19,000 Jews migrated to Israel in 2010

[ 25/12/2010 - 08:44 AM ]

NAZARETH, (PIC)-- 19,000 Jews, the majority of them from England, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, have migrated to Israel in 2010, at a 16 per cent increase from last year, the Jewish agency reported.

The agency's head Natan Sharansky said meeting with the Knesset's migration and absorption committee that he accommodated 320 new immigrants this week in a Jerusalem hostel called the “red carpet”.

The process for around 200 other Ethiopian Jews was delayed after they came up with the chicken pox, Sharansky said, adding that they are the first batch of 6,000 Ethiopians the Israeli government decided to bring to the country.

The years of the Palestinian Aqsa intifada saw a sharp drop in the number of Jewish immigrants to the occupied territories of Palestine, with some of the Jews living there returning to Europe and other countries.

Security cooperation between the West Bank-governing Fatah authority and Israel played a key role in neutralizing the fear set off by the intifada and paving the way for a boosted immigration.

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