Second-Class Jews Still Await the Promised Land

The ancient hymns brought tears to the eyes of Solomon Ayeli, as well as memories of his native Ethiopia which he left two decades ago for Israel - a country he loves but where he often feels rejected.

"There should be no differences between black Jews and white Jews," said Ayeli, 29, who was among 15,000 people who this week celebrated the Ethiopian-Jewish Sigd - prostration - festival in Jerusalem.

"We want to be fully fledged Israelis," he said, as priests intoned prayers in Ethiopia's ancient scriptural language Geez. "We want to fully belong to Israeli society which often rejects us."

In spite of everything, Ayeli, like many members of the Ethiopian Jewish community - known as Beta Israel - says his journey to the Holy Land was the fulfilment of a dream. "Living here is an exceptional opportunity."

But the cost was high.

"I lost 10 family members in the desert, on the way to Israel," says Ayeli who had to walk for days through Sudan on his way to Israel when he was 10 years old.

Separated during centuries from other Jewish communities, the Beta Israel were only recognised as Jews by Israel's two chief rabbis in 1975.

The recognition was crucial, as Aliyah - the Israeli law of return - allows any Jew to settle in Israel and get citizenship.

Israel airlifted in 35,000 Ethiopian Jews under Operation Moses in 1984, at the height of a famine in the Horn of Africa, and during the 1991 Operation Solomon.

Today, there are more than 120,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel, 80,000 of whom were born in Africa.

Many feel they are still treated like second-class citizens. More