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This article examines the dominant images of female immigrants to Israel from the former USSR. The analysis considers the intersection between gender, class, and race in the context of the problematic status of female immigrants. Portrayals of the female immigrants are studied through a qualitative content analysis of news items in the Israeli popular press during the years 1994-1997. The results suggest that the female immigrant appears in the Israeli press primarily in two negative images: as a supplier of sexual services and as the 'other,' not one of 'us.' A third image of the 'exceptional immigrant' occasionally appears. Popular press items and the results of a preliminary phone survey of a representative sample of the Jewish population are quite consistent. The survey indicates that 65 percent of the respondents hold negative attitudes toward the immigrants, the most salient of which associates them with the sex industry.

The article addresses the significance of migrant associations and of their participatory practices as a vehicle by which migrant workers become political actors and negotiate membership in Israel. We offer a comparative analysis of black African and Latin American undocumented migrant communities to suggest the very fact that they manage to organize in autonomous associations in order to protect their interests, have the ability to mobilize support over issues of concern and raise claims before political authorities unwilling to accord them recognition, attest to the process whereby migrants become political actors and open new platforms of deliberation that enlarge de facto the limits of the Israeli public sphere. Moreover, by articulating their claims in terms of universalized themes such as 'human suffering' and 'human rights' migrants attempt at participating in the host society in the name of a generic category of 'personhood', one that transcends state-embedded conceptions of citizenship. Keywords: Labour migration; ethnic associations; citizenship; claim-making populations; political participation; Israel.

A study was conducted to analyze the effects of sociodemographic, personal and familial resources on the comparative adjustment of the older Soviet immigrant parents and their grown-up children living in the same households in Israel. Results show that the best adjustment was attained by the older immigrants who had formal support and by those younger and educated male immigrants who are satisfied with their jobs. Generally, however, the younger generation of Soviets is better adjusted to a life in Israel than the older.

The Law of Return promulgated in Israel encourages people of Jewish descent who are living in other countries to immigrate back to Israel. This entails that these Jews would have to give up their source of livelihood so as to adapt to the employment conditions in Israel. This would also mean that the government of Israel should be able to generate enough jobs for these immigrants. Instead of just focusing on enlarging the civil service, the country should expand its export-oriented industries. The government should also provide the necessary occupational training for the incoming workforce.

An integrated threat theory composed of four variables was used to predict attitudes toward immigrant groups in Spain and Israel. The four threats are symbolic threats based on value differences between groups; realistic threats to the power, resources, and well-being of the in-group; anxiety concerning social interaction with out-group members; and feelings of threat arising from negative stereotypes of the out-group. All four threats were significant predictors of attitudes toward one or more of the immigrant groups. It was predicted, and found, that intergroup anxiety and negative stereotypes were more powerful and consistent predictors of prejudicial attitudes toward immigrants than were realistic threats or symbolic threats. The implications of the theory for the causes and reduction of prejudice were discussed., Immigration has shaped the world in which we live. Throughout history, people have migrated from one part of the world to another, populating the earth and eventually creating the nation [...]

The issue of whether, and to what extent, immigrants should be assisted in the integration process by government-initiated programs has been a long-standing policy concern in countries exposed to waves of immigration. In Israel, where the raison d'etre of the state is to be a homeland for any person of the Jewish tradition who wishes to join Israeli society, issues of assistance to immigrants are ascribed particular importance. This study evaluated the re-training policy of the Israeli government for Soviet immigrant scientists as an immediately available employment and integration solution. The policy was initiated following the mass immigration from the former USSR during 1989-1991. The scientists were re-trained to teach science in high-schools. The investigation focuses on the impact of this policy as an immediate absorption solution, the impact of retraining offered by universities on employment and professional performance, and the benefit to the host educational system. Technical feasibility and its role in decision making will be discussed. The degree of feasibility of this policy and the re-training models identified in this study may point to a valid policy approach in countries where major social changes, such as immigration or recession, occur. Thus the study and its findings are important to other immigration contexts in that it allows for policy transfer, borrowing and adaptation based on proof of policy feasibility.

Beginning in 1993, Israel began importing large numbers of foreign workers, replacing its traditional Palestinian labor force. This article presents a descriptive history and theoretical analysis of the migration, placing it in the context of Israel's reliance on noncitizen labor from the occupied territories. Dual labor market theory is particularly helpful in analyzing labor migration to Israel, but only by also analyzing the determinants of state policy can we understand how these recent flows began. The Israeli case thus suggests a cumulative model of the initiation of labor migration flows: structural factors create a predisposition toward use of foreign labor, and political factors determine whether and how that predisposition will be actualized., This article analyzes the entry of low-level foreign labor into the Israeli labor market since 1967, focusing in particular on foreign workers who have arrived in large numbers since 1993, [...]

A total of 100 Israeli kibbutz members consisting of 42 men and 58 women were surveyed to determine opinions regarding the government's immigration policies and the assistance given to Russian immigrants. Results indicate that the opinions regarding immigration policies and the integration of Russian immigrants are generally positive with some reservations concerning the available resources for native Israelis and immigrants., The Kibbutz in Israel is a social system: an organizational environment with formal and informal systems of interaction. It is also a system in transition, one that reflects incremental and, [...]

This article speculates on the place of contradiction in the symbolic construction of the world. There has been much anthropological work on the ubiquity of symbolic classification in human society and culture, but insufficient attention has been paid to the contradictory as a desirable cognitive resort: to playing with, and denying, symbolic classifications at the same time as assuming them. Juxtaposing literary, theoretical and empirical sources, the article therefore outlines a thesis concerning the importance, the prevalence and the purpose of recourse to the contradictory as a conscious feature of the use of language. Construing the existence of 'words', of 'communities' and of 'individuals' can be seen as attempts symbolically to define, make singular, limited and congruous what is at the same time recognized to be multiple, unlimited and incoherent. Empirical evidence for the thesis is provided by an account of contemporary American immigrants in the State of Israel., Blessed art Thou, Lord God, King of the Universe, who hast varied the aspects of Thy creatures. JEWISH PRAYER Introduction 'There is a place', wrote William Blake, 'where contrarieties are [...]

I. INTRODUCTION Until recently (Bartel and Koch, 1991; Nogle, 1994; Kirtz and Nogle, 1994; Neuman and Tienda, 1994) the spatial dimension of immigrant absorbtion was a neglected lacuna in the [...]

The concept of place attachment is examined within the context of a between-country migration situation, that of immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel. The study hypothesized that place attachment to Israel would be related to the immigrant's motive for migrating to Israel and to the perceived differences between their physical environment in the Soviet Union and in Israel, examined on the city neighborhood, building, and apartment level. An individual, structured interview was conducted with 60 students from the former Soviet Union studying in Israeli universities. Differences between the two countries were perceived for most of the attributes. The USSR was preferred on 22 attributes, Israel on 6. More important than the number of preferences is the direction of preference. Perceiving the new environment to be different does not necessarily mean that the immigrants will not become attached to that environment. If the preference is for the new over the old, then attachment to the new is more likely., This Century, and particularly the last 20 years, has been characterized by large-scale waves of migration between countries. It is not that population movements have not occurred in the past; [...]

The entrepreneurial activities of immigrants from the former USSR in Israel are studied. Results show that only 6.9% of immigrants are self-employed compared to 15.2% of Israeli population. About 32.4% of immigrants who are part of the work force want to be self-employed although few succeed. The factor that determines whether immigrants will become self-employed or employees are business and managerial experience acquired in the USSR.

Socio-economic conditions in Israel significantly affect patterns of family planning, fertility, and sex preference among Jewish immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East. Conflict between demands of a modern society and that of a patriarchal culture has led to behavioral adjustments. Better education of the immigrated Asian African women has helped in reducing their preference for male children. Change in attitude of the immigrant Asian and African women with regard to fertility levels and sex preferences points to the high level of assimilation process amongst them.

Tel Aviv was established in the beginning of the 20th century to be a new Jewish city, but this symbolic value has been compromised throughout its history by the problems that accompany rapid urban expansion. Municipal planning efforts, and national efforts after Israeli independence in 1948, have only had limited benefits because growth has outpaced the population figures that planners anticipated. Urban planners have come to accept that Tel Aviv is the business and cultural center of Israel and have integrated this understanding into current planning efforts.

This article applies the theory of structuration to international labor migration using case study material from the Philippines. It first provides a brief review of the functional and structural approaches to understanding labor migration and the theoretical impasse that has been created between them. It then reviews several attempts to resolve this impasse, including systems and networks approaches; these solutions are rejected on theoretical and empirical grounds. We suggest that migrant institutions may be a more appropriate mid-level concept than households or social networks to articulate various levels of analysis. We develop this concept in the context of the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens and attempt to apply this to the Philippines, concluding that framework is eminently suited for further research on international labor migration., International labor migration from developing countries has been the subject of vast academic literature in the past twenty years as researchers have attempted to measure its extent, to define its [...]

The three-generational families who migrated from the Commonwealth of Independent States to Israel in 1989 are confronted with several problems. According to a survey, the immigrants suffer from insomnia, lethargy and various other psychological and physiological problems besides the financial strain. The dual responsibility of providing for their children and older relatives in a joint family system makes the process of adapting to a new environment even more difficult for the immigrants.

The Felashas, one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel, went from the Gondar region to Sudan and returned to Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia. The tribe subsequently faced severe culture shock after arriving in Israel, lack of proper food and unemployment problems. Parents had to adjust to a loss of control over their their children, who were sent to schools, and a general loss of their old cultural environment.

Introduction The sweeping changes that have recently taken place in the eastern bloc, particularly the demise of the Soviet Union, have made an indelible mark on the Israeli scientific community. [...]

Emigration from Israel is growing despite its effects on the country's survival. An analysis was conducted on emigration, its inclusion in Israel's political agenda, the status in the agenda, its impact on emigration policy formulation, its loss of status from a formal issue to a pseudo-item and whether its inclusion in the political agendaensures a creation of a comprehensive governmental policy.

During the Gulf War Israel experienced an unexpected population mass-escape of about 100 000 residents from the Tel Aviv area to the peripheral regions of the country. This paper provides a geographical interpretation of the directions, routes and destinations of that flow. The Jerusalem area and the Negev were the most favoured areas of refuge. The escapers chose their destinations according to their mental map of the country and their assumptions about regions of danger based on speculation concerning the range of the Iraqi missiles. This event exposed, for the first time, the relative weakness of the execution of Israel's population distribution policy which has existed as a national security issue since 1948.

Israel is a country of immigrants: Israel's Jewish population grew 'from 649,000 in May 1948 to 2,752,700 at the end of 1972, and 3,373,200 in 1982.... Immigration accounted for more than 1,721,426 persons or approximately 60 percent of this increase' (Damian, 1974:33). But, from the outset, Israel has also been a country of emigration, with some 305,000 leaving between 1948 and 1984 (Sabbatello, n.d.). In Hebrew, emigration from Israel is yerida, literally 'goind down,' fading or failing, and in recent years this emigration has been widely viewed by Israelis as an index of decline.

This study deals with the factors which determined the odds of Israeli immigrants becoming proletariat during the first decade of statehood. It is suggested that the factors which determine whether immigrants enter the proletariat or not are structural. Immigrants from lesser-developed, non-industrialized countries are more likely than others to become or to remain proletariat. Class positions in the countries of immigration and emigration are compared, and various factors are examined as causes of the proletariat position. Such factors include conditions of production in the country of emigration, level of education, and year of immigration.

Over the past 50 years, the Jewish world has experienced a number of unprecedented and momentous changes which have transformed its structure, its internal composition, and its future prospects. First [...]

IN MAY 14, 1948, the reborn state of Israel proclaimed in its Declaration of Independence that it will be open to the immigration of Jews from all countries of their [...]