Aliya increased by 40 percent in the first four months of 1987 compared to the same period last year, Immigration and Absorption Minister Yaacov Tzur reported to the Knesset Tuesday. The rise was due mainly to the arrival of 630 immigrants from South Africa since January. In the same period of 1986, their number was 286.
Tzur said he expected 1,000 immigrants from South Africa by the end of the year. The outlook for aliya from the Soviet Union is not so good although many more Jews are leaving the USSR this year than last year, he said.
Although 580 Soviet Jews arrived in Israel this year, the dropout rate is still about 75 percent. The total number of Jews who left the Soviet Union since January is 2,500.
Tzur told the Knesset that immigrants now have a greater choice of residence compared to the past. He said his Ministry was making a determined effort to simplify bureaucratic procedures.
The religious MKs, David Danino of the National Religious Party and Shimon Shlom of Shas, complained that too little attention was paid to the “spiritual absorption” of immigrants.
MKs Matityahu Peled of the Progressive List and Dedi Zucker of the Citizens Rights Movement (CRM) opposed proposals to fly immigrants directly from Moscow to Israel.
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