NEWS I

The Board of Directors,
Officers and Staff of
Huntington Banks of Michigan
Extend Their Best Wishes to
the Community for a
Happy New Year.

Ethiopian Descendants
Claim Harassment

Jerusalem (JTA) —
Thousands of Ferris Mora,
descendants of Ethiopian
Jews who converted to
Christianity, are being
harassed by villagers who
want their land and are flee-
ing to Addis Ababa.
Micha Feldman, the Jew-
ish Agency representative in
Ethiopia, has sent an urgent
report to Jerusalem saying
4,000 of the Ferris Mora
have reportedly reached the
Ethiopian capital and are
waiting for Israel to open its
gates to them.
Israel has not made a final
decision on the matter, but
has so far been reluctant to
allow the Ferris Mora into
the country. A government-
appointed fact-finding mis-
sion to Ethiopia concluded in
June that the Ferris Mora,
who number at least 25,000,
had converted to Christiani-
ty 100 years ago and today
lead a totally un-Jewish life.
This week Israel decided to
allow the immigration of 100
Ferris Mora "on a human-
itarian basis." Most of them
are elderly people left

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The Ethiopian govern-
ment, which regards the
Ferris Mora as Ethiopian
citizens, is also placing
obstacles in the way of their
emigration. The government
has said it regards attempts
emigration as interference
in its internal affairs.
The Ethiopian Church in-
dicated that bringing the
group to Israel would be
regarded as an attempt to
reconvert them.
Mr. Tsaban is due to visit
Ethiopia shortly to study the
issue first hand.

Vatican Ties
Won't Lessen Concern

CSHANA TOVA

••

behind after the May 1991
Operation Solomon airlifted
most of Ethiopia's Jews to
Israel. These elderly people
are now being permitted to
join relatives in Israel.
Immigration and Absorp-
tion Minister Yair Tsaban
said the move was not a
precedent but rather one
that involved these in-
dividuals only. The emigres
would not be considered new
immigrants and would not
enjoy the same benefits as
olim.

J

New York (JTA) — The
Vatican has assured Pales-
tinians of its continued con-
cern for their welfare as it
moves toward closer ties
with Israel.
The assurance was con-
veyed by Joaquin Navarro-
Valls, director of the Vatican
press office, in a recent issue
of L'Osservatore Romano,
according to Rabbi Leon
Klenicki, director of inter-
faith affairs at the Anti
Defamation League.
It followed expressions of
concern by Moslem and
Christian Arab clerics in
Jerusalem in the wake of a
July 29 decision in Rome to
move toward normalization
of relations between the Vat-
ican and Israel.
The concern was conveyed
in a letter to Pope John Paul
II signed by Latin Patriarch
Michel Sabbah, Grand Mufti
Ibrahim Shaaban, Melkite
Catholic Patriarch Vicar
Lutfi Laham and Anglican
Bishop Samir Kafity, accor-
ding to a church press ser-
vice in Geneva.
Vicar Laham was quoted
as telling the Swiss Catholic
news agency APIC that the
Jerusalem clerics were not
objecting to the move toward

diplomatic ties with Israel as
such. They only wanted to be
reassured there would be no
deterioration in relations
with the Palestinians.
"For many years, the Vat-
ican has taken very clear
positions on the cause of the
Palestinian Arabs and on
Jerusalem," Vicar Laham
said, according to the
Ecumenical Press Service of
the Geneva- based World
Council of Churches.

Vicar Laham said he was
pleased Vatican represent-
atives had briefed churches
in Jerusalem before announ-
cing the formation of a
bilateral study commission
with Israel.

Some of the signatories are
members of a Moslem-
Christian committee formed
to closely follow the discus-
sions between Israel and the
Vatican, he said.
While expressing concern
over the closer ties between
the two states, Vicar Laham
was optimistic about the
future of Middle East peace
negotiations.
"We are in favor of
anything that can help the
rapprochement between
peoples," he said.