The paper addresses the issue of Jewish migration to Israel. The history of Zionism and Israel is fundamentally a history of immigration, Israel being a state built on the movement of foreign settlers to the Arab-inhabited Palestine. Jewish immigration has been of fundamental importance in various passages of Zionist/Israeli history; its centrality is embedded in the Law of Return – granting citizenship within a very brief time to every Jew performing the aliyah, the “return” to Palestine – which is rightly considered one of the foundations of Israel’s peculiar constitutional regime. Given this situation, in Israel we face a peculiar situation: contrary to many other cases, the Israeli state and the Zionist agencies strive for Jewish immigration; unlike most of rich countries – acting to contain immigration and select the “right kind” of migrants – Israel spends very large sums to increase the influx of Jewish migrants of every possible national background, whatever their economic and social conditions. The paper will summarize the history of Jewish migration to Palestine/Israel and the structures in charge of its management. I’ll try to underline the major elements in the relation between Jewish nationalism, immigration and citizenship, analyzing the contemporary Israeli debate on these issues. The paper will briefly analyze the history of Jewish immigration and present an overview of the legal and institutional mechanism that made Israel a state founded on ethnic immigration. The situation resulting from this framework will be read in relation to two fundamental issues: what are the present perspectives for the future influx of Jewish migrants? How this element relates to the evolution of the dynamics of the Israeli-Arab conflict? As a conclusion, the paper will list some unresolved issues liked to Jewish immigration, both for what concerns similarities with standard patterns of immigration and socioeconomic absorption and the peculiarities of the Israeli case.
Desperately Looking for (Jewish) Immigrants: The Israeli Case
ALLEGRA, Marco
2008-01-01
Abstract
The paper addresses the issue of Jewish migration to Israel. The history of Zionism and Israel is fundamentally a history of immigration, Israel being a state built on the movement of foreign settlers to the Arab-inhabited Palestine. Jewish immigration has been of fundamental importance in various passages of Zionist/Israeli history; its centrality is embedded in the Law of Return – granting citizenship within a very brief time to every Jew performing the aliyah, the “return” to Palestine – which is rightly considered one of the foundations of Israel’s peculiar constitutional regime. Given this situation, in Israel we face a peculiar situation: contrary to many other cases, the Israeli state and the Zionist agencies strive for Jewish immigration; unlike most of rich countries – acting to contain immigration and select the “right kind” of migrants – Israel spends very large sums to increase the influx of Jewish migrants of every possible national background, whatever their economic and social conditions. The paper will summarize the history of Jewish migration to Palestine/Israel and the structures in charge of its management. I’ll try to underline the major elements in the relation between Jewish nationalism, immigration and citizenship, analyzing the contemporary Israeli debate on these issues. The paper will briefly analyze the history of Jewish immigration and present an overview of the legal and institutional mechanism that made Israel a state founded on ethnic immigration. The situation resulting from this framework will be read in relation to two fundamental issues: what are the present perspectives for the future influx of Jewish migrants? How this element relates to the evolution of the dynamics of the Israeli-Arab conflict? As a conclusion, the paper will list some unresolved issues liked to Jewish immigration, both for what concerns similarities with standard patterns of immigration and socioeconomic absorption and the peculiarities of the Israeli case.
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