Israel Today
cy or short-sightedness. At the time of the Moscow multi-lateral talks in January, the Syrians and. the Palestinians, yet again, played the role of the rejectiohisfs. The fact that the other Arab countries shoAved up and conducted business as usual in spite of all this did much to emphasize the new realities in the Middle East.
Inside Israel, as is customary, this was accompanied by much internal disagreement. Basic questions as to the need for territory, the nature of peace, a possible freeze on settlements and the willingness to grant the Palestinians a substantial degree of autonomy were subjects of heated debate. Yet public opinion polls show that, in the countr)', there is a large, non-partisan mainstream, which is committed to the peace process, is willing to undertake territori-
al compromise, takes the idea of Palestinian autonomy seriously, and favourably entertains the idea of a freeze on the settlements while the peace talks continue. Polls also showed that most Israelis continued to worry about security, and that they considered territory a crucially important ingredient of security even in the missile age. All the while, there was increased anxiety about nuclear proliferation affecting the region beyond Iraq via the Lybian and Iranian nuclear projects, the availability of ex-Soviet nuclear experts and expertise for money; and the rnassive arms deals concluded between Syria on' the one hand, and China and Russia on the other. The North Korean missiles reported to have been delivered to Syria stressed that country's centralily as the main strategic threat to Israel. Regional
arms control and disarmament continued to be central concerns which were to be discussed in. the multi-lateral talks but, thus far, no progress has been made, particularly as Syria continued to stay away from these talks altogether. Syria continues to attend the bilateral talks, but stays away from the multilateral talks. It insists on making progress on its territorial demands biefore allowing the process to unfold in a way which will enhance Israel's legitimacy even further.
Canada becomes more deeply involved in the peace process.
Canada took part in the Moscow talks, and then agreed.to chair and host the working group dealing With refugee
ion
20(hT
\ 180-1 160-140-
B    ^ 120^1 i lOO-H
Eg
lU
80-
Data as of 12/31/91
166816
71217
V V
V V
V V
II
179,720
71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84- 85 86 87 88 89 90 91
Yeats
(c) 1991 Soviet Jewry Research Bureau / National Conference on Soviet Jewry
JEWISH EMIGRATION FROM THE FORMER SOVIET UNION
Emigration of ]t\cs from the former Soviet Uiiiou reached uuprece-deuted historical heights. From an all time low in the mid 80's. the number of emigrants exceeded 350,000 during 1990 and 1991 combined.
Based on these figures, it ivas predicted that one million jezcs will arrive in Israel betzveeti 1990-1995. We are hopeful that these numbers will he realized.
42,