tuluum's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alienated Ethiopians In Israel Turning To Crime (article) Alienated Ethiopians in Israel Turning to Crime Sun March 2, 2003 11:43 AM ET By Gwen Ackerman ASHKELON, Israel (Reuters) Young Ethiopian Jews whose parents came to Israel in search of the promised land are struggling to fit in to Israeli society, and police and immigration officials say a growing number are turning to crime. Thousands of Ethiopian Jews were evacuated to Israel in Israeli airlifts in 1984 and 1991. Some have adapted well but many young Ethiopian Jews feel rejected by their Israeli peers and about one in 10 has a criminal record, criminologists say. Skipping school, sniffing glue and stealing cars, groups of Ethiopian youngsters roaming in oversize sweat suits and carrying "boom boxes" blaring reggae music are often seen in towns where they have settled such as Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast. "These are Ethiopian ghettos, like Harlem," said Shlomo Mula, who immigrated from Ethiopia in 1984 and now heads the Ethiopian department of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency which oversees the absorption of immigrants. Some Ethiopian youths have adopted the Afro-American identity as they see it on television, a culture Mula called "very distant" from their native, mostly rural, background. Destau Demato, a 24-year-old Ethiopian immigrant and film producer, provided a window into the community in a film called "Scream" which he said was inspired by police roughing up his younger brother who was wrongly accused of shoplifting. Ethiopian youngsters say such events stemming from misplaced suspicion and prejudice are commonplace. "They just blame us because we are Ethiopians, because of the stigma," said 15-year-old Zeev, who lives in a hostel for youth with a police record. In the film, an armed Ethiopian youth gang and police fight a gun battle in which three officers and two youngsters are killed. CRIMINAL RECORDS Although such scenes are still fiction, police say the number of criminal complaints filed against Ethiopian youths is growing at an alarming rate, from 129 in 1996 to 478 in 2001 and 600 last year. Poverty is a factor. Official figures put unemployment in the Ethiopian community of 84,000 at 70 percent, far above the national average of 10.5 percent. "The problem of juvenile delinquency is a ticking bomb," said Chief Superintendent Suzy Ben Baruch. Arnon Edelstein, a criminologist at Hebrew University, said up to 10 percent of the estimated 17,000 Ethiopian youngsters in Israel have a police record. Such behavior was previously unknown among the Ethiopians, many of whom came from far-flung villages where religious leaders resolved conflict and whose community traces its roots to the biblical King Solomon and Queen of Sheba. According to Ben Baruch, the immigrants have not yet formed street gangs, but are showing signs of moving in that direction. Despite the problems, the majority of Ethiopian youths do finish school and are conscripted like other Israelis into the Israeli army at the age of 18. More and more are going on to higher education. "Ethiopians are fabulous, independent and very proud," said Shalva Weil, an anthropologist at Hebrew University who directs programs for Ethiopian students in education and social ability. "It is a tremendous credit to that community how they have managed to adapt in Israel in general, despite the worrying signs," Weil said. Pointing to those signs, Mula lamented what he called the absence of integration between Ethiopian youths and their Israeli peers, noting that some veteran Israelis withdraw their children from schools when Ethiopian registration starts to rise. "The meeting with Israeli society is very problematic, creating antagonism and an identity crisis," he said. "SONS OF ABRAHAM" Outside the screening of Demato's film, Jeremy Kulabash, a 24-year-old musician who immigrated from Ethiopia in 1988, raps out in rhythmic beat his protest against racism in his adopted country. "We are all one people -- the sons of Abraham," he said, his short braids hidden under a black kerchief. Much of the problem stems from what critics of Israel's attitude toward the Ethiopians call a paternalist approach to the newcomers. "Wherever there are Ethiopians, the Israelis leave," said Ben Baruch. "There is a problem with rejection of the smell of the food, the fact that they look different." Alienation is mixed with anger, which first rose to the surface in 1996, when it emerged that Israeli health authorities, citing the risk of infection with AIDS, had been routinely throwing away blood donations from Ethiopian Jews. The incident brought hundreds of Ethiopians onto the streets, shocking Israelis who watched members of a community they widely regarded as easy-going smashing windows and repeatedly trying to storm the Prime Minister's Office. **************************************************************************** Current Clix Ranking: 36 | Previous Clix Ranking: 36 6:34 a.m. - Wednesday, Mar. 05, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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