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Left Behind?

flEfOr

air 5:

Ethiopian Exodus:

A Timeline

1979:

The first few hundred Jews manage to leave
Ethiopia and get to Israel.

1980-83: A few thousand more Ethiopian Jews
come out quietly through the Sudan.

1984: Huge numbers of Ethiopian Jews go to the
Sudan trying to get to Israel. Dire conditions lead to
the deaths of more than 4,000 en route or in refugee
camps.

December 1984: Operation Moses brings 6,000 to
8,000 out of Ethiopia. But the Sudanese government
brings the operation to a halt after newspapers publish
stories on the secret rescue. A mop-up operation
brings out fewer than another 1,000.

1985-89: Several thousand others are quietly
brought out by Jewish aid groups and the Israeli gov-
ernment.

January 1990-May 1991: The numbers of those
allowed to emigrate increases to between 8,000 and
10,000 after Ethiopia agrees to allow Israel to reopen
its embassy.

r

With the July 1 closure of a compound
in Addis Ababa, Israel may leave
thousands of Ethiopian 'Jews" behind.

assistance to individuals who in the future obtain
DEBRA NUSSBAUM COHEN
permission from Israel to emigrate.
Special to The Jewish News
Recent visitors to northern Ethiopian villages
report that one 6-year-old Falash Mura child was
ourteen years after Israel launched its
burned to death when her family's home was set on
first dramatic rescue operation of Jews
fire and that hundreds have fled from their villages.
from Ethiopia, those involved in the
But these reports have not been confirmed by other
effort had planned to close up shop,
sources and are questioned by some
bringing a final 280 Jews to Israel.
involved in the issue.
But efforts by the Israeli government
Ethiopian
Underlying the immediate questions is
immigrants cel-
and humanitarian groups to end opera-
ebrate their bar the long-range fate of as many as 15,000
tions in the east African nation are
mitzvah at the Falash Mura.
being complicated by reports of atroci-
The Israeli government and some Jewish
Temple Mount
ties against those still hoping to make
humanitarian
officials consider the Falash
in
Jerusalem.
aliyah, continuing disputes over the Jew-
Such
scenes
may
Mura
to
be
Christians
whose ancestors con-
ish status of many seeking refuge and
be
ending.
verted
from
Judaism
generations
ago. Oth-
urgent pleas from those being left
ers,
however,
say
the
Falash
Mura
didn't
behind.
actually convert to Christianity, but do not live
At the request of the Israelis, the American Jew-
religious Jewish lives.
ish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) will close
Three recent visitors to several northern villages
down its compound in the Ethiopian capital of
report the Falash Mura are being targeted in
Addis Ababa by July 1. Two hundred ofthe 280
pogroms and are being burned out of their homes
people in the compound were to be flown to Israel
by their Christian neighbors who want to expropri-
Thursday, with the remaining 80 to follow next
ate their property.
week.
In separate interviews from Addis Ababa and
JDC will close its medical clinic and cut its staff
Israel, the travelers reported that Christians have
of nine down to two and will provide temporary
set fire to the modest huts, or tukuls, of their
Debra Nussbaum Cohen writes for the Jewish
Falash Mura neighbors in the middle of the night,
Telegraphic Agency.
waving guns and screaming at them to go to Israel.

,

May 1991: Israel launches Operation Solomon, a
dramatic 36-hour airlift that brings an additional
14,000 to Israel, including 2,000 Falash Mura

August 1991: An Israeli ministerial commission
rules that entry to Israel requires 'a clear belonging of
the converted person to his ethnic roots, clear desire
to return to Judaism and a process of return to

Judaism:"

1992: 3,500 Jews from Upper Kwara and another
3,000 to 4,000 Falash Mum go to Israel.

1993-1998: About 10,000-12,000 Fala.sh Mura
leave for Israel, some 5,000-7,000 brought throu
the compound in Addis Ababa and the rest from
northern Ethiopia. Falash Mum all have undergone
"return-to-Judaism" "procedures.

April 1993 An Israeli ministerial commission rules
that only those eligible under the Law of Return, and
some under a very narrow definition for family reuni
fication, may come to Israel from Ethiopia.

June 1997: After years of political wrangling, the
Israeli government decides to allow entry, on humani-
tarian grounds, to those Falash Mura who have been
waiting in the Addis Ababa compound, even if they
cannot be admitted under the Law of Return.

October 1997-June 1998: Some 4,000 remaining
Falash Mura are brought to Israel from the compound
in Addis Ababa, where they have been living since the
early 1990s.
May 1998: The government of Israel instructs Jew-
ish aid groups to end their work in the capital.

June 1998: The government of Israel announces
plans to close the compound in Addis Ababa, end
immigration from Ethiopia under Law of Entry and
process via the Law of Return only those of recent
Jewish lineage. Cl

6/26
1998

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