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August 29, 2003

Aliyah remains a top priority

The future of Israel is also a motherhood issue for Minister Tzipi Livni.
PAT JOHNSON SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

Tzipi Livni is Israel's minister of immigration and absorption. She is also a mother. And the two roles are inextricably linked, she says. The kind of Israel her children inherit will be directly affected by the way the Jewish state integrates newcomers, treats minorities and reacts to continued violence.

Like Canada, Israel is a country for whom immigration is vital lifeblood. Natural growth rates in both countries have tended to be low, while migrants have arrived in waves, based on international events.

The whole history of Israel and the society that has emerged there over 55 years of statehood has been shaped by the people who have made aliyah and the way they have been received by the pre-existing population, said Livni, who will speak in Vancouver Sept. 9 as the featured guest at the launch of the annual Combined Jewish Appeal campaign.

"Before being a minister, I'm a mother," Livni told the Bulletin in a telephone interview earlier this month. "My hope is to know when I die that I will leave them a safe Jewish place to live in."

All Israelis, seasoned sabras as well as newcomers, are affected by the instability and capricious violence that erupted in tragedy again this month. The difficult path to coexistence takes another unpredicted turn, and the immigration minister's role, among other things, is to explain Israeli policies.

Though Israel has absorbed more than a million people from the former Soviet Union over the past decade, economic refugees from Argentina, war-weary Iraqi Jews and the incidental flow of olim from around the globe, these are Jewish refugees and they find both a welcome and immediate citizenship in Israel. There are those whom Israel is not prepared to absorb, according to Livni: the burgeoning population of Palestinian refugees and refugee claimants, their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The so-called "right of return" is not a viable solution to the historic grievances of displaced Palestinians, she said. Israel's policy is to live side-by-side in secure borders with an independent Palestinian state, she said, at which point, the refugee problem will be resolved.

"When a Palestinian state is created, Palestinian refugees are no longer an Israeli issue," said Livni.

Meanwhile, Israel's new Jews come from wildly divergent traditions. The absorption of a million Jews from former East Bloc nations gave Israel a new sense of the possible. Certainly not without its glitches, the mass immigration was the very model of Israeli absorption capabilities, though the social impacts have been numerous. Many of the newcomers had a very vague concept of their Judaism after three generations of enforced atheism. Some miss eating pork, have trouble learning Hebrew or can't get their professional credentials recognized.

As in Canada, the immigration department walks a line between building a cohesive society and respecting the traditions of newcomers.

"In some ways we fail to give them the values," Livni said of newcomers. In the case of the Argentinian olim, special mortgage rates were offered by the government, she said, but integrating a new Israeli takes far more than mere cash. Language facility, cultural heritage, a different school system, manoeuvering around the bureaucracy of services, even an understanding of the vital political discourse in the country can take time to inculcate. While Israel is changing the nature of its newcomers, the newcomers, in turn, are changing Israel.

"In the future, all of these cultures will become one Israeli culture," she said.

And despite the obvious challenges this creates, Livni said immigration remains at the absolute core of the Jewish state.

"It is clear that the strength of Israel as a Jewish homeland is in aliyah," she said. "It is also very clear to me that the way we will absorb new immigrants will inform and impact the future of Israeli society."

Though she will be speaking to a Diaspora audience, Livni maintains her conviction that Israel is the place for Jews to live.

"I do believe this is a place for every Jew to be," she said, then described her emotional meeting with a small group of Iraq's last remaining Jews, who were spirited out of the war-torn country after the Saddam regime fell and resettled in Israel.

"There was a window of opportunity with a regime change," said Livni. "One is 99 years old. They're old and sick.... One said he hadn't spoken Hebrew since 1930 and he quoted the Bible and recited poems.... It was very touching."

Immigration is not the only aspect of government policy where the Likud politician has made an impact. As one of just three female ministers in a 23-member cabinet, Livni sees much room for improvement in the representation of women in Israel's government. Just 15 per cent of Knesset members are women, she lamented, and Israeli society, like all western societies, retains inequalities for women, despite the best efforts of some.

In the presentation she will make next month in Vancouver, Livni said she will discuss the vital relationship between Israel and the Diaspora. The meaning of Israel for every Jew, the problems the country faces and the help it requires will be the main messages Livni covers as the CJA campaign is launched.

The Combined Jewish Appeal Campaign 2003 will aid Jewish communities in Canada, Israel and around the world. Special emphasis this year is being placed on strengthening Israel's deteriorating social services network, combatting rising anti-Israel hatred and anti-Semitism worldwide, assisting communities in distress, providing a new Jewish generation with the tools to defend Jews and Israel, and investing in British Columbia's rapidly growing local community.

Livni is the featured speaker at the CJA Campaign 2003 opening event, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 7:30 p.m., at Schara Tzedeck Synagogue. She will speak on the topic Choices, Challenges and Reality. For more information visit www.jfgv.com or contact the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver at 604-257-5100.

Pat Johnson is a native Vancouverite, a journalist and commentator.

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