58 in the United Arab Emirates, 85 percent in Qatar, and 79 percent in Kuwait (Nagi, 1986).

Temporary labor migration should not have any impact on the World Bank's estimates of net international migration. It is difficult to determine, however, how many of the labor migrants will stay in the labor-importing countries permanently. Those who do stay permanently should be counted as immigrants when they arrive in tha host country. It is believed that there is little potential for Asian migrants to stay in the Middle East indefinitely (Arnold and Shah, 1986). This is particularly true for labor migrants from East and Southeast Asia, who rarely bring their families with them and who have no desire to live permanently in the Middle East. The tendency to stay in the Middle East is somewhat higher for South Asians who have a longer history of migration to that area. Many countries in the Middle East have well-established communities of Indians and Pakistanis who have lived there for ten years or more. The greatest potential for the permanent immigration, however, comes from labor migrants from Yemen, Egypt and other countries in the area. These immigrants blend into the host society more easily and they are less reluctant to consider permanent settlement in the labor-importing countries.

In the 1950s and 1960s, labor flows within the Middle East often resulted in permanent settlement (United Nations, 1982). Even though the situation has changed significantly since that time, it would still be wise to assume that a small proportion of South Asians and a somewhat larger proportion of labor migrants from the Middle East and North Africa will stay on permanently in many Middle Eastern destination countries.

Most of the previous World Bank estimates for the Middle Eastern region seem reasonable. A few comments about pecific country situations appear below.

# Israel

The previous World Bank and United Nations estimates are in reasonably close agreement for most periods, but the World Bank has used a much higher net immigration figure for 1980-1985. I do not have data for that entire period, but I would note that according to a 1980 report, there was a decrease in the number of Jews immigrating to Israel and about 2,000 Israelis per month were emigrating at that time (United Nations, 1982). Lamdany (1982) found that 1980 was the year with the highest ever rate of emigration from Israel (8.8 per thousand residents). Moreover, it has been estimated that in 1982 the number of emigrants approximately equalled the number of immigrants. Emigration to the United States has been substantial during the 1980s. Between fiscal year 1980 and fiscal year 1987, an average of 3,415 persons born in Israel immigrated to the United States per year (Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1988, 1987). However, the number of U.S. immigrants who report Israel as their country of last residence is even higher (an average of 4,392 per year for fiscal years 1982-1987). [Note that no immigration statistics by country of last residence exist for 1980-1981]. In addition, more than 9,000 Israelis immigrated to Canada between 1980 and 1987 (Employment and Immigration Canada, 1987, and unpublished tables from