INSIGHT

ZE'EV CHAFETS

Israel Correspondent

E

arly this week
Jerusalem police, al-
ready over-burdened
by a recent wave of Arab
terror and violence, found
themselves face-to-face with
a new challenge. On Sunday,
dozens of homeless Israelis
spilled out of the tent city
they have erected near the
Knesset, burned tires and
shouted angry slogans.
The protesters tied up
traffic in the capital for half
an hour, and were evacuated
by police only after a shov-
ing match in which at least
one man was slightly in-
jured. A spokeswoman for
the demonstrators,
Nechama Zion, warned that
the confrontations would
continue. "This is only the
beginning," she told
reporters.
The outburst in Jerusalem
was not an isolated incident.
In the past few weeks, 23
separate tent encampments
of 802 homeless Israeli
families have sprung up in
cities from Carmiel in the
north to Be'er Sheva in the
Negev.
Originally aimed at call-
ing attention to the plight of
young families driven from
their apartments by rising
rents and housing prices,
they now threaten to become
the focus for a nationwide
movement that could lead to
violent social unrest and a
backlash against Soviet im-
migration.
The residents of the tent
encampments are, for the
most part, productive
citizens. Many have jobs,
and most have families.
Some have lost their homes
because they were unable to
meet mortgage payments.
Others have been evicted
from rental apartments be-
cause they could not pay the
new rents that massive

A woman from the Tel Kabir neighborhood of south Tel Aviv keeps a tire fire going after she set it, blocking the
road in front of the shack she lives in.

Homeless Crisis

Faced with a flood of immigrants, an absorption
pricetag of $22 billion and a housing shortage that
is spawning tent cities and threatening to cause
riots, Israel is staggering under a new burden.

Soviet immigration have
caused.
"My boyfriend and I live in
a broken-down two bedroom
apartment across from a
cemetery," said Dorit, a 27-
year-old Tel Aviv
schoolteacher. "Up until
now, we've been paying $300
a month, which we could
barely afford. Next month,
the landlord is raising the
rent to $500.
" When I asked him who
would pay such an
outrageous amount, he just
smiled and said, 'the Rus-
sians are coming.' "
Dorit and her boyfriend,
who plan to get married next
month, are currently con-
sidering their options.
"There's just no way we can
rent anyplace in the Tel
Aviv area, which is where
we both work," she said.

The young couple could
join one of the tent em-
campments, but they will
more likely join a growing
wave of Israelis who are
leaving the country.
"Four of my friends are al-
ready living abroad," she
says. "This country has
made it very clear — it
wants Russian olim more
than it wants us."
Much of the anger is
directed against a govern-
ment policy that provides
new immigrants with a fixed
amount of rent money for
their first year in Israel.
"The Russians are used to
living in crowded condi-
tions," says a 30-year-old
delivery man named Avi.
"They live two or three
families in a two bedroom
apartment, and split the
rent. We can't compete with

them. And the money they
get from the government for
rent comes out of the taxes I
pay. It just isn't fair."
Immigrant leaders, con-
cerned about friction be-
tween young Israelis and
olim, have attempted to
build bridges to the tent pro-
testers. Recently, one camp
received a visit from activist
Natan Sharansky, who ex-
plained to the demonstrators
the difficulties of absorbing
so many new arrivals.
"It's not the immigrants
fault," one Israeli said
following the visit. "We
blame the government. In a
year's time, when they stop
getting a housing allowance,
the Russian olim will be liv-
ing in tents with the rest of
us."
Spurred by protest, and by
forecasts of up to 25,000 im-

migrants a month, the
government is beginning to
act. According to Housing
Ministry predictions, Israel
will need 100,000 new hous-
ing units by the end of 1991.
To provide them, Housing
Minister Ariel Sharon has
been granted emergency
powers for three weeks to
import pre-fab dwellings and
trailers, and to cut through
red tape in order to erect
new housing developments.
The ministry also plans to
house olim in army camps,
kibbutzim and inexpensive
hotels.
These drastic measures
are merely a stop gap,
however. Authorities here
believe that within five
years it will be necessary to
build 400,000 homes. At pre-
sent, the entire national
housing stock is approx-
imately 1.2 million dwell-
ings.
The cost of such an under-
taking is staggering. Based
on current projections, the
price tag for absorbing the
immigrants will be $22
billion dollars; $7.5 billion
for housing alone. Twenty
two billion dollars repre-
sents more than half of
Israel's gross national pro-
duct.
Israel expects help in this
undertaking from world
Jewry and from friendly
governments, particularly
the United States. But
regardless of the amount of
money raised abroad, it is
certain to be only a tiny frac-
tion of the true cost of absor-
bing and housing the immi-
grants.
That burden, in the form of
higher taxes and
skyrocketing prices, has al-
ready begun to fall on
Israelis, and it will grow.
"In the Israel of 1991, peo-
ple will work longer and
sweat more," warns promi-
nent economic commentator
Sever Plotzker.
Some politicians, hoping

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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