More steps need to be taken so that new immigrants can arrange, under one roof, all of their affairs which usually involve several government departments, according to a report by Absorption Minister Natan Peled to the Knesset.
Replying to the annual debate on the work of his Ministry, Peled said that, so far, very little had been done to implement the decision made when the Ministry was created to have officials of every government department available in the Absorption Ministry offices to save immigrants from running from one office to another.
He said the Labor Ministry has officials in every district Absorption Ministry office and at every absorption center but the other government departments do not. He said a discussion last month in the Cabinet had been aimed at getting the other Ministries to follow suit.
In an address earlier to students in Tel Aviv, Peled said his Ministry would soon remove at least one source of resentment by the established population toward new immigrants. At his recommendation, he said, automobiles purchased without the payment of taxes and duties will no longer be required to display a white frame around their license plates. The frame was intended to inform policemen that the driver of the car enjoyed tax exemption granted only to new immigrants, temporary residents and invalids. Only the owner and his immediate blood relatives are entitled to drive exempted vehicles and the special marking enabled police to check for violations.
But the large number of such cars in Israel has aroused the ire of old-timers. Most Israeli car buyers must pay duties amounting to 250 percent over the price of the vehicle. Instead of a white frame, the tax exempt status of the car would, in the future, be noted on the driver’s operating license.
In the Knesset debate, Peled said cutting down on material privileges given immigrants would not help solve the problems of Israel’s disadvantaged sector. At the same time, he said, if the nation did not grapple seriously with the problems of the poor, immigration would not be successful.
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