Each of 11 community centers in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza Strip and the regional councils of the Jordan Valley, Binyamin, Gush Katif and Gush Etzion regions have each received funds to specifically deal with these and other problems caused by the current situation - such as the concerns that many of the regular staff members have of traveling within the territories and the curtailment of many of the usual activities for children and adults.

Families often stay holed up in their homes, and certainly don't want their children traveling long distances along the roads to get to the regional community centers. The IACC is therefore sending auxiliary staff to individual settlements - some with as few as forty families - to get the kids and adults out and participating in activities like staging plays, singing and playing games in order to fight off the feeling of being under siege. At Chanukah, the children of Gush Katif will have the chance to be hosted by community centers for four days on the Golan Heights, while others will either be hosted for Environment Camp in central Israel, or will go down to Eilat for "Challenge" Camp where teams of four will participate in adventure sports and obstacle courses.

Thirty Ethiopian new immigrant families who have been living at the Jewish Agency's "Nurit" absorption center in Be'er Sheva, will complete a seven-session workshop next week in preparation for moving to permanent housing.

The olim arrived at the "Nurit" absorption center at the end of 1998, at the beginning of the immigration from Quara Ethiopia. Their stay in the absorption center was intended to help them in their immigration and to prepare them for life in Israel. Among other things, for 10 months the immigrants took Ulpan classes for the study of Hebrew and attended workshops preparing them for life in Israel.

Soon thirty families will be taking permanent residence in apartments purchased in various parts of Israel. Social worker Meirav Marciano-Levy, of "Nurit" noted that the special 7 meeting workshop preparing them for moving into permanent apartments was offered by the Jewish Agency in conjunction with the Apartment Building Residents' Association (Haagudah LeTarbut Hadiyur). The meetings discussed the rights and obligations of residents of apartment blocks; proper building maintenance; police intervention in neighbors disputes; fire-fighting; first aid in the home; etc.

The closing ceremony will be attended by Be'er Sheva Mayor Rubik Danilevitch, Director General of the Residents' Association Reuben Zadok, and "Nurit" Absorption Center director, Shalom Cohen.

"It was important for us to make aliyah and become citizens of Israel particularly at this difficult time in which the State of Israel faces security threats and political uncertainty" These comments were made by former Metro-West Federation President Daniel Drench, who made aliyah today with his wife Barbara.

This week's aliyah of the Drench family concludes decades of Jewish-Zionist activity in the New Jersey Jewish community. For many years Daniel and his wife Barbara have worked to strengthen the Jewish people all over the world, reinforcing the Jewish community in New Jersey, and strengthening the State of Israel. "Our move is a symbol of solidarity with the State of Israel and a desire to identify with its citizens and become part of them", said the couple with considerable emotion upon their arrival in Israel.

The Jewish Agency which helped Daniel and Barbara Drench through the aliyah process, stressed that for years the couple helped bring thousands of olim from all over the world. Now they have been helped with their own aliyah just as the Jewish Agency helps prepare tens of thousands of olim annually.

Over the last few years the couple spent several months in Israel every year. Recently they reached the conclusion that they wish to exercise their right and duty towards the State of Israel, by making their aliyah official and becoming fully fledged Israeli citizens. The couple bought an apartment in the heart of Tel Aviv and vouched to continue its Zionist activity from Israel. Their children live in the US.

Director of the Israeli office of the New Jersey community, Amir Shacham, added that the Metro-West community of New Jersey is 120,000 strong. The community contributes every year to strengthening the Jewish people all over the world and the State of Israel through a variety of projects. The Israel connection is also expressed through the formation of partnerships with areas such as Raanana and Rishon LeZion. Several years ago the Metro-West community acceded to the Jewish Agency's request to participate in its "Partnership 2000" program, and it now partners with Azur, Ofakim and Merhavim in the Negev.

• $40,000 - Jewish Agency support this year for the "Yavneh Olami" religious student organization, which offers students from all over the world a social framework alongside a religious Zionist education. Yavneh Olami was established in 1984 to promote the centrality of the State of Israel, the Torah and the Jewish people, and to emphasize the importance of aliyah.

• $18.7 million - "Partnership 2000" program budget for the year two thousand. The program is run jointly by the Jewish Agency, the Federation of Jewish Communities in North America and the Keren Hayesod communities and attempts to strengthen ties between communities in the Diaspora and areas of national priority in Israel. This year Partnership 2000 projects will raise $16 million from external sources.

• $158,000 - Jewish Agency budget for Y2K for running the "Otzma" program. Dozens of young 19-25 year olds from North America come to Israel each year within the framework of this project to participate in an educational program several months long which combines kibbutz life with learning Hebrew at an ulpan, seminars, tours of the country and voluntary work in the community.

• 28 Jewish business-women from Russia will arrive in Israel on Sunday for a 5-day visit, in order to strengthen their ties with Israeli business-women, as part of a convention being organized by the Jewish Agency's Israel Department.

• 1275 olim arrived in Israel this week, 1045 of them from the FSU and Eastern Europe, and the rest from France, Belgium, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, England, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Austria, the US, Canada, India and Ethiopia.

JEWISH AGENCY HEADS SINGING WITH MINSK ULPAN CHOIR

More than 100 Jewish Agency shlichim from all over the FSU gathered for their annual convention, which took place at the beginning of the week in Minsk, capital of Belarus, to discuss the JAFI work plan for the FSU for the year 2001. The 4-day convention was also attended by Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, JA Treasurer Chaim Chesler, and Director General Aharon Abramovich, who met directly with all the shlichim and instructed them regarding various aspects of their activity.

This year, special emphasis was placed on extending the project to intensify Jewish identity among Jews in the FSU and candidates for aliyah. "No less important than making aliyah and physically rescuing the Jews", Meridor said to the shlichim, "is the task of a "spiritual" rescue program for those Jews living here. We should remember that the identity which you cultivate here, contrary to that of other Jewish organizations, is a Jewish-Zionist identity, designed to enable potential olim to be connected to Judaism and feel part of the family of Israel", said Meridor.

According to the work plan, next year some 10,000 pupils in the FSU will participate in Jewish identity classes which will focus on the history of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, Israeli culture and tradition. In order to expand the project, the Jewish Agency will train 50 new local teachers, who will join the 235 existing teachers who will work through the Hebrew-learning ulpanim all over the FSU.

During the course of the convention, the shlichim also heard an extensive political review of recent events in Israel and in the Jewish world, and methods of operation in the complex situation which has arisen were discussed. The shlichim were instructed to assist parents whose children are studying in Israel in Jewish Agency program, and provide on-going contact between them and their children in Israel. The Jewish Agency has already invited a number of parents to visit Israel and meet their children so as to gain an unmediated impression of the situation in Israel. The shlichim were also instructed to use sources of information provided by official organizations in Israel in order to bring the Jewish communities in their areas of activity up to date regarding the real situation in Israel.

According to estimates, some 50,000 olim are expected to arrive in Israel from the FSU in the coming year - 21,500 from Russia, 18,500 from the Ukraine, and the rest from other countries. In all the Jewish Agency is preparing to deal with 133,000 applications for aliyah advice next year and for the participation of 200,000 Jews from all over the FSU in a variety of aliyah-related projects and activities.

50,000 students will learn Hebrew in 1,000 Jewish Agency ulpan classes all over the FSU, and 18,000 teenagers and students will participate in activities organized by Jewish Agency youth clubs. For the first time, the Jewish Agency will expand its educational activity to include pre-schoolers, implementing a special program of Jewish-Israeli culture in Jewish pre-schools.

The Jewish Agency recently began to prepare a program for formulating three-way partnerships between Jewish communities in the US and communities and partnerships in areas of national priority and Jewish communities in the FSU. The aim is to create a "round table" forum with representatives from all three sides, who together will be able to plan activities and hold joint projects. Such global partnerships will be able in practice to implement one of the Jewish Agency's strategic goals which is to strengthen the unity of the Jewish people around the State of Israel.

Over the last five years, through the Partnership 2000 program, the Jewish Agency has, together with the Association of Jewish Communities in the North America and the Keren Hayesod, set up 30 partnerships between areas in Israel and Jewish communities in the US, and Keren Hayesod communities in South America and Western Europe. The areas in Israel, which have been defined by the Israeli government as areas of national priority for investment and development, include the Negev, the Galilee and the Jerusalem District.

Meir Nitzan, head of the Jewish Agency's Israel Department, says that in order to consolidate the program, the Jewish Agency contacted communities in the US, which are already partners with areas in Israel and are involved in activity in the FSU, to create trilateral partnerships for running joint project.

A partnership of this kind is already running between the Montreal Jewish community, the BeerSheva region - Benei Shimon, and the Jewish community in Kiev, capital of the Ukraine. In coming years, the Jewish agency plans to reinforce such partnerships and create new ones, such as: Boston-Haifa-Dniepropetropsk (Ukraine), Baltimore-Karmiel/Misgav-Kishinev (Moldova), New York-Jerusalem-Moscow (Russia), Atlanta-Yoqneam Megido -Minsk (Belarus), West Palm Beach-Zfat/Rosh Pina/Hatzor-Baku (Azerbaijan), and many others.

The Jewish Agency and the "Birthright" organization have prepared a joint proposal to bring more than 360 students from the FSU and Hungary for a 10-day tour of Israel.

Birthright promotes the principle that all Jews have an inherent right to get to know the State of Israel and feel part of the unity and revival of the Jewish people. In this program, each student who wishes is entitled to visit Israel. Candidates for the program are 17-26 years old (high-school graduates and college students) who have not visited Israel through a JAFI-funded program or any other organization.

It is anticipated that some 280 students and 14 leaders from all over the FSU and 80 students and 4 leaders from Hungary will be taking part. February has been chosen as the most suitable time for the visit since this coincides with the winter break at universities throughout the FSU.

Participants will attend preparatory seminars prior to flying to Israel, which will include an orientation and an examination of participant expectations versus the goals of the program. The project is being organized in conjunction with the Jewish Agency's "Israel Experience" program which will coordinate and operate the program in Israel.

The special emergency committee - ECG - set up in the UK to deal with Jewish community issues with the outbreak of violence in the Territories, recently decided to authorize shlichim working for the national institutions to address the information issue in Jewish schools in the UK.

According to the decision, the shlichim will provide teachers and students with up-to date information about events in the Middle East and Israeli and IDF operations following the disturbances.

Dubi Bergman, head of the Jewish Agency delegation in the UK, said that as a result of the decision, a special information network was established, comprising representatives of the Israeli embassy in England, Jewish Agency education shlichim and JNF shlichim. The task force prepared a list of planned activities and the subjects of lectures to be delivered by shlichim in the schools. The shlichim have already been sent to 30 Jewish schools in the UK, including 10 high schools and 20 elementary schools.

Bergman added that in addition to the school information campaign, the shlichim are also organizing information activity among the youth movements and Jewish student organizations in the UK. According to Bergman, this activity has a significant effect on decision makers in the UK, including politicians and the media .

Three women were killed by their spouses in just one week. The director of Psychiatric Services in the Prisons said that "it is possible that we are witnessing a contagious situation". One of the women was nine months pregnant. According to a report in the Knesset this week, one out of every four pregnant women is a battered woman. Women's organizations demonstrated yesterday against the escalation of violence against women and asked the Prime Minister to intervene so that larger budgets may be allocated for the protection of battered women.

The Secretary of State, Yitzhak Herzog was questioned by police regarding the associations scandal and he chose to remain silent during the interrogation. This offence does not carry disgrace and therefore it is not necessary to suspend him from his duties. He will next be questioned on fraud at which point, the Legal Advisor to the Government and the Civil Service Commisioner will decide whether it is necessary to suspend him.

Soltam is developing a long neck cannon with a shooting range of 41 km. It will be sold to the army in India. This is a unique cannon in the world because of two characteristics: its long range and its mobility (it is mounted on a truck). India is planning to purchase 500 - 1,000 cannons for one and a half billion dollars.

A former senior PLO official in Lebanon who served as Mosad agent in the 70's is suing the Israeli government for 4 million shekel (1 million dollars). He contends that for five years he transferred information to the Mosad, helping fight terrorism and save lives, and for his service his employers promised him a hefty amount upon completion of his service. The government contends in its defense statement that the law of obsoletion is in effect and that in the past different amounts were paid to him.

The Ministry of Health announced that from how on, Hospital Directors may allow doctors to perform circumcisions even if they are not certified by the Rabbinate as "Mohel". Thus, the Ministry of Health retracted its stand that only Mohel's with inter-ministerial certification may perform circumcisions in the hospitals.

Two girls were abducted this week in the car where they were sitting, in two separate incidents in two consecutive days. In one case, two young men with and "Arab accent" according to the mother, stole her car and her 3 1/2 year old daughter in it whom they threw out of the moving car. In the second case, an 11 year old schoolgirl was left to wait in the car while her mother shopped for some groceries. A stranger stole the car and after driving for a while threw the girl out of the car.

Two novelties on the Internet: In the elections lists, Internet surfers may find any citizen's personal card, including the head of the Security Service, the head of the Mosad and the head of the IDF. The information includes names, full address, social security number and more. More novelty on the Internet: For the first time ever, surgery was viewed on the net in real time. This was a complicated procedure for which, surgeons used special computerized navigation instruments to extract a brain tumor from a woman.

Smuggler mess-up. A group of smugglers loaded smuggled cigarette cartons onto a …. Police boat. This happened in Ashdod and all the group members were arrested.

An evening of "South American Entertainment" is being held at the Jewish Agency's Bet Canada absorption center in Ashkelon. One hundred olim from South America, including those from Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Cuba reside at the absorption center.

In the course of the evening, the various cultures of the olim are presented through their particular cuisine, dances and musical performances. At the request of the event's organizers, South American embassies in Israel sent information and materials about their countries , including stickers, video clips and maps which will be displayed during the evening.

The South American evening is intended to bring together the olim at the absorption center and expose them to different cultures. The center's cultural director, Arianna Hadad, said that the other olim living at the absorption center; including 250 Ethiopian olim and 100 from Yugoslavia, Russia, India and other countries will also participate. According to Hadad, the absorption center will hold such an evening once every month focussing on a different country representing the olim.

The Cuban olim will display wood carvings from Cuba, will play their traditional musical instruments and will prepare "fritos" - a Cuban salad made of noodles, mayonnaise and vegetables. In preparation for the special evening, the Argentine olim prepared "empandas" - dough filled with meat, chicken or vegetables. The evening will conclude with South American dancing; samba, salsa, rhoueda, merengue, and line dancing.