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Ethiopia To Halt
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into Israel from the current 80
per month to 200.
One Foreign Ministry official
said last week that those who
were closely involved with Oper-
ation Solomon, the massive evac-
uation of some 14,000 Ethiopian
Jews in 1991, uniformly agree
with the Ethiopian government.
They believe the claims of the
Falash Mora that they are Jew-
ish and, therefore, belong in Is-
rael are "baseless."
Current Israeli policy permits
the immigration to Israel of
Falash Mora in humanitarian
and family reunification cases. It
also permits them entry under
the Law of Return if they provide
proof of their Jewishness in the
form of a certificate by a kes, an
Ethiopian Jewish spiritual
leader.
The Ethiopians do not object
to the emigration on an individ-
ual basis, said an Absorption
Ministry spokesman.
The Ethiopian government
simply does not recognize the
Falash Mom as a legitimate eth-
nic group, in part because it
doesn't want a massive internal
migration, he said.
Meanwhile, Absorption Min-
ister Yair Tsaban has called for
increased sensitivity to the po-
sition of the Ethiopian govern-
ment and has said he aims to
lower the profile of the issue.
RNS/R EJTERS
1995 MONTE CARLO Z34
Jerusalem (JTA) — The Ethiopi-
an government has signaled to
Israel in recent days that it is no
longer receptive to the systemat-
ic emigration to Israel of the
Falash Mora and warned that Is-
rael must stop the stream of
would-be emigrants to the capi-
tal of Addis Ababa.
The Falash Mora, hundreds of
whom have immigrated to Israel
over the past several months,
claim to be descendants of
Ethiopian Jews who converted to
Christianity.
But recently the Ethiopian po-
lice chief told Israel's ambassador
to Ethiopia, Ori Noy, that their
claim is a "fabrication."
Chief Hassan Shifra reported-
ly threatened to intervene in the
situation as his government saw
fit if Israel did not take any ac-
tion.
Israeli officials say the Ethiopi-
an government is worried about
the chaos and dislocation creat-
ed by the steady migration of res-
idents from the north into squalid
shanty towns around Addis Aba-
ba, from where they hope to de-
part for Israel.
The Ethiopian stance pits the
Israeli Foreign Ministry, which
is apparently eager to appease
the Ethiopian government,
against the Absorption Ministry,
which has been seeking to in-
crease the flow of Falash Mora
1995 MONTE CARLO LS
Jack
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TH E D ETRO
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10
ORCHARD LAKE RD.
Between 14 Mile & 15 Mile
OPEN SATURDAYS
855-9700
8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
HOURS: Mon. & Thurs. 8:30 a.m. - 9 p.m., Tues. 8:00 a.m. - 6 p.m., Wed. & Fri. 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.
An Ethiopian mother and daughter at Ben-Gurion Airport.