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Crisis Spurs Migration to Israel

(Wall Street Journal) Sara Toth Stub - Immigration into Israel and the Palestinian West Bank is surging after the financial crisis and economic downturn evaporated jobs elsewhere. By the end of this month about 4,000 North American Jews will have immigrated to Israel this year, an increase of 33% over 2008 and the most in one year since 1973, according to Nefesh B'Nefesh. Hundreds of Palestinians, mostly from the Persian Gulf, have been returning to the West Bank, where the economy is expected to grow 5% in 2009. Amjad Sandoka, 36, a civil engineer from Jerusalem, said he went to work in Dubai seven years ago, but came back in October and found a job in Ramallah. He figured he would likely lose his Dubai post after watching hundreds of people around him being let go. "I started to feel the crisis there; on the other hand, I heard there was lots of work in the West Bank," he said. With a building boom under way in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities, fueled partly by international aid money totaling $1.7 billion in 2008, many returning from Dubai are finding jobs.
2009-12-04 07:56:46
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