The Meaning of Immigration in Israeli Society

Immigration has been an ongoing process in Israel during its entire his-tory, including the period predating independence. It is of central signifi-cance that one of the first legislative acts passed by the Knesset (the Israeli Parliament) after the declaration of in-dependence in 1948 was the Law of Return, which stated that every Jew has the right to immigrate and settle in Israel. This formal open-door policy accepts virtually all Jewishimmigrants and views their arrival as a symbolic reaffirmation of the fundamental raison &&re of the society. Pragmatic considerations of eco-nomic need, job availability, or physi-cal fitness have not served, as in other countries, as criteria for admission. The "ingathering of the exiles, " de-fined as the acceptance and integration of Jewish immigrants who may be forced to immigrate or who freely opt to come, continues to represent one of the cardinal values of Israeli society, which has allocated major resources to the absorption process. In addition to the ideological commitment, immigra-tion has been seen as fulfilling the need to augment the population in order to strengthen the economic and social foundations of the society. The assumption has been that the society and its economic structure must be adapted to the economic and social needs of the immigrants rather than the reverse. In fact, a variety of publicly sponsored intervention pro-grams and benefits are offered to pro-mote immigrants ' entry into the society. These include language courses, hostels for immediate hous-ing, tax breaks, import privileges, Professor Judith T. Shuval is attached to the Faculty of Sociology, Hebrew Uniws i t y of lerusalem, Israel. rental subsidies, housing mortgages at favourable rates, and small business loans on preferential terms. There have been periodic protests regarding the priority in allocation of resources to immigrants by various deprived groups in the society: slum dwellers, disabled persons, veteran soldiers, and young couples. But none has changed the basic priority that has been accorded to admission of immi-grants and the nationalcommitment to their needs