MIGRATION TO ISRAEL - THE MYTHOLOGY OF UNIQUENESS

The article explores the widespread assumption that immigration to Isr ael is a unique phenomenon which differs structurally from migration t o other places. This assumption stems from the view that migrants to o ther destinations generally leave a place they consider home to find a new home. In terms of the Israeli construction, Jews have been ''stra ngers'' in their countries of origin and seek to find a new home by me ans of migration. The Law of Return (1950), which established an open- door policy for Jews and extensive support benefits for immigrants in a context of presumed social consensus, has generally been thought to be sui generis. The article considers evidence that shows that in the 1980s and 1990s, Israel is becoming more like other Western countries which admit large numbers of refugees, asylum seekers, foreign workers , persons seeking family unification and diaspora migrants. As in othe r migration societies, multi-ethnicity poses problems of cultural inte gration and some groups seek actively to retain major elements of thei r earlier cultural heritage. Immigrants have become an identifiable po litical force to be reckoned with. There is more overt questioning wit hin the society of the open-door policy for Jewish immigrants than in previous years. Nevertheless, the tradition of ''uniqueness'' remains strong in the sociology of migration in Israel. Consideration of the e mpirical reality at the end of the 1990s suggests that the sociology o f migration in the Israel context has many important parallels in othe r societies and is best understood in a global context of theory and p ractice.