewish Agency's allocation for the year 2000 to Aish Hatorah yeshiva, for its "Discovery 2000" project, in the framework of projects "Enhancing Jewish Identity for Israelis."

• 15,537 olim arrived in Israel since the beginning of 2001. 11,760 are from the former Soviet Union.

• 884 olim arrived in Israel this week, 735 of them from the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 60 from Ethiopia, and the rest from France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia, Holland, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Brazil, the United States and Canada.

A Mission of the United Jewish Communities (UJC) led by Ron Meier, Executive Vice President of the UJA Federation of the North Hudson and Bergen Counties in New Jersey, visited Kochav Yaakov, south of Psagot last week. Members of the mission met with residents of the settlement, as well as residents of Ofra and other beleaguered neighborhoods. Among those they met with were terror victims or the families of terror victims, such as Gila Herskowitz, wife of Asaf, murdered two weeks ago in a drive-by shooting, only a few months after his father Arieh was killed under similar circumstances. They also visited Ma'aleh Michmash, bordering the Judean Dessert along the Alon Highway, near where Idit Mizrahi was killed this Wednesday.

The emotional visit followed a special fundraising effort by the Federation to raise $500, 000 for the Jewish Agency's campaign to purchase armored vehicles wherever they are needed to protect the local population. Mission members sought to express personal solidarity with the residents of these areas, and were not deterred from visiting by the constant threat of attack. The group was accompanied by Director of the Jewish Agency's Israel Education Fund Jeff Kaye. "The significance of their contribution and visit was the fact that the Jewish Agency, representing global Jewish needs, wherever those needs be, naturally includes residents of Judea and Samaria", noted Kaye, adding "This was by no means a political visit, but a human and Jewish visit.

Some 250 Israeli youngsters, half of them olim from the former Soviet Union, participate this week in a Jewish Agency preparatory leadership seminar before departing for summer camps in the former Soviet Union. The seminar takes place at Ulpan Akiva in Netanya. In addition to the Israelis, 50 Jewish educators from the FSU who will direct the camps are participating in the seminar.

Summer camps run by the Jewish Agency in conjunction with the Zionist youth movements and Jewish organizations will take place this year at 40 locations throughout the FSU, from Khabrovsk on the Japanese border to Riga in the west. Fifteen thousand Jewish teenagers and students will participate, studying Jewish heritage, Israeli society and the State of Israel. There will also be special camps for pre-schoolers, in which parents may also take part.

The Jewish Agency Jewish-Zionist Education Department received more than 1,500 applications for youth leadership positions at its camps, from which 250 youngsters ages 22 - 33 were selected. Half of the leaders are themselves olim from the FSU, some of whom have attended such camps in the past or acted as youth leaders and later made aliyah. Twenty-five Jewish students from other parts of the world will join the Israeli leaders.

The 6-day course at Ulpan Akiva (May 13 - 18, 2001) includes familiarization with destination countries and Jewish communities in the FSU, learning about the State of Israel, training in the instruction of sport, culture, the arts, the Hebrew language and the tools to enhance Jewish education and identity.

For the first time in the history of the Jewish education system in the United States a non-orthodox boarding school will open next year that will not charge tuition. Boys and girls grades 9^th -12^th will attend the school and study both general and Jewish subjects.

The Hebrew American Academy, to open in Greensboro, North Carolina, is the outcome of a new initiative by a group of philanthropists designed to provide a response to the problem of the high costs of Jewish education at day schools in the United States. Such schools are private and do not receive any government subsidies. Throughout Jewish education circles in the United States, there is a general consensus that the major stumbling block for the expansion of such activity is financing, due to the high costs of running the schools and the difficulties that many families encounter in paying the high tuition fees. There is also an issue of access to day schools from small communities, as most Jewish schools are naturally situated in the major cities that have large concentrations of Jewish populations. In general, the smaller communities do not have the necessary budgets for running a Jewish school and the options facing parents who wish to provide Jewish education for their children are extremely limited. For this reason the new academy will particularly focus on recruiting pupils from smaller communities.

Gideon, 10-years of age, arrived in Israel from Ethiopia, together with his parents, several weeks ago. The family was housed at the absorption site in Ma'ayan Harod. The fact that he doesn't speak Hebrew hasn't kept him from playing soccer with the children from the neighboring settlement of Gidona.

Gideon isn't the only one! Most of the Ethiopian youngsters join kids from Gidona in playing soccer and they shower the newcomers with love and warmth. Gidona is an isolated settlement of Yemenite immigrants on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. Its residents are determined that new immigrants receive a warmer welcome to the homeland than that which they and their parents received. They have made sure that every new immigrant family has been adopted by a Yemenite family, they hold joint cultural activities and celebrate the holidays together.

Now they've gone a step further to link the fates of the two communities, approaching the Jewish Agency and Housing Ministry, the official bodies involved in the absorption of new immigrants, requesting that their settlement be expanded to accommodate the new immigrants permanently. The Ethiopians, having not merely found warm hearts in Gidona, but also a striking similarity to the Ethiopian landscape, heartily endorsed the idea.

The German fund for the compensation of Nazi forced labor camp prisoners may not begin making compensation payments before permission is granted by the German parliament. The fund has DM 10 billion ($4.5 million), half of which was paid by the government.

United States County Justice Shirley Walkerm revoked 10 claims against German banks after the United States government intervened, stating that Holocaust survivors would be unable to accept compensation until all the claims are cancelled and no further claims will be filed in future.

News of the cancellation of claims was received with a sigh of relief in the United States, Germany and Israel. However, a representative of the German government made it clear that the German parliament might still approve the claims, and other claims in the United States which constitute a stumbling block to the release of the funds might be revoked.

Of the million or so former forced labor inmates now living in the United States, Israel and Eastern Europe, there are 129,000 Jews who were imprisoned at concentration camps, each of whom are to receive DM 15 million, and 28,000 Jews who worked at industrial plants, each of whom are to receive DM 5,000. Meanwhile however, waiting continues.

Rabbi Berl Lazar

According to reports from sources in Moscow, Russia's Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar resigned this week from the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC). Baruch Gorin, spokesman for Habad in Moscow, said: "Rabbi Berel Lazar has been a member of the RJC since the foundation of the Congress in 1996. However, the rabbi has expressed, on several occasions, his disagreement on various issues concerning the organization's method of operation, particularly regarding the method of decision-making."

The third RJC convention took place this week in Moscow. According to Gorin, the resignation of Gusinsky and the appearance of new faces on the Congress leadership gave hope that the situation would improve, but "during the preparations for the convention, it became clear that such hopes were premature. The program for the convention, the list of invitees and several other issues point to the fact that the same style of work remains", said Gorin.

Following of a stormy debate, the Knesset plenum approved a preliminary reading of a private bill by MK Israel Katz (Likud), prohibiting a person or list of persons that supports terror organizations and identifies with enemy countries from being elected to serve in the Knesset. Forty coalition MKs voted in favor of the bill and 19 MKs from Meretz, the Arab parties and MK Collette Avital (Labor) voted against. MK Katz said: "MK Tibi and his colleagues are like leeches, sitting on the arteries of Israeli democracy, drawing power from it and sucking its blood, and they must be removed by application of the law." MK Issam Mahul (Hadash) shouted at him: "You are trying to inflict political terror."

Education reform: The Education Ministry has decided to oblige schools of the ultra-Orthodox sector, Shas party's El Hamayan system and Agudat Yisrael's Hinuch Atzmai system to teach a basic program of general studies. The initial stage of the program is to include four subjects: Science and Technology, Hebrew, Math and English. The national education system will also undergo a change, introducing a new subject in junior high schools beginning next year - Jewish Heritage. Among the subjects to be taught are Talmud and the weekly Torah portion, symbols of the State of Israel and "Influential Figures in the History of Zionism".

Only 1/3 of all Ethiopian olim who sat though bagrut (matriculation) exams this past academic year actually passed, compared with 59% of olim from the former Soviet Union. The Education Ministry stated in response: "It is unfair to compare Ethiopian olim with those from the FSU. One must address the enormous achievements made by Ethiopian olim. At the beginning of the 1990's only 7% of Ethiopian olim passed the bagrut exams, and this recent achievement is a not insignificant."

Unemployment soars: An increase of 1.5% in the number of job seekers was registered in April, continuing the trend of rising numbers of job seekers recorded in March, when a 2.1% increase over the previous month was registered. The sharpest increase was in the number of academicians looking for work - 2.2% compared to the previous month - due to the crisis in the hi-tech sector.

An Israeli minister was, for the first time, permitted to visit an Israeli prisoner in Cairo. Minister Danny Naveh this week visited Azam Azam, who four years ago was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor on charges of "aiding and abetting espionage". The prisoner's brother Wafa Azam accompanied Naveh. "Facing me was a man who was rotting in extremely harsh prison conditions", Naveh commented.

Ayelet Miloh-Levy, granddaughter of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, left Israel and went to live in the United States with her husband Sammy Levy. The police, lawyers and representatives of the Discount Bank claim that the couple fled the country due to debts of more than NIS 10 million following complications in the husband's business affairs. Levy himself responded from the United States: "We, the fighting family, are embarrassed to not be living in Israel, and if Grandpa Begin knew, he would be turning in his grave. However, we left because of fear of terror and not because of debts."

And last but certainly not least: This week Israel forgot its daily situation for a few moments and celebrated, with mass hysteria, the victory of the Maccabi Tel-Aviv Basketball Team in the European Championships. All of Israel watched the game live on television and two evenings later more than 250,000 people enthusiastically filled Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. Thousands of others gathered in other cities, singing and dancing and cheering the players. The team's foreign players were astounded by the onslaught of popularity they felt - a phenomenon incomparable anywhere else in the world. Maccabi beat the Panathei Nikos (Athens) in the final game in Paris, with a 14-point lead, becoming the European Champions of Basketball!

Israel's largest Hebrew ulpan, operated by the Jewish Agency's absorption center in Ra'anana, is expanding and opening seven new classrooms, in addition to the 32 already running. The decision to expanding, the ulpan was taken over by the Jewish Agency's Central Region office following increased demand by new olim to attend Hebrew studies at the ulpan program.

The ulpan absorption center is the only one operating in Ra'anana and is the largest in the country. Some 1,000 olim, primarily from western countries and from the former Soviet Union, study at the ulpan each year. The ulpan conducts special classes for academicians who have recently made aliyah, including doctors, engineers and accountants, and is open to olim from Hadera to Petach Tikva. Two years ago, the Raanana absorption center was awarded the President's Prize to an Absorption Ulpan, for its success in training olim and those involved in the absorption process.

The ceremony dedicating the new classrooms and fixing a mezuzah took place on Monday, May 14th at noon, in the presence of Director-General of the Jewish Agency's Aliyah Department Mike Rosenberg, Ra'anana Mayor Ze'ev Bielsky, Directors of the Jewish Agency's Jerusalem Region and Central District Eli Cohen, and representatives of the Absorption and Education Ministries.

More than 80,000 students are studying Hebrew this year in Israel and abroad in JAFI frameworks.

Ingredients:

4 fillets fresh denis fish
4 teaspoons olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine

Sauce:

8 cloves fresh, crushed garlic
2 ripe tomatoes
1 lemon (without pips) cut into small cubes (including peel)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh chopped oregano
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Heat oven to 200⁰ Celsius

• Halve tomatoes, remove juice and pips, grate, add rest of ingredients, and mix well

• Place fish in baking tray, pour olive oil and wine over fish and add salt and pepper to taste

• Roast 8 minutes in oven, transfer to serving plate, cover with sauce and serve

B'Te'avon!     Bon Appetit!