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Harvard Row Mall Southfield, Ml 48076 Free Professional Measure at No Obligation Free in Home Design Consulting Hours: Mon.-Sat. 10-5 Thursday 10-8 352-8622 New Rochester Hills ii iraiglggfa l 25 e 1988 thiopia, a nation racked by war, poverty and famine, may become an even more hostile environment for the approx- imately 10,000 Jews who re- main in the country, accord- ing to a new report issued by the U.S. State Department. The 1987 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices states that the Marxist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam continues to pursue resettlement and other programs which threaten to uproot and disperse the Jewish com- munity. The State Department re- port touches on the Ethiopian Jewish community in the con- text of the Ethiopian govern- ment's general disrespect for human rights. It says that while Ethiopian Jews ex- perience "economic discrimi- nation" in land ownership, they have not been singled out for other forms of mis- treatment. But according to American activists, condi- tions which may be trouble- some to the population at large could be "catastrophic" to the Jewish community. Dr. Will Recant, executive director of the American Association for Ethiopian Jewry (AAEJ), pointed out that since the 1984 exodus of some 7,000 Ethiopian Jews to Israel during the Operation Moses airlift, those remain- ing in Ethiopia are mainly women, children and the elderly. "It is never easy to get by in Ethiopia," Recant said. "But this is a communi- ty whose most productive members are thousands of miles away. Farming is more difficult, defending the villages is more difficult, preserving Jewish traditions is more difficult. With the possibility of another famine, and the government's deci- sion to relocate parts of the community elsewhere, the burden has only increased." Both AAEJ and the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ) report that the community has been spared from famine so far. They also concur with the State Department's con- clusion that "stories of E CONCEPTS IN ORGANIZING CLOSETS AND ALL STORAGE AREAS FOR MAXIMUM UTILIZATION BIRMINGHAM, MI The Jews of Ethiopia Face New Threats 651-5009 ft, Jeff Rubin is assistant editor of the "Near East Report," a Washington weekly on the Middle East. `genocidal' actions by Ethio- pian authorities, or of highly brutal behavior toward Ethio- pian Jews„ have not been substantiated . . The State Department re- ports that in 1987 the govern- ment gave foreign visitors "relatively unrestricted ac- cess" to Jewish villages. But Recant said certain groups have been denied entrance to some Jewish areas. Never- theless, the Mengistu gov- ernment permits the U.S. government and other 6utside groups to send special relief to Ethiopian Jews. One of the most disturbing revelations of the U.S. report is the Ethiopian govern- ment's intention to resettle some 300,000 citizens from the Gondar province this year. Gondar is the heartland of Ethiopian Jewry. American activists allege that moving Ethiopian Jew- ish communities en masse would enable the government to control the shape of neighborhoods and the struc- ture of leadership: Jews find themselves living next to non- Jews rather than family members; their village leaders are Communist party officials, not religious figures. One man reportedly was killed by new neighbors when they discovered he was Jewish. Integration, prejudice and the further breakdown of the community's leadership can only contribute to the pressure to assimilate, says Recant. By dispersing the commu- nity, resettlement and villagization would also com- plicate future efforts to remove the community. Only a trickle of Jews have left the country since large- scale rescue operations ended in 1985, said Jewish activists. The State Department re- ports that "in 1987 about 25 people were arrested in Addis Ababa, Dire Dawa and Gon- dar reportedly after arrang- ing for the surreptitious departure of Jews from Ethiopia." American activists confirm that 11 individuals have been imprisoned on charges of smuggling, sedi- tion and money currency violations. It is unclear whether they have been tried. Amnesty International re- ported that several of these prisoners have been tortured. Said a NACOEJ spokes- man, "We must continue to push for the reunification of Ethiopian Jewish families in Israel."