Ethiopian Jews Battle Poverty, Prejudice in Israel

Jews of Ethiopian descent, tracing their roots to the biblical King Solomon, number about 105,000 among Israel's 6 million people today. Most were flown in during huge airlifts in the 1980s. Another 20,000 Ethiopians are expected through 2007 after a pledge to speed up immigration of the Falasha Mura, Jews whose families converted to Christianity in the past 200 years and now want to come to Israel. Nobody doubts that many of the Ethiopian Jews were happy to leave Ethiopia not only because of their religion, but also to escape one of the world's poorest countries and a land haunted by war and famine. While they may be financially better off in Israel than in Ethiopia, they are struggling compared to most other Israelis. Some 60 percent are considered to be living in poverty compared to 20 percent of the general population, according to figures from Meyers-JDC-Brookdale, a prominent Israeli social research institute. [more]

• Pictured above: Undated file photo of Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders known as 'Kessim' attending the funeral of Kes Menashe Zemro in Kiryat Gat, Israel. Tens of thousands of Ethiopians have arrived in Israel in the past two decades and complain of routine discrimination by fellow Jews.