C42NItIMPHARY
succeed in drawing a signifi-
cant percentage of the Jew-
ish population of the former
Soviet Union to Israel, he
maintained, noting that the
Israeli government has to
develop a plan to encourage
more people to come.
The plan, he said, should
focus on their specific con-
cerns about jobs and schools
and should recognize the
unprecedented nature of this
aliyah.
"After all, why are they
making aliyah? Because of
their children.
"But our leadership is not
even thinking in these
terms," he said. Instead,
"the government (absolved)
itself (of) the responsibility
to think about how to solve
the problem (in the belief)
that it would take care of
itself.
" 'We will give them some
money and they will take
The plan should
focus specifically
on jobs and
schools.
change of all of the Jewish
world."
There is no doubt that the
Jews from the former Soviet
Union have to change, and
they are changing, said Mr.
Sharansky.
But, he said, Israeli socie-
ty, whether it wants to or
not, is also changing, and of-
ficials are resisting that
change.
"That's why (officials) say,
`In the '50s it was like this,
why should it be different
now?' " he said.
But this aliyah is different,
according to Mr. Sharansky,
who said that it is not
Zionist in nature.
Olim from the former
Soviet Union are profes-
sionally strong and very
ambitious, and Israelis,
whether working in univer-
sities, hospitals, hotels or
gas stations, feel the com-
petition, he said.
"So the aliyah becomes
threatening and is hard for
(Israeli) society to accept,"
he said.
Sometimes "it is difficult
not to despair," he said.
"But I hope that Am Yisrael,
the Jews of the world, have
much more inner power than
their leaders (believe) they
do."
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care of themselves,' " is how
he described the official at-
titude of the Israeli govern-
ment to the situation.
Mr. Sharansky said he was
told by top officials as early
as 1988 not to be concerned
because the immigrants
would be absorbed the way
they were absorbed in the
1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
But the old models do not
apply, he said.
At the heart of the matter,
he stated, is the challenge to
the "orthodox, fundamental
concept of the Jewish state"
that this aliyah poses.
"After all," he said, "the
idea with which the Jewish
state was (founded) is that it
was like a melting pot where
a new type of Jew is born"
after shedding his
characteristics and identity
from the Diaspora.
It meant that those who
came here had to become
Israelis as quickly as possi-
ble.
While this may have been
appropriate at the beginning
of statehood, said Mr.
Sharansky, it no longer ap-
plies.
"Thank God, we already
exist and we are a nation
which justifies its existence
correctly as a continuation of
the Jewish people," he said.
He noted that there is no
longer "an absorption of
Diaspora Jews by Israel, but
a kind of synthesis, a mutual
Israeli Arabs
Bound For Syria
Jerusalem (JTA) — A group
of 50 Israeli Arabs embarked
on an unprecedented trip to
Syria to pay condolences to
Syrian President Hafez
Assad.
Mr. Assad's son, Bassel,
was killed in a car accident
in January.
The delegation included
Knesset Member Abdul
Wahab Darawshe, head of
the Arab Democratic Party.
The trip had been schedul-
ed for last week, but was
postponed after the Feb. 25
murders of more than 40 Pa-
lestinians at a mosque in
Hebron.
The trip is reported to be
the first time Mr. Assad has
given permission for a group
of Israeli citizens to visit
Syria.
The trip was complicated,
however, by Syrian demands
that the delegation not cross
into Syria from the Golan
Heights and that they not
use Israeli passports.
Prior to the Hebron
murders, Mr. Darawshe had
said he would not be convey-
ing any messages from the
Israeli government to Assad.
But, he added at the, time, he
hoped the visit would add to
an "atmosphere of good will
in the region." ❑
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