Congressional Aides Told About Plight of Jews in Ethiopia

Baruch Tegene, an Ethiopian Jew who has rescued over 50 of his fellow Falashas and brought them to Israel, gave a group of Congressional aides an update yesterday afternoon on the dire circumstances of the Falashas inside Ethiopia as well as those inside the refugee camps in Sudan.

The meeting was sponsored and attended by leaders of the North American Jewish Students Network and the National Jewish Law Students Network. Moshe Ronen, president of NAJSN, was spokesman.

Tegene stressed that inside Ethiopia most of the young men are gone from the villages, leaving only women, children and old men to fend against famine and government oppression.

Inside the camps, the 9,000 to 10,000 refugees who fled Ethiopia leaving behind all their property in the hope of getting to Israel, are beset with problems of hunger, polluted water, and prejudice of their Christian and Moslem neighbors in the camps. Tegene said the refugees had to go great distances to obtain water which is badly polluted, resulting in diarrhea which kills many children.

The young Jewish leaders, rested after a six hour fast in front of the Soviet Embassy earlier in the day in behalf of Soviet Jewish Prisoner of Conscience, Zakhar Zunshain, discussed steps Congress could take in working with the Sundanese government to obtain the release of the Falashas.

There is the possibility that as many as 20 a week could be released for family reunification with relatives already in Israel, and a similar number for medical reasons, the young Jews said.

The Congressional aides suggested that the student leaders confer with M. Peter McPherson, head of AID, to help speed up food assistance for the refugee camp. The hope was expressed by the leaders that now, after the election in Israel, the Israeli government will show greater interest in rescuing and settling many more Falashas in Israel.