March 1992, Page 19

Special Report

"Haven" a "Hell" For Soviet Jews

By Benjamin Cohen

Early in the morning of Dec. 16, 1991, Dutch police stormed a refugee center near Eindhoven carrying deportation warrants for 51 Soviet Jews who had gone to The Netherlands from Israel. In the struggle that ensued, one man, Sergei Afanasiev, jumped from a window and broke his back. Another man, Sasha Pinchasov, was dragged naked out of his room in handcuffs. When Lila Uranova requested use of the toilet, she was escorted by a male police officer who refused to let her shut the door.

The following day, the unwilling immigrants arrived in Tel Aviv on a chartered plane. Some were still wearing pajamas, and all were dazed. Writing in the Hebrew daily Yediot Ahronot, Yeshayahu Ben Porat remarked: "We have never seen such a horrifying picture. Immigrants landing at Ben-Gurion Airport handcuffed like criminals. And what is their crime? That they aren't Jews, or that they are Jews married to non-Jews, or that they are Jews who couldn't make a living here, or who encountered administrative difficulties or social discrimination-and for whom Israel, in the words of one of them, was 'hell.' For these reasons they fled from here to Holland."

Israel is organizing what amounts to a population transfer of Soviet Jews.

This pathetic episode symbolized Israeli and Western government policy towards emigrating Soviet Jews, an understanding that these emigrants will be denied the freedom to choose their destination. Hungry for more settlers and soldiers, Israel is organizing what amounts to a population transfer of Soviet Jews.

In December, a document sent by the Israeli Embassy in Pretoria to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem revealed that 9,000 Soviet Jews were awaiting permission to reside in South Africa. Israel's links with the apartheid regime are well known, and a number of would-be immigrants already have been denied entry. This has led some South African Jews to accuse Israel of pressuring the government.

Israeli pressure was a key factor in the Dutch decision to deport the migrants. Had they been successful in escaping Israel, it would have signaled other Soviet Jews in Israel that they also could leave. Such an exodus would alert the Western public to the fact that something is profoundly wrong with Israel. For that reason, Michael Kleiner, chair of the Knesset's Absorption Committee and a member of the Likud party, suggested that the forcibly returned migrants be put on trial for libeling the state of Israel.

In fact there are indications that a majority of the Soviet Jews would leave Israel if they had the chance. Uri Gordon, chair of the Immigration Department of the Jewish Agency, which supervises the emigration of Jews to Israel, admitted that 7,000 immigrants had left Israel, and that 3,000 more were actively seeking to do the same.

Why They Leave

Soviet Jewish immigrants are leaving Israel because of the abject misery they face there. Since 1989, nearly 400,000 have arrived, only to encounter the Israeli reality of unemployment and hunger. Around 40 percent of the immigrants are registered as unemployed, despite the fact that an extraordinarily high proportion are qualified professionals. By August 1991, they included 60,000 engineers and technicians, 7,000 artists, 5,000 scientists and 8,000 doctors.

Obtaining work in their chosen professions is made difficult by Israeli authorities. The case of Soviet Jewish physicians is a striking example. Soviet doctors have to prepare for extremely difficult examinations by taking courses which are noted for both their length and infrequency.

In May 1991, only 1,300 doctors had registered for the courses. Their limited success rate in the examinations means that only 660 of the doctors will have received licenses by mid-1992. Nevertheless, Health Minister Ehud Olmert justified the policy, telling Ha'aretz in April 1991: "The courses which they must take, and their success in the examinations, increase their chances of finding work."

Such statements do not match the statistics: Soviet Jews are being thrown into an extreme economic crisis. In 1991, unemployment in Israel rose to 10.4 percent. According to the country's National Insurance Institute report for 1991, 14.3 percent of Israeli families were living below the poverty line. Small wonder, then, that on a tour of Tel Aviv's red light district, a Ma'ariv journalist found many Russian women working in brothels. Most of these prostitutes, he reported, had engineering or other technical skills and were married with children. Even more worrying is the number of recent immigrants-some estimate 300-who have committed suicide.

Another reason for the immigrants' unhappiness is discrimination. Intermarriage with non-Jews was common in the Soviet Union. In 1991, Israeli Absorption Minister Yitzhak Peretz claimed one-third of the arriving Soviet emigrants were, in fact, non-Jews. This has a direct effect on rights and entitlements in Israel which, as Arab Israelis known only too well, are based not on Israeli citizenship, but rather on "Jewish nationality." Since Israeli identity cards show whether a person is Jewish or not, discrimination is easy to enforce.

Dimitri Zubrinski, a Soviet Jew who had remained in Holland while awaiting the outcome of his appeal for asylum, accuses Israel's Absorption Ministry of actually compiling and distributing lists of non-Jewish immigrants. These lists enabled the religious authorities to prevent marriages between Jews and non-Jews, since there is no civil marriage in Israel.

A Challenge for the West

The Jewish Agency estimates that up to 400,000 Jews could arrive in Israel from the former Soviet Republics during 1992. This presents a direct challenge to Western policymakers. Cessation of Israeli settlement in the occupied territories is a necessary condition for the success of the current Middle East peace negotiations. Enabling Soviet Jews to move to countries other than Israel would help put a brake on Housing Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to erase the Green Line by lumping thousands of Jewish residents into the occupied territories with subsidized mortgages and low monthly rents. For Soviet Jews, unable to afford rents within Israel itself, the settlements are becoming a last resort.

Absorption of Soviet Jews in other countries would also give them more hope of a decent future, something which Israel cannot guarantee. "In every area of life there," says Dimitri Zubrinski, "you feel alienated and excluded." Countless other immigrants would agree.

In February, a Dutch court denied Zubrinski's appeal and ordered his return to Israel. He had left Israel because he wasn't prepared to offer the army his skills as a rocket scientist. Instead of returning he went into hiding. Only a humane policy toward Soviet Jews, on the part of the West, can prevent hundreds like him from sharing his plight.

Benjamin Cohen, a journalist based at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting in London, writes frequently on the Middle East.

< Prev		Next >