More British Jews are settling in Israel and the trend may continue, according to figures and other data published here. Last year, 693 people from Britain took up temporary residents permits in Israel, compared with 355 the year before. This was in addition to Britons already in Israel who took up full citizenship last year, bringing the overall 1977 total to more than 1000.
According to Hanan Hanniel, director of the Jewish Agency’s aliya department in London, there has also been a 36 percent increase in the number of British olim in the first four months of 1978–218 compared with 160 in the same period last year. Hanniel presented the figures at a recent press conference at the Israel Embassy attended by two Israelis of British origin who have spent several weeks talking to potential immigrants in different parts of the country.
Lionel Berger, a Glasgow dentist who has lived in Israel for eight years, and Peter Fisher, a London technician who immigrated four years ago, reported that they had found a “strong aliya atmosphere,” especially in smaller provincial communities, which was reflected in the latest statistics.
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