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                  Nov. 26, 2006 22:39 | Updated Nov. 27, 2006 9:55
                  Survivors seek more Holocaust funds
                  By MATTHEW WAGNER



                  Yad Vashem, the Jewish Agency and Holocaust survivor groups 
                  joined forces Sunday with Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi 
                  Eitan to demand more money from the Conference of Jewish 
                  Material Claims Against Germany. 
                  They also demanded that Israel be given equal representation 
                  in the running of the Claims Conference. 
                  "If money continues to be allocated the way it has been, it 
                  will still be sitting in the bank when the last of the 
                  Holocaust survivors is gone," Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev 
                  Bielski told a press conference in Jerusalem. "Israel is the 
                  center of the Jewish world," he said. "Therefore, we need a 
                  change in the way the Claims Conference functions." 
                  Eitan said he had visited Holocaust survivors in Israel and 
                  found that they were suffering due, in part, to problems with 
                  the way the Claims Conference allocated funds. 

                  "Holocaust survivors are at the end of their lives," he said. 
                  "In another 15 years only a very few survivors will remain. We 
                  should give them the money they deserve now, while they are 
                  still alive, and not wait until it is too late." 
                  A memorandum demanding that 60 percent of the funds be spent 
                  in Israel was signed by Eitan; Bielski; the chairman of the 
                  Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors, Noah Flug; the 
                  chairman of Yad Vashem, Avner Shalev; and the chairman of the 
                  Fund for the Welfare of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, Zeev 
                  Factor. 

                  "In light of the centrality of the State of Israel... 60% of 
                  the funds... will be allocated in Israel and the remainder 
                  will be distributed in the rest of the countries of the 
                  world," it read. 

                  They also said that 80% of the funds should be earmarked for 
                  aid to needy Holocaust survivors while 20% be used for 
                  memorializing the Holocaust, education, research and 
                  documentation, as well as strengthening Jewish heritage. 
                  The Jewish Agency said in a statement that the "united Israeli 
                  front" represented an "unprecedented step" and that the 
                  increase to 60% would recognize Israel's "centrality." 
                  They say that Israel is currently receiving less, although 
                  they would not specify how much. 

                  Marilyn Henry, author of Confronting the Perpetrators: A 
                  History of the Claims Conference, said that there was nothing 
                  new in the Israeli demands. 
                  "The Claims Conference has traditionally allocated 60% of its 
                  discretionary funds to programs for Holocaust survivors and 
                  documentation in Israel," Henry said in a telephone interview 
                  from New York. 
                  "There is nothing new about the 80/20 split between 
                  humanitarian aid and education either," she added. 
                  "Survivors around the world have great needs, but there are 
                  limited amounts of funds, and there is an annual debate about 
                  how to divide the funds," she said. "The bigger issue is how 
                  Jewish organizations plan to assist survivors once the Claims 
                  Conference funds are exhausted." 

                  The conference allocates approximately $90 million a year for 
                  Holocaust survivors' needs and its total assets are estimated 
                  at $1.7 billion. It raises funds from the sale of unclaimed 
                  Jewish property in former East Germany. The most valuable of 
                  those properties have already been claimed. 

                  In a letter to Claims Conference President Israel Singer and 
                  Chairman Julius Berman, Eitan wrote, "Israeli representation 
                  in the Claims Conference and its various committees should be 
                  substantially expanded to reflect the central role of the 
                  State of Israel within the Jewish people, and the number of 
                  Jews and Holocaust survivors who were absorbed in Israel and 
                  live in Israel today," the Jewish Agency said in its 
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