By Dagnachew Teklu
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (APA) Thousands of Ethiopian Jews (Falashas) still continue their demand to be repatriated to Israel-their promised land-to unite with their relatives already there.
There are still a good number of Falashas camping outside the Israeli embassy in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital waiting to hear if there is good news from the Israeli government about their fate of uniting with their families in Israel.
In August 2008, Israel announced that it has finalized its program of taking more Ethiopian Falashas from Ethiopia. However, there are still thousands of Falashas who continue to ask the Israeli government to unite them with their relatives in Israel.
Falashas means “outsider” in Ethiopia’s national language, Amharic, which is also mainly spoken by the Falashas.
Bitew Mola, head of the Bete Israel Association told APA that there are still around 8,000 Ethiopian Falashas who are waiting to travel to Israel to unite with their relatives in Israel.
“As you know, our families and Ethiopian Falasha associations in Israel continue to ask the Israeli government to look again its decision to stop the resettlement of Falashas in Israel. We are Ethiopian Jews who have the right to travel to Israel,” said Mola, who himself is waiting to unite with his two sisters in Israel.
Zeleke Bihonegn, 26, also told APA that he is still waiting to unite with his father who travelled there some three years ago.
“My father was able to travel to Israel three years ago, but I am still unable to finalize my process and unite with him, which is a must. But the Israeli government is not treating us as they treat the American Jews,” said Bihonegn.
According to available information, Israel is home to more than 120,000 Jews of Ethiopian origin, who trace their roots to the biblical King Solomon and Queen of Sheba.
Many Ethiopian Jews were flown to Israel in airlifts during the 1984 famine and the end of Ethiopia’s civil war in 1991, as well as during the past few years.
Many of the Falashas still left in Ethiopia are waiting for their final fate to unite with their relatives in Israel.
There are several of their elders who cannot read or write, but they still hope to go to live in Israel and die there.
Many Falashas in Israel are supporting their families financially and psychologically here in Ethiopia, with the hope of one day taking them to Israel.
The Falashas, who claim to have been converted to Christianity in the 19th and 20th centuries, are eager to migrate to revive their Jewish roots in Israel, which the Falashas claim to be their “promised land”.
Some of the Falashas are here in Addis Ababa after travelling some 700 and 800 kilometres from Gondor in northern Ethiopia, which is the place the Falashas lived.
“We are living here in a camp and some in rented houses. There are elders aged 60 and 70 waiting to hear from us about their future,” said Mola.
According to information about the Falashas, Ethiopia’s “Falasha Mura” began to practice Judaism in the last decade after converting to Christianity in the late 18th and 19th centuries.
According to Israeli policy, Ethiopian Jews can immigrate to Israel if they have immediate relatives there.
However, getting genuine evidence from them is said to be a difficult job for the Israeli government, which is one of the reasons they had to halt the program in Ethiopia.
In 2007, Israel had criticised many Bete Israel (Home of Israel) local associations here in Ethiopia, and charities supporting the camps, saying they raised false hopes for thousands of Ethiopians — many of whom have no connection with the Falashas.