Central Bureau for Statistics figures released last week showed a 22 per cent fall in the number of Jews immigrating to Israel last year. The number was a further 30per cent down in the first three months of this year. The figures reflect growing anxiety about the prospect of life in Israel six months after the intifada began. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who took office two months ago, said he wanted to see a million new immigrants over a decade. Zionists believe that Israel's future depends on attracting more immigrants because the Arab birth rate far outstrips the Jewish, leaving a demographic imbalance.
Potential newcomers are also worried about integration of immigrants and the standard of living.
Under Israel's immigration law, migrants receive citizenship if one parent or grandparent is Jewish. Since the early 1990s, about 800,000 immigrants have reached Israel from Russia and the former Soviet republics to make up more than 16 per cent of Israel's Jewish population. But as the economy in eastern Europe stabilises, the half a million Jews still left have become more sceptical of the benefits of life in the Middle East. In the first two months of the year, only 5038 Russian Jews emigrated, compared with 8031 last year. All they knew was that it was a land flowing with milk and honey.