400 olim welcomed in gala event marking Int'l Aliyah Day
By Haaretz Service Last update - 06:05 06/05/2008
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/980982.html

The Immigration Absorption Ministry and the Jewish Agency on Monday welcomed
some 400 new immigrants from around the world in a gala ceremony marking
International Aliyah Day.

The ceremony was held at 3 P.M. at Ben Gurion International Airport in honor
of the hundreds of immigrants who arrived from 23 countries including the
United States, Canada, South Africa Russia and France.

Immigrants who arrived Monday were eligible for a package of special
immigration benefits, including extra baggage allowance, temporary free
housing for young olim, 60 hours of guided tours around Israel, as well as a
number of other excursions and events.

Nearly 3 million people have immigrated to Israel since the country's
founding in 1948, roughly one third of which immigrated during the 1990s.
Some 300 people immigrated from India in 2006 - a fivefold increase from
2005.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, since 2002 - the year in
which the major wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union came to an
end - there has been a consistent downward trend in immigration. In 2006,
immigration was down to 1980s levels, during which time 9,000-24,000 people
immigrated annually.

In 2006, only 2.7 people immigrated for every 1,000 veteran residents. In
1990-91, at the height of immigration from the former Soviet Union, that
figure stood at an average of 35 per 1,000, and from 1990-2001, it averaged
17 per 1,000. Starting in 2003, that figure fell to below 3.8 per 1,000 -
also the rate during 1980-89, the period of lowest immigration in Israel's
history.

The Jewish Agency announced earlier this year that it was planning to close
one of its most historically important branches, the Immigration and
Absorption Department, as part of a radical restructuring plan.

The Agency has been taking punches from every direction in recent years;
politically, organizationally and [in terms of] its image," a senior Agency
official said. Donations made by individuals in the U.S. Jewish community,
which account for two-thirds of the Agency's annual budget, have been in
steady decline in recent years.

Many philanthropists have opted to give their money to private groups like
Taglit-Birthright Israel, which organizes free tours of Israel for Jewish
young adults, or Nefesh B'Nefesh, which focuses solely on "revitalizing"
immigration.

Nefesh B'Nefesh claims that its waiting list has 20,000 Jews who want to
move to Israel.