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Last update - 00:00 06/07/2006
North America, France set to lead immigration to Israel
By Reuters

Immigration to Israel is expected to post a three-year high in 2006, boosted by a jump in those arriving from North America and France, Israel's agency for immigration said on Thursday.

An estimated 24,000 people are expected to make aliya, the Hebrew word for immigrating to Israel, this year, its highest figure since 2003 and up from 22,657 in 2005, the Jewish Agency said.

"This is actually proof that people realize that the centerof Jewish life is in Israel," agency chairman Zeev Bielski told Reuters. "To be part of the creation of the Jewish state is something you can do only by living in Israel."
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Nearly 250 North Americans landed in Israel on Thursday on the first of seven planeloads that will bring an expected 3,400 new immigrants from the United States and Canada, the most since 1983 and well above last year's 2,987.

Immigration from France is also expected to reach 3,500 people in 2006, the highest level since 1971, the agency said.

Immigration earlier in the decade had dropped sharply from about 70,000 per year in the 1990s, mostly from former Soviet states, due to Palestinian-Israeli violence. It posted its first yearly gain in 2005 since 1999.

"You are showing Israel's enemies ... no one will stop Jews from calling Israel their home," Tony Gelbart, a co-founder of the Nefesh B'Nefesh private immigration agency, told the immigrants at Ben Gurion International Airport.

President Moshe Katsav said rising immigration was a signal to Israel's Arab neighbors that making peace was a far better option than trying to destroy Israel.

Israel's government places great significance on immigration amid concerns that without an influx of foreign Jews the country's Arab minority, which has a far higher birth rate, could evenutally outnumber the Jewish population.

Jews constitute 76 percent of Israel's population of 7.04 million people, while Arabs make up some 20 percent.

Among those who immigrated to Israel on Thursday was Ben Kurtzer, brother of former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, with his wife and five children from Dallas.

"Whenever we came to Israel in the past, we always felt that this is home and that we were temporarily living in the United States," said Kurtzer
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  1.   My Jewish brothers and sisters from abroad 18:07  |  Dror 06/07/06
  2.   To Dror 18:59  |  American 06/07/06
  3.   to american 19:25  |  alef 06/07/06
  4.   Ben Kurtzer brother of U.S. Ambassador 19:40  |  lionel 06/07/06
  5.   to american 19:48  |  david 06/07/06
  6.   What is the net figure? 19:49  |  Aaron Levitt 06/07/06
  7.   ALEF, PUTS IT MILDLY 19:54  |  Dror 06/07/06
  8.   And Those Leaving?? 20:19  |  Yaakov Sullivan 06/07/06
  9.   israel is THE place to live 20:39  |  alef 06/07/06
  10.   to American 20:51  |  Drew 06/07/06
  11.   to Yaakov Sullivan 20:57  |  david 06/07/06
  12.   Aliah reversed - more Israelis leaving 20:58  |  Potential emigrant 06/07/06
  13.   Jewish brothers and sisters from abroad 21:16  |  Paula Ann 06/07/06
  14.   Yaakov Sullivan 21:17  |  Franck 06/07/06
  15.   12 potential emigrant 21:38  |  alan 06/07/06
  16.   haliya subject 21:45  |  bruno 06/07/06
  17.   Great! Lets encourage MORE jews to leave for Israel! MORE! 21:53  |  Train Consierge 06/07/06
  18.   Ben Kurtzer 21:56  |  Yehudit 06/07/06
  19.   America is a Democracy 22:49  |  Efox 06/07/06
  20.   The Grass is Always Greener 22:50  |  Efox 06/07/06
  21.   Dear American, pt. 1 22:52  |  Chaim 06/07/06
  22.   train #17 WHAT ARE YOU SMOKING? 22:53  |  alan 06/07/06
  23.   Dear American, pt. 2 22:55  |  Chaim 06/07/06
  24.   Dear American, pt. 3 23:07  |  Chaim 06/07/06
  25.   Chaim, I am with you ACHI 23:31  |  Dror 06/07/06
  26.   Israeli Alijah Propaganda 23:40  |  Marco 06/07/06
  27.   Depends what you are up to 23:40  |  Roi 06/07/06
  28.   Alan from Toronto 23:45  |  Train Consierge 06/07/06
  29.   Yaakov Sullivan and hatred 23:46  |  Kate 06/07/06
  30.   Drew and Nefesh b`Nefesh 23:47  |  Avrum 06/07/06
  31.   Efox 23:48  |  Heimler 06/07/06
  32.   Israel is in for a sea of change 23:57  |  Dror 06/07/06
  33.   It is not France hating to be frightened by African mobs 01:48  |  PETER SM 07/07/06
  34.   no space 01:50  |  eli 07/07/06
  35.   Israel, a wonderful melting pot of Jews 02:03  |  David 07/07/06
  36.   Why leaving israel? 02:23  |  joshua 07/07/06
  37.   Works just perfect for Evangelicals 03:29  |  omolll 07/07/06
  38.   aliyah 04:57  |  steve 07/07/06
  39.   Aliyah 05:24  |  Avi 07/07/06
  40.   A.LEVITT. Re painting the the worst picture and innuendo. 06:04  |  PETER SM 07/07/06
  41.   # 39 Why would it matter? 06:20  |  Randy 07/07/06
  42.   Rather Germany than Israel 21:08  |  Digital dandy 07/07/06
  43.   immigration joke 00:40  |  bruce 08/07/06
  44.   to Avrum 07:08  |  Drew 08/07/06
  45.   My observations as a secular oleh chadash 15:45  |  Larry 08/07/06
  46.   To Drew #44 08:18  |  Avrum 09/07/06
  47.   body cavity search 02:03  |  moshe rabeynu 18/02/09
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