By GAVIN RABINOWITZ AP Writer

MEVASERET ZION, Israel (AP) - Yeshambel Kassel Alazebech, an Ethiopian farmer, claims to be a descendant of Jews who converted to Christianity. Now after returning to Judaism, he has come to Israel to claim his birthright.

But the possibility of tens of thousands of Ethiopians arriving has unnerved Israel, which appears to be backing away from a costly promise to take in the rest of Kassel Alazebech's people.

In recent days, Cabinet ministers have voiced opposition to a government decision last year to lift immigration restrictions on the community of 20,000 Ethiopians, known as the Falash Mura, saying it would cost too much in Israel's weakened economy, battered by more than three years of fighting with the Palestinians.

Also, veteran Ethiopian Jewish immigrants have cautioned the government against taking in their countrymen, contending many are charlatans whose claims of Jewish descent are a ploy aimed at getting out of famine-ridden Ethiopia.

Unlike the 80,000 Ethiopian Jews in Israel, whose Jewish roots go back centuries, the Falash Mura claim descent from a community of Jews forced to abandon Judaism in the 19th century due to persecution.

Kassel Alazebech, 36, waited six years in an overcrowded holding camp run by American Jewish activists in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, before getting permission to immigrate to Israel six months ago. During that time, he says, he embraced his Jewish roots.

``When we waited in Addis Ababa, we left our old ways behind us and started to keep Jewish ways, even before coming to Israel,'' he said.

Now he lives with other Falash Mura in government-subsidized immigrant housing, studying for his formal conversion to Judaism and trying to acquire skills to integrate into his new land.

The African immigrants stand out in this upscale town on the outskirts of Jerusalem, gathered at street corners talking softly in their native Amharic. Almost all wear hooded army surplus jackets, hunching their shoulders against the unfamiliar, near-freezing drizzle.

But for all its simplicity, the barracks-like immigrant housing is far better than what they left behind.

Since 1991, thousands of Falash Mura have left their homes in Ethiopia to live in mud huts in crowded camps in Addis Ababa and the northern city of Gondar in hopes of immigrating to Israel.

Menweyalet Alem Ferde, 64, a subsistence farmer from northern Ethiopia, and his wife waited five years in the Addis Ababa camp in a single-room hut shared with another family. His daughter and grandchildren are still waiting there.

Israel now allows 300 Falash Mura a month to come to Israel.

Many of Israel's Ethiopian Jews were brought to Israel in massive airlifts during times of crisis in Ethiopia in 1984 and 1991 and received automatic citizenship. But because Israel does not recognize the Falash Mura as Jewish, they are not automatically eligible for citizenship.

The Falash Mura and their advocates among American Jewish groups have urged Israel to speed the immigration process, warning those waiting in Ethiopia are exposed to hunger and disease.

The Ethiopian Jews, however, say tighter restrictions should be imposed on the Falash Mura.

``More than 60 percent (of the Falash Mura) have no connection to Israel,'' said Dani Adeno Abebe, a Jewish Ethiopian journalist. ``They are a crowd of hitchhikers,'' he said, warning the government could face an influx of hundreds of thousands with spurious claims to a Jewish past.

But Avraham Neguise, the founder of South Wing to Zion, a Falash Mura advocacy group, says the community numbers no more than 20,000 people already living at the holding centers in Ethiopia.

Kassel Alazebech said the Falash Mura in his village practiced weaving and pottery-making typical of the region's Jews.

``The other people used to come to us and curse us, saying, 'You do these works, you are Jews,''' he said.

Falash Mura in Israel have held street protests to decry the government's inaction on its decision last year to lift immigration restrictions, accusing it of discrimination.

``Tzipi discriminates against black Jews,'' read a sign at a recent protest, referring to Immigration Minister Tzipi Livni, who opposes more Falash Mura immigration until extra funds are allocated.

``She does not say there is no money for Jews who come from other lands - only for us,'' said Alem Ferde.

In the last decade, Israel let in more than a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union, many of them also not technically Jewish.

Immigration Ministry spokesman Arik Foder rejects the accusations. ``Nobody can accuse us of racism. Our investment in the Ethiopians is higher than for any other group of immigrants,'' Foder said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom went to Ethiopia this week, the first visit by an Israeli foreign minister in over a decade. On Wednesday, he met with Falash Mura, telling them that for the time being Israel could not bring them all, but would try to find funding in the future.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3607944,00.html Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004