A thousand Ethiopian Jews per month could soon be allowed to make aliyah, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Monday.
In Washington, the American Association for Ethiopian Jews said it had received similar information.
Those numbers would represent a significant increase in Ethiopian emigration over recent months. Some 500 Ethiopian Jews were allowed to leave the country last month, but only 58 were permitted to emigrate the month before.
Shamir, speaking to members of the American Jewish press, said approximately 20,000 Ethiopian Jews are now waiting in the capital city of Addis Ababa for permission to emigrate.
“They are waiting there not in the best conditions of life,” he said, referring to the makeshift housing, unsanitary conditions and rampant disease with which they must cope.
“We have tried to accelerate their emigration,” Shamir said. “In such a way, we will put an end to their suffering.”
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