I NEWS I Jewish Emigres Pouring Into Israel, Germany Food Bank of Oakland County 150 Osmun Pontiac, MI 48056 332-1473 YES! I/ we want to help provide nutritious food to the needy of my community. Uwe have enclosed: ❑ $5 ❑ $10 ❑ $25 I/we prefer to contribute $ Please send additional envelopes. ❑ $50 ❑ $100 ❑ Other each: ❑ month, ❑ quarter. Name Address City/State/Zip Checks should be made out to Food Bank of Oakland County All gifts are tax deductible. 52 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1990 Thanks for your support. Tel Aviv (JTA) — Alarmed at mounting chaos in their homeland, thousands of Jews have left the Soviet Union in recent days and are arriving in Israel in record numbers. More than 5,500 landed at Ben-Gurion Airport from the evening of Dec. 20 through the morning of Dec. 23, and the weekend total was ex- pected to exceed 7,000 by that evening. Soviet Jewish emigres are also arriving in Berlin in much larger numbers, but the totals are small by corn- parison with the immigra- tion to Israel. About 300 arrived in Berlin over the course of three days late last week. They have been coming at the rate of 100 a week for the past month, according to Matthias Jahr, director of the office in former East Berlin that counsels and helps Soviet Jews. But the situation is very bad, Mr. Jahr said, because Berlin cannot provide ac- commodations for the newcomers. More than 2,000 Soviet Jews have arrived since May seeking residence permits. Mr. Jahr said the number of refugees has increased sharply because of the debate in Germany over whether to absorb Soviet Jews and how many. The prime ministers of the 16 federal states that com- prise unified Germany met to discuss the matter last week. Max Streibl of Bavaria said they agreed "to accept a considerable number of Soviet Jews over a period of several years." Some press reports said the most likely ceiling was 1,000 a year. The Jewish community is lobbying hard for free im- migration for Soviet Jews and has political support from the opposition SPD, or Social Democratic Party. More than 150,000 Soviet Jews have gone to Israel since January to escape anti- Semitism and growing polit- ical and economic problems in the Soviet Union. But a persistent minority of Soviet Jewish emigres feel Germany offers greater po- litical and economic stabili- ty. In Israel, the arrival rate at Ben-Gurion is about 100 an hour. Chartered El Al planes and aircraft of the Polish and Hungarian airlines are bringing the olim in from Warsaw, Budapest and Bucharest, Romania. The immigrants are re- quired to change planes at those points because there are still no direct flights to Israel from Moscow. Simcha Dinitz, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, which pays the cost of transporting the immi- grants, predicted that bet- ween 1,200 and 1,300 immi- grants will be arriving daily from now on. By comparison, 1,909 Soviet Jews arrived in Israel in all of 1987, and only 220 arrived during the entire previous year. Soviet Jewish immigration for December is expected to exceed 30,000 and rise to 40,000 in January, as econ- omic deterioration and polit- ical uncertainty grip the Soviet Union. By com- parison, just under 5,000 Soviet Jews arrived in Israel last January. The flood of arrivals is placing a severe strain on Israel's economic and social fabric. One of the most serious challenges is housing the newcomers. A container ship arrived at the port of Ashdod with 441 American-built mobile homes, the first con- signment of temporary hous- ing to reach Israel from the United States. Each unit is 40 feet long and contains 144 square feet of living space. Another 3,000 of the same kind are due in Israel next month, and 50,000 smaller units will be imported next year. But they may not be enough to keep pace with immigration, and tent cities may have to be set up. Drop In Tourism Costs Millions Jerusalem (JTA) — The drop in tourism to Israel caused by the Persian Gulf crisis has cost the Jewish state $750 million in lost revenue this year, Tourism Minister Gideon Patt recent- ly told a world conference of Jewish National Fund leaders meeting here. Leaders of the tourism in- dustry held a news con- ference Dec. 19 at which they estimated a cumulative loss of $750 million to hotels, shops and tour companies as a result of the Gulf crisis, which capped three bad years due to the intifada.