Drive Approved to Bring Soviet Jews to Israel

The Israeli government and the Jewish Agency have agreed on a $2-billion campaign to bring 100,000 Soviet emigrants to Israel in the next three years, and they are hoping that the United States will finance a significant part of the program, officials said here Thursday.

After a meeting in Jerusalem, the Jewish Agency’s board of governors agreed to endorse a plan under which the agency will try to raise $500 million in a special campaign to finance the absorption of Soviet Jews in Israel. Another $1.5 billion will be financed by the Israeli government, and the two partners will cooperate in a new program to persuade the more than 2 million Jews still living in the Soviet Union to come here.

The campaign was launched after the U.S. decision to limit acceptance of Soviet immigrants beginning next year, at a time when record numbers of Soviet Jews are trying to leave the country. It also comes in the context of steadily improving relations between Israel and the Soviet Union.

As part of the massive spending program, Israel is asking aid from the United States in the form of loan guarantees for the construction of new housing for immigrants.