Gość: sp;lit
IP: *.nas27.tukwila2.wa.us.da.qwest.net
14.11.03, 20:08
Mozna sobie tylko wyobrazic jak im w Izraelu bylo dobrze skoro wracaja i
to hurtem , od kiedy Sharon zaczal swoja krwawa kadencje .
European dreaming
=========================
By Aluf Benn/Haaretz
This grass roots movement has no name, no leaders
and no platform. It is published on the grapevine,
because of media apathy. Nonetheless, it is
sweeping up a lot families. There's been a
dramatic rise over the past year in the number of
Ashkenazi families who have gone to East and
Central European embassies to seek passports and
citizenship, based on their family history.
Grandparents' names are being
signed to affidavits, and
yellowing papers are being
dug up. Lawyers expert in the
relevant bureaucracies are
being sought to help with the
paperwork. In some
households, the children are
pressing to "get a passport"
but the parents are standing
firm, with memories of the Holocaust and
persecution.
Every country has a different procedure to apply
for and get citizenship, but the trend is
clear. Until the intifada, the German embassy
dealt with about 1,300 citizenship applications
from Israelis a year. In 2002 that jumped to
2,366, and in the first half of 2003 there were
1,622 requests. The Czech embassy dealt with
some 500 requests this year. The Austrians are
reporting 173 approvals for citizenship last
year and 331 since the start of this year.
Slovakia granted 200 passports to Israelis in
2002 and this year that number will double. The
Hungarian embassy says there were "a few
hundred" applicants, and the Polish embassy
speaks of "an enormous increase" in requests
from Israelis, to as many as a few thousand.
The rush for a foreign passport is
understandable, given anxieties about security
and the economy. Apparently, the government's
promises for peace, security, and prosperity
are not very convincing. The phenomenon
intensified because of the expansion of the
European Union eastward, which made the former
Communist states attractive. The inhibitions
about renewing contact with the old world where
Jews were persecuted and murdered are fading.
It's always possible to excuse a foreign
passport with "the kids will be able to go to
school in Europe," instead of mentioning a
haven for a rainy day.
Since 9/11 the gaps have widened between the
status of Americans and Europeans and "the rest
of the world." The questions at airports are
difficult, the lines for foreigners are
humiliating, and the immigration officials are
sour. Israel's claim to be a Western country is
not exactly passing muster. It's nicer to go
through the fast line with a foreign passport.
The government is not intervening in the Israeli
requests for second citizenships and is not
collecting data about it. The Foreign Ministry
says that it is a private matter of each
citizen with respect to the foreign country and
it is not coming up in bilateral diplomatic
contacts. This week, the deputy foreign
minister of Poland and the prime minister of
Slovakia visited Israel and the issue of their
multiplying subjects in Israel did not come
up.
The desire to join the EU does not necessarily
mean a wave of emigration but the phenomenon
could have interesting repercussions. For
example, there could be a deepening of the gap
between the European Israelis who have the
right to settle overseas and those Israelis who
were born in Arab countries and find it
difficult to get visas now to the U.S.
If the trend continues, there could be
intervention by foreign countries to "protect
their citizens" in the Israeli-Arab conflict.
Pioneering that approach is Russian President
Vladimir Putin who explained to the prime
minister last week that he wants to see the
conflict resolved because he is worried abut
the Russian diaspora in Israel. He didn't
mention Palestinian rights. There's a precedent
from the past: The Jewish yishuv during the
Ottoman era developed under consular protection
for individuals from the respective countries
represented in Jaffa and Jerusalem. It is
difficult to believe that kind of protection
will return but the proliferation of Israelis
with dual citizenship could further complicate
Israel's already sensitive relations with
Europe.