Falashmura dream of aliyah fades as deadline approaches

Haaretz Last update - 10:20 11/04/2008
By Anshel Pfeffer

GONDAR - Walelah Alemo last saw her granddaughter four years ago. She knows the child now has an Israeli name, but she doesn't know what it is. Alemo also doesn't know where in Israel her son lives with his family, or what he does for a living, but says she just wants to join him and her brother and sisters who also live in Israel. Alemo is a widow raising five more unmarried children. For the past five years, the Alemo family has lived in uncertainty in this northern Ethiopian city, where they came hoping to immigrate to Israel on a permit for Falashmura. But now, two months before Israel plans to stop the Falashmura immigration, the family's chances seem smaller than ever, along with another 12,000 Falashmura waiting in Gondar. Many say they don't understand why they are not being allowed to move to Israel. They seem to have made peace with their situation, although they believe they will eventually get to Israel. The money from selling Alemo's home in her village - which she left because she was sure she was about to move to Israel - ran out a long time ago and now she scrapes by doing odd jobs. Unlike other Falashmura families, her relatives in Israel don't send her money. Only when she speaks of the dream of aliya does she smile and her face lights up.

"God promised us we would live in Israel," she says, "now is the time to join our relatives there." It seems Alemo is not too worried by the stop in immigration. "I am sure the proper time will arrive," she reiterates. Alemo said she doesn't know why she hasn't received an aliyah permit yet, in contrast to her brothers and sisters. She doesn't think the fact she had no connection to Judaism before she came to the Falashmura compound in Gondar should interfere. "In the village, I was like everyone," she says simply. "I acted like a Christian. When I came here, I returned to Judaism." Stories like Alemo's are typical of the Falashmura who live in three Gondar compounds established by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry. "I will not go back to my village," says Awanto Bala'ee, a 50-year-old father of eight. He is sure he hasn't gotten to immigrate because he stayed in the village to sell his family's belongings. All his relatives arrived in Gondar before him, including some of his children, and made aliyah some time ago. "I came here seven years ago and got stuck," he recounts. Despite the situation, Bala'ee said he has not lost hope. The possibility that he will not immigrate to Israel is inconceivable. "It will change one day, when God is willing," he says. "It is impossible that the parents are here and the children there. It is true that a few generations back our ancestors converted to Christianity because of problems where they lived, but there were those among us who remained religiously observant."

Twenty-year-old Falecka Gaberro has lived half his life in Gondar. His parents immigrated to Israel years ago - his father 10 years ago and his mother seven years ago. But Gaberro did not receive an aliyah permit and continues to wait with his pregnant wife. He has many plans for his future life in Israel - he wants to serve in the army, study and work as a journalist. A few hundred meters away, at another compound, Jewish Agency representatives are preparing a group of sixty Falashmura who have received aliyah permits, for the two-day trip to the capital, Addis Ababa. From there they will fly to Israel. Among the imminent immigrants there was no mood of celebration, but of making peace with their fate, just like at the compound of those Israel refuses to accept. Two of the group, Smemo and Ayanshahu Abagar, stand patiently in line for photographs for travel documents and medical interviews. According to them, they have no idea why they won the cherished permit after nine years waiting in Gondar. "It took four years until we were summoned for an interview," says Smemo. "My brother got a permit much faster."

End of immigration
In 2003, after pressure from the Ethiopian community in Israel and U.S. Jewish groups, the state determined that 300 Falashmura would immigrate every month. The Falashmura are descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity. Those who could prove their Jewish roots and have family in Israel, could come under the Law of Entry and not the Law of Return. Since then, 26,000 Falashmura have immigrated. But in 2005, Israel decided to end the immigration, arguing that all those who were entitled already had permits.The state was also concerned that thousands of non-Jewish Ethiopians would claim rights to immigrate. The last 500 Falashmura still in Ethiopia who hold immigration permits will be flown to Israel in early June. The Jewish Agency has already begun dismantling the Gondar compound. Unlike in other places, the Jewish Agency did not deal in Jewish education or strengthening the local community. In addition, it is at the center of the controversy between the state and Falashmura representatives and Jewish organizations demanding the immigration continue.

Israeli and American pro-Falashmura organizations describe the Gondar camps as a humanitarian disaster, including malnourished children and beggars. But in a visit this week, none of that was evident. Dr. Rick Hodes of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee said he saw no evidence of a humanitarian disaster. "There is no hunger and no infectious disease. In fact, more than 1,000 Falashmura children receive two meals a day at an NACOEJ food station. Each family received a kilogram of corn flour a day and once a month, five kilos of the special flour for local bread known as injera. In addition, many Falashmura work in the city or for the NACOEJ and some receive money from their family in Israel. "This is the only place in Africa where healthy people are being fed," says the head of one international aid organization active in Ethiopia. There is no humanitarian crisis, but there is a human crisis. Of the 12,000 Falashmura in the compounds, 4,000 applications have been rejected by Israel's Interior Ministry, and the state refused to even examine the others. The government and the Jewish Agency are convinced these people have no connection to Judaism. Israeli authorities say everyone left in the Gondar camps came there because NACOEJ activists pushed them, selling them false hopes. However, Falashmura and NACOEJ representatives claim that the Israeli government was guilty of smoke and mirrors in deciding to bring the Falashmura to Israel and then limiting their numbers. They demand Israel examine the applications of the remaining 8,700 Falashmura in Gondar. But the state fears that each additional immigrant will demand to bring his relatives in an endless cycle. This is echoed in a comment from Bala'ee. "We have relatives in the villages who stay there because they hear how we suffer here."