Only 850 newcomers were registered as immigrants during December, 100 less than November when the liya figure fell below 1,000 a month for the first time in 12 years. During December 889 Jews left the Soviet Union but only 206 of them came to Israel, making the drop-out rate a high 76 percent.
Throughout 1980, a total of 1.2 million tourists visited Israel, a six percent increase over 1979. Two-thirds of the tourists came from Western Europe, mainly West Germany and Great Britain. About a quarter of the total came from the U.S.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.