Israel There's No Place Like Home

By Guy D. Garcia

Welcoming new immigrants is one of Israel's highest priorities, but in practical terms the struggling nation has never found it easy to absorb them. When Soviet Jews began to pour in last December, experts warned there would not be enough apartments to house them. With the arrival of nearly 50,000 immigrants so far this year, and another 100,000 expected in the next five months, the housing crunch has come.

Only it isn't the newcomers who are suffering most. Hundreds of low-salaried Israelis, many of them young army veterans, have been turned out of their homes in favor of newcomers who are given a lump-sum payment of $11,000 for rent and other expenses. Landlords, realizing new immigrants have the cash, double and triple prices and require a full year's payment in advance. Poor Israeli families can not compete. "The landlords prefer the Soviet immigrants," says Yossi Hurja, 27, who was forced to move when his rent was raised from $350 to $420 a month. "And we are the ones who are being hurt."

With nowhere else to go, hundreds of evicted Israelis have erected small tent cities in a dozen sites around the country. The canvas tents are often furnished with little more than mattresses and sleeping bags, and toilet facilities are haphazard. The squatters' resentment is increasing along with their number. Last week near Tel Aviv, 70 of the homeless barricaded themselves on a roof, hurled gasoline bombs at the street and threatened mass suicide until Minister of Housing Ariel Sharon promised to listen to their demands and pay a visit to their tent city.

So far, that is about all the government has done to ease the crisis. Even before the immigrant influx, outdated building methods and excessive governmental red tape had combined to create a housing shortage. It takes nearly 26 months on average to build a new dwelling. An estimated 80,000 new apartments will be needed by the end of 1991, yet the government has budgeted only enough money to build 20,000. In an effort to make up for lost time, on July 1 Sharon got government approval for emergency powers to speed up construction.

But even a minister known for his bulldozer tactics has been unable to overcome the political infighting and finger pointing that have bogged down attempts to find a solution. Last week Sharon was rebuffed by Israel's Supreme Court, which ruled against his plan to circumvent the parliament. And he was dealt another setback when Minister of Tourism Gideon Patt rejected a plan to use hotels, youth hostels and army camps for emergency shelters. Patt complained that such stopgap methods would help only 500 families, not the 7,000 a month who need housing.

Soviet immigrants, for their part, are aware that the situation could lead to a nasty backlash. Says Yuri Stern, a Soviet immigrant and adviser to the Knesset: "We are worried that the homeless problem may create divisions. Either we are going to solve it or it will create unrest, and that could be damaging to everyone."

With reporting by Robert Slater/Jerusalem