Israel at 60 The Two Zions

Israel and Ethiopia enjoy one of the most intricate relations that can exist between peoples. So close and rooted is this relationship that both peoples often think of themselves as individual leaves sharing one stem. Indeed, to signify that timeless bond are firstly the now dwindled and struggling Bete Israel community the so called Black Jews remaining in Ethiopia, as well as the 110,000 strong Ethio-Israelis thriving in Israel.

By Tesfu Telahoun

In this fortnightly series to the run up of May 14, 2008, the 60th anniversary of the reestablishment of the state of Israel, “Israel at 60” profiles the Jewish remnant in Ethiopia and the bulk of Ethiopia’s Jews, now citizens of Israel.
According to Ethiopian Judaic lore as recounted to this writer by a dearly departed grandfather, the first Jews arrived to ‘South Zion’ (the areas north of Gondar, the highland region on the peripheries of Lake Tana, Gishen (Goshen) in Gojam, northwest Tigray and northern areas of Wello) in two waves. My grandfather vaguely recalls being told that in the first wave were two feuding brothers. They fell out over which fork to take as their caravan, bearing the Ark of the Covenant, other sacred objects as well as the first born of the nobility of Judea, reached the Atbara – or is it the Tekeze……..?
My grandfather’s attempt at retelling the stories he was told by his grandfather about how Judaism came to this land are inconclusive. This is no reflection on his mental faculties (he used to recite the entire Torah!) but rather something shared equally by the best world scholarship which still cannot determine with precision, when and how Judaism entered Ethiopia. Judaism became the state religion of Ethiopia for many centuries up to the advent and rise of Christianity.
The saga of the Bete Israel is a complex issue that often defies explanation. Firstly is the tag word that has been pasted on Bete Israel. This is the derogatory and highly offensive word “Falasha” – as Ethiopian Jews are called known by most Ethiopians – often unwitting protagonists in an ancient hitany of persecution that negatively branded the Bete Israel. Falasha is derived from the Amharic verb ‘Me Fles’ which means “to cleave away’. The term unjustly classifies Ethiopian Jews as outsiders, a distinct community of ‘others’ that eventually became so ostracized that they were left with only one hope…… biblical salvation according to prophecy and return to the Promised Land.
Hopelessly desperate as that may sound, prophecy indeed became reality when in 1985 and 1991 Mengistu’s regime short of weaponry, agreed to let Bete Israel to be flown out from staging camps in the Sudan. Thousands perished on the long trek and those that arrived in Israel were traumatized by the experience.
Subsequent years have seen a regular outflow of Bete Israel and yet currently official Aliya has almost dried up. However, this situation is also cause for alarm because many Ethiopians think that all Bete Israel want to leave Ethiopia and that all have done so. This is a grave misconception and even worse than calling the Bete Israel Falasha….
There are still hundreds of stoutly Ethiopian Bete Israel, many of them engaged in productive and socially valuable work and family life, that have never laid claim to Israeli citizenship. They are proud to be Jewish and Ethiopian in the same way as Muslims, Christians or other Ethiopians are. There have always been Jews in Ethiopia and Hashem willing, will continue to live in peaceful co-existence amidst Ethiopia’s rich diversity.
Of course, this segment of Bete Israel (those that do not intend to make Aliya any time soon, if ever) is not as large as the long suffering community in Addis Ababa and Gondar, still awaiting to fly out to Israel. They live in temporary accommodation after abandoning their former hamlets and occupations, surviving from hand to mouth.
The Bete Israel have always been a victim of prejudice and ignorance as well as from an image problem. That Jews could be black amazed scholars of history and theologians. So detached was the existence of the Bete Israel from mainstream Judaism that it was only as, recent as 1973 that the Chief Rabbinate – Israel’s supreme religious authority, recognized the Bete Israel as Jews.
Once the Bete Israel obtained this official recognition, they have leapt onto the world stage as international Jewry embraced the ‘lost’ community.
Like the record of any community of immigrants, the life of the Bete Israelites in Israel, has not been a bed of roses. Assimilation into a hi-tech 21st century society, especially for the first generation, has been a difficult challenge. However, again true to the immigrant experience, succeeding generations of Bete Israel are integrating well into all sectors of Israeli society.
Today, successful Bete Israel are reversing the outflow as they return to Ethiopia and engage in investment activities. It all goes to show that though the bulk of Bete Israel are out of Ethiopia, Ethiopia will never depart from the collective soul of the community.

Poland- Europe’s heartbeat

By Kirubel Tadesse

Poland is situated in the middle of Europe, between the Baltic Sea and the Carpathian Mountains. The geometric center of Europe lies in the Vicinity of Warsaw, capital city of Poland. Lines drawn between the capes of Nordkyn (Norway) and Matapan (Greece), and between the capes of Roca ( Portugal) and the central Ural Mountains (Russia) intersect in Warsaw.

History
The name ‘Poland’ is derived from the tribe of Polans, inhabiting the country’s present territory in the early middle ages. In the 10th and 11th centuries they united most of the areas of the basins of the Older and Vistula rivers.
The Polish state adopted Christianity in 966 and in 1000, the German Emperor Otto III came to Gniezno, then country’s capital, on a pilgrimage to St. Wojciech’s (Adalbert’s) grave. According to historians, the pilgrimage had not only religious but political motive, as it was taken as aspiration to unite the entire Christian world including Poland. A quarter of a century after the pilgrimage, known as the Gniezno Assembly, Boleslaus the Brave became the first king of Poland in the year 1025.
The Piast dynasty, the founders of the Polish state, ruled until the 14’th century. The marriage of Jadwiga, queen of Poland, originally from Hungary with the Lithuanian Prince Vladislaus Jagiello resulted in the peaceful conversion of Christianity of the Lithuanian state. Most history books state that the union, in the form of commonwealth, was concluded in 1569. This era was known as the Golden Age, a period of economic and cultural development.
In the 17th century the country’s capital moved to its current city, Warsaw. Historians explain the event as a consequence of change in foreign policy priorities, shift from Central Europe to East (Russia) and North ( the Baltic sea region.)
As the second world war started in 1939, Poland was a major target of Nazi Germany. After the Soviet Union invaded Polish territory, the country fell to the hands of the two foreign powers who introduced their systematic plan of exterminating Polish political, economic and intellectual elites. In the Camp of Oswiecim, (Auschwitz-Birkenau), a Nazi concentration camp, over 1.5 million people were murdered, the majority of them Jewish.
After Nazism was defeated, Poland fell completely under the influence of the Soviet Union as the communists eliminated all opposition parties from politics.
Momentous Transformation
It was in June 4, 1989 that Poland entered a new era as for the first time in the communist block, the democratic opposition won in a partially democratic election. Two months later a non-communist government was formed and the whole of Central and Eastern Europe woke up from its ‘sleep’ following the fast development of a new heart of Europe, the Republic of Poland.
After it regained independence, Poland has become a country of colorful shops, international labels, new technologies, and dynamic people. At the porch of the 21st century, poles secured a key spot in the world market economy after going through a decade of transformation. It didn’t also take too long for Poland, to join NATO and the European Union, that came true in May 2004.
Politics
Poland is a democratic country; a republic with a multi party system and a bicameral parliament like Ethiopia. “ The basis of the political system reflects the values of typical European law-based culture; a national sovereignty, political pluralism and freedom of activity for political parties, a separation of powers, inalienable respect for human rights- which underpin the legal system and freedom of the individual,” explains booklet ‘Poland in Brief.’
As per the referendum of 1997, which resulted in the country’s Constitution, Poland’s system of government is based on a tri-partite separation of powers between the legislature, executive and judiciary.
The two parliaments are elected every four years and Executive power lies in the hands of the President and the Cabinet. The Cabinet is appointed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President.
Economy
In the late 90’s, Poland’s economy was characterized by a high rate of growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increase accompanied by a low inflation level. The economy started to slow down in 2003 but in 2005 it regained its momentum as in 2006 the country registered 5% GDP growth. Even if the economy is performing well, Poland is still behind the majority of members of the EU in development.
Population
According to Poland’s Foreign Trade Research Institute recent report, the population of the country is 38,174,000 , the 7th largest in Europe (5.3% of the population of
the continent.) Official records show that population growth is only 0.3%.
Poland is almost mono-ethnic country despite its history as home of several religious and ethnic based classes. One recent official publication of the Poland government states that in many places of the world, there are representatives of other nationalities who were once Polish ethnic minorities, especially Jewish and Germans. “Since the early 1990s, many Poles have returned to Poland from the former USSR, mainly from Kazakhstan,” reads the publication.

African economy growth,trivial to its people

The year 2007 was a ‘good year’ for most African countries as the continent has achieved a tremendous amount of economic growth. Emphasizing this economic growth, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has released ‘Economic Report on Africa 2008’ (ERA) this week under the theme of ‘Africa and the Monterrey Consensus: Tracking Performance and Progress.’
The slow down in the world economy last year, to 3.7 per cent from 3.9 per cent in 2006, doesn’t seem to affect the African economy that much even if ECA’s report warns that it could be a threat to the African economy in the coming years if it keeps on falling as the projected growth for 2008 is 3.4 percent. Economists explain this economic slow down as result of high oil price and turbulence in financial markets together with other factors.
According to ERA, Africa has maintained the strong growth momentum of the last few years and achieved a 5.8 per cent growth rate in 2007, a record high. It was 5.7 and 5.2 per cent in 2006 and 2005 respectively. The economic growth is driven by robust global demand and high commodity prices. As per ERA, consolidation of macroeconomic stability and improving macroeconomic management, rising oil production in a number of countries, increased private capital flows, debt relief and increasing non-fuel exports, which in end helped the economy. A decline in political conflicts and wars, especially in West and Central Africa, also mentioned as one factor helping the economy. “Many African countries have implemented macroeconomic as well as microeco­nomic reforms that have resulted in a generally improved business environment and investment climate.” However, senior economist at the ECA explain that this growth is hardly enough to result in meaningful economic poverty eradication throughout the continent.
Another economist agrees with the ECA’s assessment and explains that last year’s African economic growth means very little to its people. “ The continent’s economic growth report fails to create decent jobs, which would include the majority of people among the beneficiary groups,” explains this economist,” the growth was mainly basing capital intensive investments, that need to be changed if we wish to empower the poor and to create enough jobs around the continent.”
Despite inflation troubles many African counties such as Ethiopia, official records show around 17% percent, ERA explains that it remained low in 2007, 2.8 percent, globally despite high oil prices. The inflation rate of African countries is indifferent to that of the world’s; about 60 percent of African countries recorded a 5 per cent or more inflation rate in 2007, up from 52 percent in 2006. ERA accounts restrictions on wage increases, a tight macroeconomic policy stance in both advanced and developing countries, and the supply of cheap manufactures from China for the low inflation percentage. “However, inflation risks have increased as unemployment has fallen, especially in Europe, and commod­ity prices remain high, “ states the report.
The report unveils that most of the African fiscal deficits remain relatively low and contained despite the average fiscal position of Africa showing a budget surplus of 2.4 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2007. The surplus is mainly a reflection of developments in the thirteen oil-exporting countries that maintained an average fiscal surplus of 5.3 per cent of GDP in 2007 and 6.1 per cent in 2006. For the oil-importing African economies, the average budget deficit increased slightly from –1.1 per cent of GDP in 2006 to –1.2 per cent in 2007. The respective percentages for oil-exporting and oil-importing economies are 46 per cent and 65 per cent in 2007.
Currency
The Economic Report of ECA warns that the continent’s currency appreciation threatens international competitiveness. “ In line with the Euro, the CFA appreciated substantially against the US dollar in nominal terms, “ explains the report,” as a result, exports of the Franc Zone are losing competitiveness outside the Euro area. Most other African currencies have also continued to appreci­ate against the US dollar in 2007. Since the bulk of African exports are valued in US dollars and export prices have remained fairly stable, currency appreciation, in addition to discouraging imports from Africa, implies a decline in the profitability of African export-oriented activities.” Though currency appreciations threatens international competitiveness it also makes imports cheaper in domestic mar­kets, putting pressure on the current account balance. “This has been the case in most oil-exporting countries, with adverse effects on economic diversification and job creation. Thus, managing exchange rates is a major challenge for oil-exporters and other countries with high commodity income, such as Zambia.”
External debt
The report advises countries to reduce external debt and increase non debt generating resources in order to o alleviate financing constraints. Mobilizing more domestic and external non-debt-generating resources is also suggested to bring about solution for financial constrains. However, the report remembers that domestic resource mobilization is insufficient for Africa to finance the investment needed for achieving the MDGs. African countries continue to rely on external capi­tal inflows (mainly Official Development Assistance (ODA), Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and remittances) to fill the resource gap. The report confirms that most of the debt relief ini­tiatives fail to meet their targets as Africa’s external debt remains high and unchanged, at about $255 billion in 2006 and 2007. “While official debt declined considerably with the debt relief initiatives, from $205.7 billion in 1999 to $144.5 billion in 2007, the debt owed to banks and other private creditors rose from $92.4 billion in 1999 to $110.2 billion in 2007.”
Sectoral performance
According to the report the service sector had the largest share in Africa’s GDP during 2006 which accounts to 44.7 percent followed by industry, 41.5 percent and agriculture 13.8 percent. Despite modest growth in the manufacturing subsector, the industrial sector had the highest growth rate 5.7 per cent, followed by agriculture, 5.0 percent. Growth in industrial output in 2006 was underpinned by high commodity prices, especially for oil and gas, and the increasing output of non-manufacturing industries (mining and quarrying) in many African countries.
The same cannot be said about Africa’s tourism as ERA states that only 3.2 percent ($21.6 billion), out of the total $678 billion international tourism receipts in 2005, went to Africa.
Social development and exclusion of vulnerable groups
As one economist stated, the growth in Africa has not yet to result in employment generation, particularly in the formal sector with presenting another challenge, exclusion of vulnerable groups; aged, youth and people with disabilities which are left out of Africa’s economic recovery. African women and girls often experience various forms of dis­crimination and social exclusion.
“Even though Africa is referred to as the youngest continent in terms of the age structure, the number of older people is changing more dramatically than in other regions and will continue to do so over the coming decades. This is important for policymakers because older people experience higher rates of poverty as a conse­quence of low levels of education and the burdens imposed by the HIV/AIDS epi­demic. This predicament needs to be tackled by financing social protection schemes targeted at the aged.”
Prospects for 2008: ’brighter outlook despite risks’
This ECA report projects that the slow down in the U.S economy won’t affect Africa’s economic growth significantly. It also projects a 6.2 percent growth in 2008, a much higher percentage compared with 5.8 per cent in 2007. “Continued effective macroeconomic management and the improving governance and security situation is another factor that contributes to a positive economic outlook in 2008 and beyond, though many parts of Africa still suffer from conflicts and insecurity.”
“ There are many risks to Africa’s growth over the medium term, “ warns the report, “ any substantial slowdown or adverse adjustment in the global economy could cause demand for Africa’s exports to contract. A fall in demand and prices would have negative effects on Africa’s growth outlook. Fluctuations in oil prices would also have adverse growth impacts on oil-importing countries. “ Unpredictable weather changes, conflicts and epidemics (HIV/AIDS and malaria) are also states as possible factors to influence Africa’s growth prospects in 2008.