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Some US Jews move to Israel despite Gaza evictions
Reuters
Aug 16, 2005 - By Chris Sanders
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some American Jews leaving for new lives in Israel are making the move even though immigration to the country is slowing and say they are not deterred by the forced removal of Gaza Strip settlers from their homes.
A crowd of 250 immigrants boarding an El Al flight for Israel from New York on Tuesday said their desire to be part of a Jewish homeland erased any hesitancy they may have felt after watching media reports of Israeli troops clearing settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip. The evictions were the first uprooting of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians want for a state.
"My thoughts are with the people being 'disengaged' - we share their pain," said Rivka Segal, a mother of five moving from Baltimore to Jerusalem. "The best way we can show support for what they believe in is to move to Israel."
Several people interviewed by Reuters at New York's JFK International Airport spoke of their lifelong dream of moving to the Jewish state and bolstering its economy. Most of those leaving were married couples with several children.
In the Gaza Strip settlers packed up trucks and joined an exodus ahead of forced evacuations due to begin on Wednesday under Israel's "Disengagement Plan," which the government says will mark the end of its 38-year occupation of the territory.
In New York the plane load of emigrants from about 30 different U.S. states prepared to move into new homes, start new jobs and "support Israel at all costs," said 21-year-old Danielle Schwartz as she held her 9-week-old baby Chani.
In fact, immigration from around the world to Israel has been declining. Last year, 21,000 Jews immigrated to Israel compared to 23,000 in 2003, as immigration from Russia and other former Communist states slowed.
Nefesh B'Nefesh, a group promoting North American immigration to Israel to keep the country's population majority Jewish, said it expects to help 3,200 people make the move this year. Tuesday's flight was the fifth in a series of six the group has planned for this summer.
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