BY HILDA CUZCO
Thousands of Ethiopian Jews demonstrated in Jerusalem on January 28. They were outraged over the disclosure that blood they have donated had been secretly thrown out, allegedly because it might be contaminated with the AIDS virus.
The demonstrators arrived from across Israel in dozens of buses and broke through barricades to the entrance of the prime minister's office. About 10,000 men, women, and youth joined the protest holding placards that read, "Our blood is as red as yours and we are just as Jewish as you are," "Apartheid in Israel," and "This is the last drop which broke the back of our innocence," among many others.
The police, who were outnumbered, were taken by surprise and turned first water cannon, and then tear gas on the protesters, followed by rubber bullets and batons. The protesters pelted them with rocks. Thirty police officers were injured in the clash and 17 protesters were also hurt.
The Ethiopian Jews, who were brought to Israel in 1984 and 1991 in two massive airlifts, have seen this latest discrimination as a reflection of how they have not been accepted by the Zionist state as equal citizens.
When the Ethiopians arrived in their adopted country, they were brought to special "absorption centers" where, according to the state, they would be prepared to integrate into Israeli society. However, Ethiopian children are often put in segregated classes. Many Ethiopians cannot find adequate housing and remain in the trailers given to them when they arrived. The discrimination extends to the army, where there is a higher incidence of suicide for Ethiopian soldiers.
The report on the blood came on the heels of a suicide of an Ethiopian soldier, the latest of as many as 20 such deaths in the last two years. Young Ethiopian immigrants explain that they are patronized and often racially discriminated against in the Israeli army.
"I did two years in the army to become a citizen of Israel like everybody else," said Ziva Tedela, 23. "When they tell me that since 1984 they've been spilling the blood, it feels like the army means nothing, that I'll never be part of Israel, because my color is black and my blood is contaminated. It really hurts."
The response of the Ethiopian community came as a surprise to the government. Clashes with Palestinians fighting against the Israeli occupation of their land have been common over the years, but this was something new. "The group known today as the quiet community in Israel has changed its face," reported the evening news on Israel Television.
Feeling some heat, Prime Minister Shimon Peres issued an apology, calling the blood bank policy "stupid, irresponsible, and regrettable." He promised to appoint a committee to investigate the issue and directed chief of the armed forces general staff, Lt. Gen. Amnon Shahak, to meet with a delegation from the Ethiopian community about problems in the army. According to Israel radio, a group of Ethiopian leaders met with the Parliament speaker January 29 and apologized for the damage and injury caused by the demonstration to the government.
The United Ethiopian Jewish Organization has filed an appeal against the blood donation policy to the Supreme Court, asking the resignation of Health Minister Ephraim Sneh and the head of the Israel Blood Bank, Dr. Amnon Ben David. Sneh had defended the policy the previous week, alleging that the occurrence of AIDS among immigrants from the East African nation is 50 times higher than among other Israelis.
Israel's ministry ordered mandatory AIDS tests for Ethiopian immigrants over the age of nine in 1991. Dr. Shlomo Maayan, an Israeli AIDS researcher, had pointed to the May airlift to Israel that year as the cause of an increase in the risk of that disease. Ethiopian immigrant leaders and other health officials protested and called the assertions racist.