Unemployment Israel

The unemployment rate in Israel has risen above 9%, the highest in more than 20 years, with more than 140,000 Israelis jobless, Israel Television said Sunday. Unemployment last year was 6.4%.

Every so often, a whiff of hope blows into this grim town in southern Israel, circling its bygone textile mills and sending crowds of desperate people hurrying to the office of Moti Zohar. There, Zohar, the hard-pressed director of Ofakim's employment center, gently breaks the news that only a relative few will get the welding, construction and other generally low-paying jobs that have been advertised. The rest, as usual in Ofakim, will be out of luck.

Every so often, a whiff of hope blows into this grim town in southern Israel, circling its bygone textile mills and sending crowds of desperate people hurrying to the office of Moti Zohar. There, Zohar, the hard-pressed director of Ofakim's employment center, gently breaks the news that only a relative few will get the welding, construction and other generally low-paying jobs that have been advertised. The rest, as usual in Ofakim, will be out of luck.

By Moscow standards, the rainy Israeli winter should barely bring on a sneeze, but in Irena Krutik's apartment--a converted chicken coop--the slicing wind and drippy ceilings are enough to send shivers through even a seasoned veteran of Russia's climate. "It's impossible to heat this room," said Krutik, wringing her hands to work up heat and work away frustration. "Five blankets aren't enough either."

By Moscow standards, the rainy Israeli winter should barely bring on a sneeze, but in Irena Krutik's apartment--a converted chicken coop--the slicing wind and drippy ceilings are enough to send shivers through even a seasoned veteran of Russia's climate. "It's impossible to heat this room," said Krutik, wringing her hands to work up heat and work away frustration. "Five blankets aren't enough either."

Harald Fischer planned to be gone only a few minutes to help his neighbors, leaving his frightened wife and children huddled on a cramped landing as Israeli fire rained down near their three-story home in this hillside village. But the 68-year-old German native, who for two decades provided chiropractic care to hundreds of Palestinians here, never made it.

In official Israeli public relations, the arrival of thousands of Soviet immigrants is cause for joy simply because it helps fulfill one of Israel's prime reasons for existence: to serve as a refuge for Jews fleeing oppression. But as thousands of newcomers pour in, the beauty of the influx is strictly in the eye of the beholder. Factions in Israel differ widely as to its importance--even its desirability.

The unemployment rate in Israel has risen above 9%, the highest in more than 20 years, with more than 140,000 Israelis jobless, Israel Television said Sunday. Unemployment last year was 6.4%.