1,800 Ethiopia Jews Reportedly Perished in Sudanese Desert

LONDON —  About 1,800 Ethiopian Jews perished in the Sudanese desert as they fled from the famine in their drought-stricken country for a promised new home in Israel, London’s Sunday Times reported.

The British newspaper said that for many, “Operation Moses”--Israel’s plan to airlift the Jews, known as Falashas--”became a human tragedy.”

Correspondent David Blundy, who visited one camp at Umma Raquba in Sudan last week, quoted officials as saying many of those who arrived there had fled from Ethiopia’s Gondar province,where they were not starving.

“Aid workers and diplomats in Sudan say that they were urged to leave Ethiopia by Jewish organizations, which sent workers into their areas, and by Falashas who had returned to the towns and villages to tell people that they, too, could live in the Promised Land,” Blundy wrote. “Aid workers who had visited Gondar say that conditions were not as bad as the areas to which the Falashas trekked.”

The secret operation of flying the Ethiopians from Sudan to Israel was halted Jan. 6 when its details became public after an estimated 7,500 Falashas were taken to the Jewish state.

The Sunday Times said it had no exact figures for the number of Falashas stranded, but it said Israelis estimate that between 2,000 and 4,000 remain in Sudan while another 2,000 are waiting beside the Ethiopian border.