ABSTRACT
Israeli emigrants rank among those contemporary groups whose motives for migration have been especially complex and ideologically loaded. Complex because Israelis generally possess skills, resources, social ties and aspirations that connect them with both Israel and their countries of settlement; ideologically loaded because, as noted in the last chapter, their travel abroad is considered to have profound implications for the legitimacy and demographic viability of their homeland (Sobel 1986; Shokeid 1988; Sabar 1989; 1996). As William Peterson (1958) noted long ago, there is little evidence to suggest that human beings are predisposed either to settlement or constant migration. Accordingly, assertions about the inevitability of settlement are especially problematic with regard to Jews, who have a singular history of geographical mobility (DellaPergola 1994).
