Ethiopian Aliyah is to Resume Soon, but Future of Jews There Uncertain

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir confirmed Monday that Israel expects the imminent resumption of immigrant flights from Ethiopia.

He expressed concern, nevertheless, for the safety of Jews in Ethiopia and the continuation of their aliyah should rebel forces triumph over the government of President Mengistu Haile Mariam.

The weekly flights, which have brought about 2,000 olim from Ethiopia to Israel since the start of the year, were interrupted at the beginning of this month without explanation.

In Washington, a statement issued by the Ethiopian Embassy said 500 Ethiopian Jews had been granted exit visas in recent days and would be leaving the country soon.

Shamir was quoted Monday as saying he expects the flights to resume before the month ends.

But in briefing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the prime minister did not conceal his anxiety for the safety of Jews waiting in Addis Ababa to emigrate, considering the precarious military situation of the Mengistu regime.

Shamir put their number at 15,000. Other sources estimate there are over 18,000 Jews still in Ethiopia.

Israeli experts fear their exit would be blocked if rebel forces capture Addis Ababa, a possibility that seems more likely now than at any previous time.

Moreover, the safety of the Jews could be in jeopardy. Some of the rebel forces have been supported by Libya. And they tend to see Israel as having backed Mengistu.

When the immigrant flights stopped two weeks ago, there were media reports that Mengistu suspended them to extract gasoline and weapons from Israel for his beleaguered army.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry flatly rejected such speculation.

NO LINKAGE WITH ARMS

Unnamed government sources were quoted Monday by the respected Israeli daily Ha’aretz as declaring unequivocally that Israel would not consider supplying arms to Mengistu even if it might jeopardize aliyah.

The sources implied that Israel was not about to offend the United States, which has a negative attitude toward Mengistu, whom it considers a Marxist.

The newspaper emphasized that no linkage has been established between arms for Mengistu and the halted immigrant flights.

An announcement made after the weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday and elaborated upon Sunday evening by a government official, Uri Lubrani, said the resumption of the flights was imminent.

It followed “intensive contacts” over the weekend between the Israeli ambassador in Addis Ababa, Asher Naim, and the Ethiopian authorities.

Lubrani, a former ambassador to Ethiopia who now coordinates the government’s efforts to bring Ethiopian Jews to Israel, visited Addis Ababa recently as Shamir’s personal emissary.

Lubrani said Mengistu told him he considered the emigration of Ethiopian Jews to reunite with their families a strictly humanitarian issue in no way connected to arms supplies or other bilateral issues between Ethiopia and Israel.

Mengistu made that statement “in my presence, as envoy of the prime minister and in the presence of an American envoy,” Lubrani said in an appearance on Israel Television.

He said “technical and bureaucratic” difficulties caused the flights to be suspended but they were “not insurmountable.” He counseled “patience, which we are sometimes lacking in.”

Lubrani confirmed that the Ethiopian government is facing hard times as the civil war continues. But he would not speculate what effect any particular outcome of the fighting would have on Jews remaining in Ethiopia.