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Last update - 14:10 13/08/2008
'We've reached a safe haven,' say Israelis returning from Georgia
By Tomer Zarchin and Zohar Blumenkratz, Haaretz Correspondents
Tags: El Al, Israel, Georgia 

Two hundred people fleeing Georgia following the outbreak of hostilities arrived at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport on Tuesday evening, having deplaned from one of two specially arranged El Al flights. Among the passengers were 30 newly arrived immigrants.

Henrietta Damari, a resident of the town of Yehud, who departed for Georgia last Friday as part of a group sightseeing tour, said upon her return to Israel: "We've reached a place of shelter, a safe haven."

Most of the passengers were families with children returning from a shortened vacation. Damari said she and her family were forced to remain in their hotel rooms since Friday. Georgian refugees stormed the hotel where she was staying and banged on the door of her room, pleading to enter so as to take cover from the fighting. "They told us to put the suitcases behind the door so that they won't get into the room," Damari said. "We lived in fear for four days."
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Maya Ben Yosef, an official working with an organization of Georgian Jews, accompanied her husband and two children for a long trip to what was once her family's ancestral home. "In the short time we were there, we managed to spend most of it in Tbilisi," she said. "We are returning from a situation where people are sitting in bomb shelters ... and feel that they're in a war. I was afraid that the Communist regime would return and make it difficult for us to get out."

Two El Al Israel Airlines plane set off on Tuesday morning on special flights to Tbilisi in order to evacuate Israeli nationals waiting to leave war-torn Georgia.

The first El Al flight left Tuesday morning to rescue 190 Israelis from Georgia, organized after Arkia Israel Airlines said on Monday that it would be unable to fly out the more than 100 Israeli nationals waiting to leave Georgia, because radars at Tbilisi International Airport have been bombed beyond function.

The second El Al flight is expected to land at Ben-Gurion Airport at 1:00 A.M. local time.

The Israelis listed for evacuation by the Boeing 757 were mainly tourists and businessmen. The flight's captain, Lior Yavor, told Army Radio on Tuesday that as far as his crew was aware, the Tbilisi airport was available for taking-off and landing.

Yavor said that if he found the plane unable to land in the Georgian capital, he planned on flying to a neighboring country - apparently Azerbaijan - where the passengers would be brought to by land.

Georgian Jews ask Jewish Agency for help in moving to Israel

Army Radio reported on Tuesday that over the past few days, approximately 60 Jewish families in Georgia have approached Jewish Agency representatives, who are traveling between the cities under bombardment, and asked for help in moving to Israel.

Over the next few days, these Georgians will arrive at Ben Gurion Airport to start a new life complete with absorption benefits and government aid.

According to Army Radio, 12,000 Jews still reside in Georgia.

Eli Cohen, the CEO of the Immigration and Absorption Department of the Jewish Agency, told Army Radio that, "We are offering [the prospective immigrants] a secure environment. They will receive all the help that they need."

The Jewish Agency together with the Ministry of Absorption have formulated a program facilitating the move of Georgian Jews to Israel.


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    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Safe haven reached
    200 fleeing Georgia after the outbreak of hostilities arrive at Israel's Ben-Gurion Airport.
    Fatal heartbreak
    Disabled man dies of heart attack after his girlfriend was arrested by Immigration Police.
      1.   Iarael needs to look for a new target for its troublemakers 09:59  |  Chanalau, Tova 12/08/08
      2.   bringing them home 10:28  |  just me 12/08/08
      3.   Kol HaKovod for Israeli Pilots 11:53  |  eddie - Haifa 12/08/08
      4.   planes to get out 12:13  |  sharon 12/08/08
      5.   Where would we be without El Al 13:14  |  Daniel Breslauer 12/08/08
      6.   Well done ELAL. I just hope the pax don`t expect upgrades to 1st 15:48  |  Danny 12/08/08
      7.   Only Israel 18:20  |  Ben 12/08/08
      8.   ARKIA 19:02  |  THE TEACHER/INSTRUCT 12/08/08
      9.   proud to be tsabar 21:10  |  Dr Noam 12/08/08
      10.   Thanks to israel Jews will never be unsafe again! 22:20  |  Eric 12/08/08
      11.   Safe Haven 22:49  |  Scottish Lady 12/08/08
      12.   # 6 danny 22:57  |  Axel 12/08/08
      13.   # 7 teacher 23:00  |  Axel 12/08/08
      14.   #1 23:09  |  Mike 12/08/08
      15.   Axel ..And fortunately the evacuation did not coincide with sabba 23:15  |  Mike 12/08/08
      16.   #17 23:27  |  Mike 12/08/08
      17.   # 15 mike 00:10  |  Axel 13/08/08
      18.   You know what, mike? 00:26  |  Axel 13/08/08
      19.   They`re Elbit Systems employees 00:53  |  Harold 13/08/08
      20.   South Ossetians needed a safe haven... 01:26  |  Maureen Ann 13/08/08
      21.   They are the families of the iDF training force 04:07  |  POP 13/08/08
      22.   FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS 04:49  |  indrajaya 13/08/08
      23.   These Jews contributed to making it unsafe 04:49  |  Harold 13/08/08
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