Copyright (c) 2008. The Jerusalem Report)

The mass aliya of Ethiopian Jews is drawing to a close in Gondar, the northern Ethiopian city where some 12,000 Falas Mora - descendants of Ethiopian Jews who converted to Christianity - are waiting in the fading hope of coming to Israel.

A total of 26,000 Falas Mora have immigrated to Israel since a February 2003 government decision to bring them here. But unless the government reverses its 2005 decision, immigration will cease at the end of June, when the last 300 Falas Mora who hold immigration permits are expected to arrive. Another approximately 8,000 claim that the government has not examined their eligibility to immigrate according to the Law of Entry, which permits non-Jews to come to Israel for humanitarian reasons, such as family reunification. Some advocacy groups have been pressuring the government to consider their eligibility; opponents argue that doing so will open the door to an endless number of additional claims.

The applications of another 4,000 Falas Mora have been rejected.

Most of the 12,000 Falas Mora in Gondar have lived there for years after selling homes and possessions in villages around the country in anticipation of aliya. They gravitated to the three adjoining compounds funded by the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ) and other Jewish organizations.

In May, photojournalist Ron Csillag visited the compounds that may soon close down for good. Known as the "Gondar Beta Israel Assocation," the facility is made up of a feeding center for children and pregnant and nursing mothers, a school for Hebrew, Jewish culture and religion, a "reconciliation" office where older members of the community counsel younger ones, a synagogue and a mikve (ritual bath).

Credit: Ron Csillag