After a 17 haut flight from Manila 102 Vietnamese refugees arrive via Athens at Ben Gurion Airport this morning. They were greeted by Absorption and Housing Minister David Levy who headed a large delegation of Israelis and former Vietnamese refugees who settled in Israel in 1977. “We shall provide you with solid land to step on,” Levy told the newcomers, referring to the weeks they had been stranded aboard a ship in Manila Bay.
The refugees, with tears in their eyes, thanked the Minister and the delegation. After a short ceremony at the airport they were taken by buses to Affuleh where they will stay for some time of a new immigrants absorption center. Even before their arrival in Affuleh, housewives there were preparing cookies and sweets for the new guests, Rooms were being prepared and decorated with flowers and tables were set with bowls of fresh fruit. The Vietnamese already in Israel will help the newcomers during their first period of adjustment.
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